No. 2 is ready for its gruesome (awesome?) closeup

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The 11th green at Pinehurst No. 2 (Fred Vuich/USGA)

Oh boy, this could get really fun.

Players’ heads were spinning, and it was only Monday of U.S. Open week. Donald Ross has been dead for 76 years, but the crowned greens he created are still haunting golfers having to contend with them on modern grasses and green speeds. 

There was Max Homa, getting his first look at Pinehurst No. 2, dropping three balls directly beside the second green and failing to get a single one of his pitch attempts to stay on the green.

“How am I supposed to play this?” the 10th-ranked player in the world asked.

There was Martin Kaymer, who won here in 2014 by a stunning eight shots.

“I was a little bit overwhelmed this morning when I played the first four or five holes,” Kaymer said. “I said to my caddie, ‘Was it this hard 10 years ago?’”

There was Shane Lowry, coming off a bruising 85 a day earlier at Memorial, getting reacquainted with the course he’d missed the cut at by a shot 10 years ago.

“I forgot how f—ing hard this place is,” he said.