Officials admit concern over course conditions

Tournament officials admit they are concerned about the firm conditions at Chambers Bay, but insist they are not at the point of “losing” the course.

Several players have compared the hard, dry conditions to those which prevailed in the 2013 Open at Muirfield, which saw the likes of Rory McIlroy putt from the 15th green into a bunker and Ian Poulter say the pin position on the 18th “needs a windmill and clown face.”

Similar conditions also sent scores soaring in the 2010 US Amateur staged at the public, links-style course which only opened for play three years earlier, but USGA executive director Mike Davis insisted lessons had been learned.

“Given the (weather) forecast, by far the biggest concern that we’ve got for this championship would be managing the firmness,” Davis told a press conference.

“It is such a great thing to be in this position. You kind of wake up and you dream of this saying, let us control it, don’t give us a bunch of water so they’re throwing darts at the greens. And we’ve got it.

“But now it’s our job to make sure we manage that firmness appropriately. We want to see a correct amount of firmness but at the same time we’re not looking for well-struck balls to hit in the front of the green and bounce the whole way over.

“At Oakmont next year, we have a really good idea what it’s going to play like if it’s wet, what it’s going to play like if it’s windy or dry. Here, we just don’t have as much history to go on and for that reason I think we really do have to be a bit more cautious.

“We learned a lot of things from the US Amateur in 2010 so that we’ve come into this conservatively, particularly when it comes to how we’re handling water.

“Right now the course is firm, but I don’t think we’re at that point where we think we’re going to lose it.”

In terms of pace of play, the target time for a three-ball on the first two days has been set at four hours and 45 minutes, although that is just for the first few groups.

“We have 21 minutes worth of walking time between greens and tees,” Davis added.