The US Open greens are so bad one golfer hit a perfect putt and still missed
Golfers were freaking out before the US Open about the Chambers Bay golf course. While everybody is playing the same course, some felt the course was unfair going into the tournament.
Several players complained that luck would be more of a factor than how well the ball is struck, and those complaints might be justified.
"You're going to get some funky bounces out there," Tiger Woods said before the tournament. "The ball is going to roll and catch slopes. You're going to see guys hit terrible golf shots and end up in kicking range from the hole. You're going to see guys fire at the flag and get a good one and get a hard bounce and end up in a hard spot."
That's fun for fans. But at the end of the day, golfers should be rewarded for hitting good shots and penalized for bad shots, not the other way around.
We saw a perfect example of this on hole No. 12 from former British Open champion Darren Clarke.
Clarke, who was 5-over at the time, had a 10-foot putt for birdie. He hit a perfect putt, with the announcer even saying it was in before reaching the hole. Then the ball did something typically only seen on miniature golf courses, it veered left and went around the hole.
It was as if the the hole had a force field around it. One announcer exclaimed "that's impossible" while the other could only say "no, no, no ... that's unfair."
Clarke took the moment in stride, seeming dumbfounded at first, but later sharing a smile with his caddie.
Other golfers were less forgiving.
Sergio Garcia shot even-par in the opening round, but openly complained about the greens on Twitter.
Bob Harig of ESPN.com notes that the discoloration and inconsistency is due to the use of fescue grass, seen more often on links courses in Great Britain, and a second grass that is competing with the fescue.
"The issue with the greens appears to be another grass that competes with the fescue called poa annua. It has grown at a faster rate and causes the surfaces to be bumpy in spots."
Colin Montgomerie was also openly critical about the greens and the inconsistency saying, "The green surfaces are very poor, some poorer than others ... no one is going to putt consistently well on these greens."
The greens at Chambers Bay are hard enough when the conditions are ideal. But now the greens have gotten to the verge of being unfair, and unfortunately, that might be what we will always remember about this year's tournament if things stay this way.