U.S. Open 2015: Live updates, scores, leaderboard, highlights and more from Chambers Bay

The U.S. Open is commonly referred to the “toughest test in golf.” The goal of the USGA is try and produce a champion that finishes four rounds at even-par. It varies from year to year and course to course, but this is typically the hardest tournament for scoring all season. Bogeys are everywhere and birdies are few and far between. That’s a dramatic departure from the other majors, which often let course and conditions dictate the kind of championship it will be and have no issue crowning a champion that finished double-digit under-par.

Some prefer the birdies and big leaderboard charges of the PGA Championship, while others like to watch the best in the world get punished on some of the USA’s most scenic and historic venues. We typically know what we’re getting at a U.S. Open, but this year is different.

The great unknown and superstar of the U.S. Open for most of the week will be Chambers Bay. The course and how the USGA sets it up is always a major storyline at the Open, but this is the first time a major pro event has ever been held at Chambers Bay. It’s a completely unique venue to this championship and in a part of the country that almost never hosts pro golf tournaments. Even after multiple practice rounds, the players have said they still don’t really know what to expect. It could produce a winner that’s five-over par or one that’s five-under.

Chambers Bay most closely resembles a European links style venue, but even there the comparison is not completely spot on. There are no trees on the course, a big change from the typical U.S. Open parklands courses scattered throughout the eastern U.S. The grass is all fescue and this week, it’s running hard as concrete. The elevation changes are extreme, which is different from most links style courses. And the greens slope, rise, and dip in some of the most extreme ways these pros will ever see.

There are so many quirks about Chambers Bay that make it the early star of the U.S. Open. Par on a specific hole can change from day to day, and we will see a par-4 18th become a par-5 for the next round. The tee boxes can be moved so dramatically that the USGA creates an entirely different hole. The 15th is listed at 123 yards, but also 246 yards. The players have said they prepared for about a 25-hole course this week -- some holes even have multiple pages on the usual 18-page yardage mapping book they scribble all over during practice.

Here’s a good summation of the many different quirks that could make this course wild. And here’s an argument for why, despite its completely different look, Chambers Bay is the perfect U.S. Open course.

SB Nation video archives: The toughest holes in all of golf (2014)

This is not the Masters, where the stuffy green jackets get nervous when the field size approaches 100 players. The U.S. Open is just that -- it’s open to anyone who is good enough to play their way down to a 1.4 handicap index, has a small entry fee, and can navigate the qualifying process.

There are 156 total players in the field -- about half are the regular Tour pros and famous faces who earned exemptions based on their success or world ranking, and the other half are these players who had to grind it out through multiple qualifying stages over the past two months. More than 10,000 people usually try to qualify, so the odds of playing your way into the field if you’re some weekend hacker are slim and none.

The size of the field can present a logistical challenge in some spots. The first two rounds feature 52 groups of three going off split tees for sun-up to sun-down golf. A spot of inclement weather can push the schedule off by a couple days. That should not be an issue this week -- the area weather is supposed to be perfect, it’s the time of year with the longest days, and in a place in the country where the sun stays up until 10 p.m.

Here’s a look at the field and how the USGA sculpts it.

Despite all the fears that Chambers Bay was on the edge and could get out of control, the morning wave on Thursday actually posted several low numbers and under-par rounds. Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson set the pace with 5-under 65s, those two bombers taking advantage of the first round setup. Here are some more highlights, or lowlights if you’re Tiger Woods.

Tiger completed the worst round of his U.S. Open career.

It featured several embarrassing moments, including this club heave and this ghastly top down the 18th fairway.

There was also a plane flying over head with a “Cheater” banner while Tiger played.

Bubba Watson had his usual temperamental explosion, this one about the pace of play.

Phil Mickelson walked around like he owned the place -- because he does.

And a 15-year-old teared up on the 1st tee, overwhelmed by a dream come true of playing in the U.S. Open.

Tiger Woods bombed out early, but the USGA got about as tasty a final pairing as they could have hoped for in the superstar American Ryder Cup duo of Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth. They share the lead at 5-under, while Dustin Johnson lurks just a shot off the pace at a Chambers Bay layout that’s tormenting the players up on the greens. Some highlights from Friday at the national championship:

The full Tiger Woods circus blew through town.

At the last minute, a 19 year old saved some superstars from missing the cut.

Phil Mickelson pulled off this miracle flop shot on one foot.

The normally reserved Spieth did not mince words, calling the 18th hole the “dumbest” he’s ever seen.

Jason Day collapsed to the ground, brining a scared silence to what had been a rowdy 9th hole.

The U.S. Open came down to the last hole and the second-to-final stroke of the tournament. Jordan Spieth took the lead on 18. Dustin Johnson had a chance to win with an eagle or force a playoff with a tie, but he missed both putts and Spieth claimed the U.S. Open.