U.S. Open director defends Chambers Bay golf course

Jun 22, 2015, 12:14 PM | Updated: 2:00 pm

England's Ian Poulter was among the golfers who voiced their displeasure about the greens at Chambers Bay during the U.S. Open. (AP)

(AP)

BY STEPHANIE KLEIN

MyNorthwest.com

While some golfers were disappointed by the conditions of the greens at Chambers Bay for the U.S. Open, the tournament director believes the event was a success.

“In hindsight, I don’t think we would have done anything differently. I think it’s challenging from a spectator’s standpoint if you want to see every shot of the golf course,” Danny Sink of the USGA said on Monday.

Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy says any way you slice it, the investment to bring the tournament to the county-owned course was well worth it.

“I feel it was magical, fabulous,” said McCarthy. “It exceeded my expectations. We’ve done a tremendous amount of planning. It really goes to show that a lot of planning really can pay off.”

Former U.S. Open champion Gary Player wasn’t shy about his complaints on NBC.

“I’m standing here in the most beautiful state in the world: Washington &#8212 Seattle here &#8212 unbelievably beautiful and we play the U.S. Open, this great championship. A group of people, the USGA &#8212 that I have great respect for, but this has been the most unpleasant golf tournament that I’ve seen in my life.”

He didn’t stop there.

“I mean, to see a man miss the green by one yard and to end up 50 yards down there. And caddies falling and hurting their ankles and knees and players falling.”

710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny O’Neil says there are two things to remember: First, Gary Player is moving from former U.S. Open champion to current kook. The other thing is, he has a book to promote.

“It helps him to be more outrageous and overstated to make that point,” O’Neil said.

That said, Player wasn’t alone. Billy Horschel had a bit of a fit on the course. Ian Poulter took to to complain.

Poulter wrote:

Mike Davis the head of the @USGA unfortunately hasn’t spoke the truth about the conditions of the greens. I feel very sorry for the hundreds of greens staff who spent countless hours leading into this week and this week doing there best to have it the best they could and I thank them for that. But look at the picture. This was the surface we had to putt on. It is disgraceful that the @USGA hasn’t apologized about the greens they simply have said. “we are thrilled the course condition this week”. It wasn’t a bad golf course, In fact it played well and was playable. What wasn’t playable were the green surfaces.

I would be pissed if I paid a lot of money for tickets and could barely see the top players hit golf shots.

— Billy Horschel (@BillyHo_Golf)

to so many young golfers in the world today! It was unacceptable and I promise to do better! Once again I apologize.

— Billy Horschel (@BillyHo_Golf)

But O’Neil said no golfer had an advantage over another.

“Everybody played the same course and the golfers didn’t like the greens, for the most part,” he said.

While O’Neil said he’s usually quick to defend hometown venues, he understands that Chambers Bay is a link-style course that’s not indicative of what we usually see in the Northwest.

“[Golfers] always complain about the U.S. Open because of the way it is typically set up,” he said. “They feel it’ll be too challenging. Everyone is playing the same course. And that’s the part of it I don’t understand.”

Golfer Chris Kirk echoed Sink’s statement and said he was just concerned spectators wouldn’t be able to enjoy the game with the way Chambers Bay was set up.