The US Golf Association (USGA) acknowledged that its latest gamble of a tough course set-up backfired, claiming that unexpectedly strong afternoon winds were responsible for the third round carnage at the US Open on Saturday.
The course was very playable in the morning, as attested by matching rounds of 66 by Daniel Berger and Tony Finau, but it was a different beast in the afternoon after the winds and low humidity baked the greens to a crisp.
“It was a tale of two different golf courses today,” USGA chief executive officer Mike Davis said.
With similarly strong winds predicted for Sunday’s final round, Davis vowed not to make the same mistake, and the hoses were brought out to soak the greens within minutes of the round finishing.
The USGA likes to make its championship a test of the toughest order, but the association left itself open to criticism in the event of a Berger or Finau win, which many would feel undeserved.
As well as they played, they finished before the halfway leaders had even teed off, and hardly expected to be tied for the lead on three-over for the tournament with Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka by the end of the day.
Johnson, in the final pairing, shot what he said was the best 77 of his career.
“I had six or seven putts today that I could have easily putted right off the green, but that’s what it is,” he said.
Justin Rose, who putted brilliantly in the worst of the conditions to sit one shot off the lead, described himself as “shell-shocked.”
“We’ve all been asking for a real US Open again, so I guess we got one for sure this week,” he said.
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