U.S. Open: Players respond to brutal third-round conditions
The U.S. Open gave players fits on Saturday, especially those with later tee times. Afterwards, several players took to social media to air their frustrations.
The U.S. Open is meant to be tough, but there’s a line. Difficult pin positions and challenging rough are the expectation. After all, the USGA feels that it has some mythical need to defend “par” at every venue this championship visits.
Sometimes, though, that setup crosses the line, and it becomes punitive. Such was the case in the third round on Saturday, when words like “unplayable” and “lost the golf course” come out of players’ mouths, there’s fire behind all that smoke.
Before we dig in – I get it. It’s easy for the players who shot terrible scores on Saturday to complain. I mean, if they were out there shooting 4-under for the day (I see you, Tony Finau and Daniel Berger) then they’d probably be pretty happy. But if this is the start of players openly challenging the USGA’s decision making, then I’m not going to tell them they’re wrong, either.
What Saturday boiled down to was the difference between the morning and afternoon tee times. On Thursday and Friday, you can blame that on the luck of the draw, but things are different on the weekend at a major championship. Players like Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler earned their later tee times, and it’s easy to see how they would feel slighted.
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Zach Johnson was quite vocal about his feelings after the round. Teeing off at 11:41 AM Eastern, he had a little bit of both worlds; early enough to see what was possible, late enough to watch the course change during his round.
"“Unfortunately, they’ve lost the golf course,” Johnson told Sky Sports. “I feel for the membership, because I know many of them. I feel for the spectators because they are seeing pure carnage — unless that’s what they want. And I feel for the USGA because I don’t think this was their intent.“But when you think of things that happened in the past, you have to err on the side of caution. And that wasn’t done today.”"
Diplomacy levels varied, USGA acknowledged mistakes in U.S. Open setup
Johnson was far from the only player to attack the USGA’s setup on Saturday. Rafa Cabrera Bello (+6, 2:04PM tee) made three bogeys on the back nine, and finished with a triple on 18 to drop from what would have been a top-ten into a tie for 30th.
Painful finish with a 7 at the last that ruins a pretty decent day. Regardless, it was not a fair test of golf. Greens were unplayable, with unnecessary pin positions. @USGA found a way to make us look like fools on the course.A pity they manage to destroy a beautiful golf course
— Rafa Cabrera Bello (@RCabreraBello) June 16, 2018
If you thought he had it rough, imagine being Rickie Fowler tonight. He was one of eight players to shoot in the 80s on Saturday, and his third-round 84 dropped him all the way to a 61st-place tie. He entered the day in the top ten. To his credit, while he was direct in his commentary, he was a bit more diplomatic than others.
"“I’m not necessarily criticizing the setup and how it played this afternoon, but when it’s that big of an advantage to playing in the morning versus the afternoon, I think it takes away from the work that the guys have done the first two days,” he said. “I’m not just talking about myself, but also the guys that are playing behind me. It’s just tough out there.”"
USGA CEO Mike Davis addressed several concerns in a statement on Saturday night. Per the USGA’s PR Twitter account Davis acknowledged that they got “higher winds than we anticipated”, which led to challenges.
"We want the U.S. Open to be tough, but we saw some examples late in the day where well-executed shots were not only not being rewarded, but in some cases penalized. We simply got higher winds than we anticipated." - USGA CEO Mike Davis
— USGA PR (@USGA_PR) June 17, 2018
"The message was loud and clear to the grounds staff and to our team that handles the agronomy, let's slow the course down. Because we really do believe we're going to have a great Father's Day Sunday final." - USGA CEO Mike Davis
— USGA PR (@USGA_PR) June 17, 2018
"While the course was playable, there were certainly some holes that became a real concern as the day went on. We will address these overnight and be ready for a memorable final round tomorrow" - USGA CEO Mike Davis
— USGA PR (@USGA_PR) June 17, 2018
I have no reason not to believe Mr. Davis, but frankly, I’ll believe it when I see it. I’m sure Fowler, Johnson, and Cabrera Bello feel the same way. Maybe if they had set things up a little more evenly, Phil Mickelson’s blowup could have been prevented.
This wasn’t quite the debacle of 2004’s final round, but it came close. Dustin Johnson woke up Saturday as the only player under par. Playing in the last group of the day, he shot 77, and now finds himself in a four-way tie for the lead at +3. Brutality.
Frankly, the message that Mike Davis’s USGA needs to be sending “loud and clear” is that the U.S. Open can be challenging without being sadistic. And you know what? If players solve the puzzle and happen to break par – the horror! – then so be it. They’re the best in the world, and what they’re doing hardly resembles golf. When it would be just as fair to draw straws, something has gone seriously awry.
Next: U.S. Open: Final Round Predictions on Course Setup, Who Will Win
Here’s hoping that Sunday’s setup plays fair but hard all day long. That way, we’ll know that the champion really did play the best, whether he had an early wake-up call or not.