Shortest hole in U.S. Open history debuts Saturday at LACC

In order to win the U.S. Open you must face the one of the game’s most expansive examinations, a test of skill and creativity in a game that asks hundreds of unique questions across 72 different scenarios. One of those trials will make history Saturday.

The 15th hole at Los Angeles Country Club is playing just 81 yards in Round 3, breaking the record for the shortest hole ever played at a U.S Open.

On a day where a par 5 will play 627 yards, a par 4 will play 542 yards, and a different par 3 will play 277 yards, the tiny 15th will force players to be surgical. The pin sits 6 feet deep into a peninsula of green that measures just 11 feet wide, protected by bunkers on either side – short left and long right.

“Very rarely are you going to have a hole that short where the best players in the world are going to be thinking about going 20 feet long left to use that slope to at least hit the green,” said Jon Rahm, who will be one of the first players Saturday to reach the hole. “And that's something beautiful. It's a hole that gives you a lot to think about.”

This break-up in the rhythm of the course is exactly what architect Gil Hanse had in mind.

“That's just part of the examination,” said Hanse. “…I mean, I love it. A shot can go from 622 [yards] to a 79-yard hole to a 519-yard par 4. That's the flexibility that this golf course has and why the USGA has decided to set it up and test every facet of the game and use every square inch of this golf course to do it.”

Shockingly, this is not the shortest that 15 has played. At the 2017 Walker Cup at LACC, the USGA had it at just 78 yards for Saturday’s afternoon singles session. It was the shortest par 3 in the USGA’s history. Collin Morikawa, who played for the winning U.S. team that week, said it was slightly jarring to come upon such a tiny hole.

“I remember like you almost had to practicing teeing up with a 60-degree lob wedge like an inch off the ground, which you never do,” he said, “and just trying to try and hit it perfect, because you had to with height, with spin. It's only going to be that much more important this week if they do move it up. I'm sure they will.”

Earlier this week, Rickie Fowler spoke of potentially laying up from just 81 yards.

"There's very little room there,” he told Golf Channel. “There's two options, land it and spin it down but there's the potential for the little lay-up to the fairway which leaves a chip up the hill.

"Going at the pin is a very big risk," he added.

It remains to be seen whether 36-hole leader Fowler, who could be in the lead in search of his first major victory as he strides to the 15th tee Saturday, will indeed use this strategy. We’ll be watching.