UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — Lee Janzen was lucky. He avoided the noise.
Just a couple minutes after the two-time U.S. Open champion teed off on No. 18 in his Wednesday afternoon practice round at Chambers Bay, a freight train roared by just a few yards behind the tee box. Those same tracks also run parallel to the 16th and 17th holes at this week's U.S. Open venue.
This will be a unique championship for many reasons. Among them: the greens are brown, the sand traps are gray – and the trains are running, whizzing north-south on tracks wedged between Puget Sound and the course.