And what's up with No. 17 (par 3, 179 yds)? When one of the final holes at a major is a par-3, you expect it to have some teeth, right? I've got the Shinnecock yardage guide (bought it from the USGA), and the scorecard in the back shows this hole to be the No. 18 handicap hole. In other words, it's easiest hole on the course (However, today it ranked 11th in difficulty, based on scoring average relative to par, I assume; average score today was 3.2.)

They actually made this hole 7 yards shorter than it was for the 1995 US Open, plus which they moved the tee box to the right a little, which appears to make the approach somewhat easier. Pretty flat putting surface. I must be missing something.

I guess this hole could make for some Sunday excitement. Imagine a guy who's 1 shot back when he gets to this hole. He figures he must make birdie here, because birdie at the last is no sure thing. He could catch the leader here on 17. Or he could fall further back by going for a tucked pin, dumping in a bunker, then having little green to work with on his sand shot, making bogey. Or he holes the sand shot! OK, I guess I like this hole.

20-year-old amateur Spencer Levin must like it, too. By now, you've probably seen his (first-ever) hole-in-one here today. Bounced it on, and into the cup. His dad was on the bag.