Has Rory McIlroy won his first major on the easiest US Open course?
Rory McIlroy’s massive success at the US Open last week, was by no means anything other than his ability and grasp of the game, but many critics have come out to blame the course for playing too soft for the US open, an event better known as the toughest
test of the sport.
No less than 20 players finished under-par in the tournament, the second-highest number of players in the history after the US open at Medina County in 1990, indicating the ease of putting and driving on the slightly altered Blue Course at the Congressional
Country Club.
Although McIlroy, with his staggering lead of 16-under, 268, would have won the second major of the season regardless of the difficulty as he easily cleared the field with eight shots.
The USGA, in its usual hush-hush strategy, has until now, kept a low profile on the ease of playing on what was supposed to be the most difficult course on tour. Even with the opening round results, it was evident that the Blue Course is far from anything
a US Open course ought to be. They brushed aside any demands to make eleventh-hour alterations at the course and repeatedly said that it would not move to make any changes to the setup and will not do anything reactionary.
Tom Watson, the winner of eight major championships, criticized the sloppy arrangements for the US Open, “When I played the U.S. Open before this change, there was no first cut of rough,”
“Now, you have the first cut of rough and then the primary rough. The first cut is usually pretty playable. Plus, they’re making it shorter. You couple that with soft greens and it makes for low scores. I don’t care if the course is 8,700 yards long, these
guys are going to shoot low scores,” he added.
World number three Martin Kaymer, although lauded McIlroy’s stunning performance and attributed his success much to his hard work and skill, also criticized the management for not preparing the right course for the tournament.
“It’s not really a U.S. Open golf course, to be honest. It plays fairly easy,” said Kaymer.
The USGA officials were concerned with the conditions on the course well before the tournament kicked off. The greens were not giving 14-14.5 on Stimpmeter and the roughs, despite hectic efforts by the ground staff, have failed to reach the required height
and thickness.
USGA agronomist, Stan Zontek cited the paucity of rain as the elementary reason behind the condition of roughs and was of the opinion that nothing could replace rain. Zontek had described it as “semi-dormant.”
The course had undergone recent alteration where the new 10th hole was created alongside the former 18th. The greens were not more than 21-months-old and the turf required more time to settle down before taking in an event on likes
of US Open.
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