"On paper at least, this philosophical shift should make it more likely that the now four-decade long wait for a European victory may soon be over."

John Huggan talks to Mike Davis about the differences in Pebble Beach compared to previous Opens and comes away believing the adjustments might benefit a European. Because it has been a while...

"The rough will definitely be lower than it has been in the previous Pebble US Opens," he promises. "Plus, when we did the fairway contouring we tried to bring the ocean into play as much as possible. For example, at the 6th hole there was 15-20 yards of primary rough between the fairway and the cliff edge on the right. A tour-level player had no chance of hitting the ball in the ocean. So we picked the fairway up and moved it 25 yards to the right. Now the short grass goes right to the edge. I'm excited about that.

"The way the 6th is angled, players are going to have to make a decision on the tee. If they hit a driver, the left-to-right slope of the fairway brings the ocean into play more. So there is some risk-reward. They can play safe with something less than a driver, or bring the cliff into play by going for more distance. We did the same on the 8th, 9th and 10th holes. We have eliminated the rough on the right of those holes. So there is more risk-reward on each. The drive zones are maybe 30 yards right of where they were. It is now more than possible to hit into the water on the right of all three."

On paper at least, this philosophical shift should make it more likely that the now four-decade long wait for a European victory (since Tony Jacklin's victory at Hazeltine) may soon be over. Given more freedom to express themselves, the likes of Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy should be more likely to come to the fore in an event that has traditionally rewarded fastidiousness over flair.