Simpson Set To Defend US Open Title
6/11/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
June 11, 2013
Wake Forest graduates Webb Simpson and Bill Haas will tee-it-up this week in the USGA's pinnacle event, the US Open as historic Merion Golf Club.
The Deacon legends are at opposite ends of the draw as Haas will play Thursday morning and Friday afternoon while Simpson will play in the middle of the afternoon on Thursday and middle of the morning on Friday. NBC and ESPN team-up for live coverage throughout the weekend.
Simpson will enjoy the week like no one else in the field, as the defending champion. He fired a pair of brilliant 68s over the final two rounds at the Olympic Club last year to claim his first major championship. Since then, Simpson has made his first Ryder Cup appearance and is currently 15th in the 2013 FedEx Cup standings.
The Merion Golf Club will provide a unique stage for this year's version of the USGA's showcase. Merion is shorter by comparison to other US Open venues, measuring just 6,846 yards for its par-70 layout. But Merion's strong architectural features make it an ideal setting for its first U.S. Open since 1981.
Merion has hosted four previous US Opens as well as six US Amateurs and one Walker Cup. Simpson played in the US Amateur in 2005 and was joined in the field by future Demon Deacon teammate Brendan Gielow. Gielow was also part of the victorious US Walker Cup team which was contested at Merion in 2010.
"I would say that Merion is my favorite course, I love it," said Gielow. "It's one of the coolest and one of the most unique courses I have ever played. When I played in the Walker Cup, they had the course setup so fast and firm. That made the greens really tricky and it was a really good test."
Most of the fans this week will look at the distance and automatically think the scores will be low. But Gielow says don't be surprised if the scores aren't what you normally see from a US Open setup.
"The course seems short on the scorecard because there is a mix of really short holes and really long holes," Gielow said. "The greens on the short holes are really tricky and the long holes are brutal. That's the thing that I think a lot of people are overlooking. The way the long holes are setup and angled, it makes them very difficult. If you're hitting the ball well, you can score on the early holes, but you'll see guys just trying to hold on over the last five holes."
Simpson and Haas will look to keep the US Open trophy in Demon Deacon hands this week. Curtis Strange is the only other Demon Deacon to have won a US Open as he claimed back-to-back titles in 1988 and 1989. He is the last player to win back-to-back titles.
