Doug Ferguson

Nick Faldo thought he would uncover the secret to winning the US Open when he arranged for a meeting one year with four-time champion Ben Hogan. Faldo, ever the analyst, asked Hogan what it would take for him to win.

"Shoot the lowest score," Hogan replied. If that conversation had taken place 20 years later, Hogan's answer might have been slightly different.

"Just shoot par."

Even par would have been good enough to win the past three US Opens - Michael Campbell at Pinehurst No. 2 (even par), Geoff Ogilvy at wicked Winged Foot (5 over) and Angel Cabrera at Oakmont (5 over).

Whether that's what it takes this week at Torrey Pines remains to be seen. So far, everyone is raving about a golf course that is stern but fair, from the generous fairways to the graduated height of rough. But opinions tend to change when scores are carded.

Perhaps no other major has a fascination with par as the US Open. Torrey Pines has been around for a half-century as a par 72. But with the US Open in town this week, it will play as a par 71. The sixth hole will play 515 yards and be the longest-par 4 in tournament history.

It actually will play shorter than usual, but almighty par will be protected.

That's not such bad thing, according to Mike Davis, the senior director of rules and competition for the US Golf Association and the person responsible for setting up the golf course. Since taking over two years ago from Tom Meeks, his work has been praised, even with such high scores winning the US Open.

Davis made perfect sense in explaining why the sixth should be converted to a par 4.

"Does it meet the definition of a par 5?" he said.

A good tee shot that stays out of the rough or the bunkers on the left side can leave as little as a 4-iron into the green that is open in the front. There's not a ton of trouble going for the green. In his view, it played more as a strong par 4.

He references No.9 at Oakmont, which played as a par 5 when Ernie Els won in 1994, and a par 4 last year. The ninth hole features an uphill tee shot to a green so large that the back end of it serves as the putting green. During the US Amateur in 2003, Davis noticed players hitting 5-irons and pitching wedges for their second shot.

"That didn't meet my definition of a par 5," he said.

Either way, what matters is the number on the card, not the number to par.

Remember when Arnold Palmer came from seven shots behind to win the 1960 US Open at Cherry Hills. He remarked before teeing off that he could shoot 65 and win because that would put him at 280.

"Doesn't 280 always win the Open?" Palmer said. These days, he might have said, "Doesn't even par always win the Open?"

The USGA's philosophy of converting par 5s into par 4s began in 1951 at Oakland Hills. That US Open was famous for the winner (Hogan) and how he described the course.

"I'm glad I brought this course, this monster, to its knees," Hogan said.

He finished at 7-over 287. But if the USGA had left Nos. 8 and 18 as par 5s that week, and Oakland Hills had been a par 72, Hogan still would have won with a score of 1-under 287. Would he still have called it a monster?

That's why it sounded so disingenuous when Jim Hyler of the USGA executive committee said with a straight face: "Contrary to what a lot of people think, there is no target winning score. We are not trying to protect par."

Jim Furyk, who tied the US Open scoring record at Olympia Fields in 2003, was asked if he believed that.

"No," he replied, not entirely seriously, but he made it clear the USGA is not interested in 15 under winning its premier event.

It could have been worse at Torrey Pines. Rees Jones Jr, who refurbished the course to attract the US Open, was among those who wanted the par-5 18th hole to play as a par 4. With a pond in front of the green, there would have been more gore than glory on the final hole. Davis deserves credit for persuading the blue coats to make it a par 5, which could be the most exciting closing hole at a US Open.

"As far as protecting par, I firmly believe the USGA wants to make the golf course as difficult and as testing a golf course as they can without going overboard," Furyk said. "For the best players in the world, that's going to be shooting somewhere around even par. But if it's 5 under or 5 over, I don't think it really matters."

Par always has been irrelevant, and still is. What Hogan once told Faldo is still true. Lowest score wins.