BBC SPORT | Special Events | 2001 | US Open | Southern Hills gets US Open makeover

The Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma has played host to the US Open twice before.

But the world's leading golfers will effectively be tackling a new course when they tee off on 14 June.

The changes to the course were initially prompted by vandals dumping poison on the greens.

But the damage gave the club the opportunity to update Perry Maxwell's 1935 design in a deliberate attempt to make the course more difficult.

Technological advances in ball and club design and the Tiger Woods effect brought the need for extra length.

At 7,014 yards, the course, which re-opened last June after almost a year out of bounds, will play 180 yards longer than in previous majors.

Tiger Woods at Southern Hills
Woods will be aiming for his fifth consecutive Major title
The 12th, the course's defining hole, has remained unchanged.

Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer have described it as one of America's greatest par-four holes.

Requiring a straight drive and a precise iron shot over water and bunkers, it usually produces more than its fair share of bogeys and double bogeys.

The par-five fifth hole, the longest hole on the course, now plays 655 yards.

Added length to the par-four 16th hole makes it at 491 yards, the long par four in US Open history.

Course head professional Dave Bryan makes no apologies for the changes.

He said: "It gives the guys something more to thing about. You want to create a little doubt."

John Szklinski, the course superintendent, meanwhile, warned about the greens.

"How fast can we make these greens? How fast would you like them?"

Defending Open champion and inevitable favourite Tiger Woods will be playing blind, not having played at the course since finishing 21st in the 1996 Tour Championship.

"I feel like I know the course well enough and know what I need to do when I get out there," said the man bidding for his seventh Major title.

The course, which opened in 1937, has hosted two US Opens, three USPGA Championships and two Tour Championships.

In 1958, Tommy Bolt won with a three-over par total of 283 that included three birdies at the famous 12th hole, four strokes ahead of a 22-year-old Gary Player.

Nick Price with the USPGA Championship trophy in 1995
Price with the USPGA C'ship trophy in 1995
Bolt, known as "Terrible Tommy" for his club-throwing tantrums, won a then record first prize of $8,000.

In 1977, Hubert Green triumphed on two under par, holing a three-foot par putt on the final hole to ensure a one-shot win over Lou Graham.

Ray Floyd won the 1982 USPGA Championship at the course, with Nick Price repeating that feat in 1994.

Billy Mayfair won the 1995 Tour Championship at the course, with Tom Lehman triumphing one year later on 12-under-par.

Should anyone attain that 268 total in June, it would shatter the record lowest US Open total by a four strokes.


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