"The 2014 US Open will be the first to be played on a course with no rough."

Another interesting part of John Huggan's profile of Bill Coore, this time talking about narrow fairways and the rough at Pinehurst.

"A lot of the problem is television, where people watch the same courses over and over. They watch professional golfers being asked the same question time after time. They hear commentators talking about the 'premium' on driving the ball in the fairway. So the perception grows that hitting to those narrow spots is what the game should be. But it is the most uninteresting golf to watch and to play."

Happily, it sounds as if 2014 is going to be a very different - and therefore historic - US Open.

"It's going to be interesting," says Coore with a smile. "Mike Davis (the USGA's director of rules and competition] has told me the 2014 US Open will be the first to be played on a course with no rough. We wanted to make sure they were comfortable with what we were doing and they are. Some of the fairways are going to be 40 yards wide, but they say that is fine with them. Mike says they will not grow rough. Which will be unbelievable. I really hope it happens. If they get the fairways firm, the course will be just as difficult."