US Open at a new place and looking for fresh start

With few exceptions, the event's identity as the "toughest test in golf" was carved out of traditional, tree-lined courses with tight fairways and thick rough, firm and fast greens.

The course looks like a links with its wispy grass framing rolling fairways and shaved slopes around the greens, except that it's nowhere the sea.

About the only similarities between Erin Hills and Chambers Bay, which hosted the U.S. Open two years ago off Puget Sound in Washington state, are that both were built as public golf courses and are mostly devoid of trees.

Against this backdrop — pristine pastureland that dates to the Ice Age when a glacier retreated across Wisconsin — the 117th U.S. Open begins June 15 with plenty of intrigue that goes beyond the mystery of a new golf course.

Woods is missing all the majors for the second straight year because of a fourth back surgery, which was a month before his DUI arrest in Florida.

Mickelson, with a record six runner-up finishes in the only major he hasn't won, said he plans to skip because his daughter's high school graduation is the same day as the opening round.

Johnson, who shipped the U.S. Open trophy back to the USGA a couple of weeks ago, will try to become the first player since Curtis Strange in 1989 to successfully defend his title.

Strange is the only player in more than a half-century to win back-to-back, a feat that neither Woods nor Jack Nicklaus managed.

The USGA told him on the 12th tee it would wait until after the round for him to review it, meaning Johnson played the final seven holes not knowing the score.

[...] this U.S. Open starts with a golf course that has never had the best players in the world, and doesn't look anything like a typical U.S. Open.

Davis, who took charge of U.S. Open setups starting with Winged Foot in 2006, says while the nature of the shots might be different depending on the golf course, the overall is exam is strong.