JORDAN RULES
Spieth wins U.S. Open, 21-year-old is halfway to the grand slam.
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — Two-time U.S. Open champ Ernie Els, after a Sunday 73, on Chambers Bay’s greens: “They’re putting better now. They are basically not living any more. The greens are gone.” PITCH AND PUTT: Chris
Kirk played his final round in eight strokes over par, six of them on the very first hole. After his approach shot rolled 40 yards down the steep bank off the left side of the green, he hit five pitch shots in a row that u-turned and came back to his feet. He finally got one to stay on the surface and two-putted for a 10.
Afterward, Kirk posted on his Twitter account: “U.S. Open is a great tournament with incredible history. The USGA should be ashamed of what they did to it this week.” MISERY LOVES COMPANY: Kirk’s 78 put him in last place, 21-over-par, one worse than Camilo Villegas, who shot 75 Sunday for an even 300 on the week, then got trolled on Twitter after observing: “Happy to be done. Not my best game this week but what a shame to play a U.S. Open on the worst greens I have ever played at.”
Villegas’s response to the critics? “I did say I didn’t play very good, and I know the greens are the same for everyone. ... That doesn’t mean the greens are U.S. Open calibre.”
HUFF, PUFF, FLUFF: It was a taxing week for caddies, who had to hump the heavy bags 10 miles a day over the rugged, hilly terrain. By the time his man, Jim Furyk, had finished Sunday’s round, 67-year-old Mike ‘Fluff’
Cowan was whipped. “I’ve seen Chambers Bay two times; first and last,” he said.
OH NO, BILLY HO: Despite being as low as five-under-par at one point in his final round and finishing with 67, Billy
Horschel was not amused by the bumpiness of the greens. At one point, he had to stop himself just short of chopping the surface with his putter after missing a short one, and after another miss, made wavy hand gestures along the path his ball had taken, then repeated the fishlike motion to entertain the gallery. He didn’t mince words later.
“I lost a little respect for the USGA this week ... the greens just aren’t great,” he said. “I think this is one of the most spectacular settings that I’ve ever seen in a golf course. I thought Pebble Beach had unbelievable views, I thought Royal County Down had unbelievable views, they are my top two scenery golf courses to play. And this one by far beats (them). Tee to green it’s fair. It is. But it’s just been a disappointing week with the way the greens are.”
SAND GREENS: Asked if it was true the grass on No. 1 green was dead, Horschel laughed.
“I think it was dead on Tuesday. Yeah, same thing with 4, too. I heard a comment that I thought was absolutely hilarious. A TV anchor for FOX asked the caddy, ‘Is there any grass on No. 4 green?’ He said, ‘Yeah, two blades, and they’re nowhere close to each other.’”
NO WHINGEING: Horschel knew he would reap a whirlwind of abuse for expressing his opinion, but plunged ahead.
“I’ve had this debate on Twitter the last couple of days with people and it sounds like the players are whining, and they’re like, ‘Well, you’re playing for millions of dollars, you’re playing for the U.S. Open championship.’ And like I said, we’re not looking for perfect greens. But we’re looking for something that’s very consistent. And this week they’re not. The only two greens out here that are really good are 13 and 7. And No. 10 is not too bad. But other than that, it’s just a very disappointing week to be here.
“When you come to a championship tournament, I think it’s supposed to find out who the best player is, but when you take away one of the skills from a player … if you’re a great putter, you know, and they take that away from you, that’s a skill that you have above everybody else. And I understand Jordan is up by the leaderboard and he’s making plenty of putts. But I’m a really good putter as well, and I’ve hit a lot of really good putts that have bounced all over the world. I played awesome golf today to shoot 3-under par. And I really felt like I should have shot 6, 7 or 8-under.”
JORDAN RULES: The USGA would never admit it, but its decision to play the controversial 18th hole the way it was designed, as a par-five, for Sunday’s final round may have had more than a little something to do with Jordan Spieth’s declaration that if it were set up as a par-four, he would hit his tee shot over onto the No. 1 fairway.