U.S. Open: Wyndham Clark provides eye-poping report on Pinehurst’s greens

Wyndham Clark, the defending U.S. Open champion, arrived at Pinehurst No. 2 on Monday prepared for his title protection.

After enjoying a follow spherical, he made a surprising characterization of the course’s greens.

“They’re extraordinarily quick. If the greens get any firmer and quicker, they’d be borderline,” Clark mentioned.

“They already are borderline.”

Over the previous decade, the United States Golf Affiliation (USGA) has drawn ire from quite a few gamers for organising golf programs unfairly. Shinnecock Hills in 2018 instantly involves thoughts. Simply ask Phil Mickelson concerning the course setup that 12 months. Chambers Bay in 2015 additionally obtained a good dose of criticism, as did Oakmont a 12 months later.

So when Clark makes use of the phrase “borderline,” he signifies that the greens are “borderline unfair.”

Picture by Gregory Shamus/Getty Photos

Pinehurst No. 2’s greens are well-known for his or her turtle-back shapes, which makes them a lot smaller than their precise measurement. Slight misfires will roll off the perimeters of those placing surfaces, leaving gamers scrambling from precarious positions across the greens.

Plus, no rain is within the forecast, which means these greens will solely get harder because the week wears on. Temperatures in North Carolina will hover within the excessive 80s and low 90s, which means the placing surfaces will solely agency up.

But, Clark and the opposite 155 gamers within the discipline must cope with them for what they’re.

“So far as practising, the largest factor is the place you permit your self on the greens,” Clark defined.

“Right this moment, I went with my caddie [John Ellis] and we had been actually charting to sure pins, like we’d relatively be right here than there. Typically, that nearly may imply not that you just’re attempting to overlook a inexperienced, however you’re erring in the direction of the simpler up and down.”

An adage for enjoying No. 2 is to not hearth at flagsticks however to play proper into the center of the greens. From there, you must attempt to two-putt and stroll away with par.

Picture by David Cannon/Getty Photos

However no two-putt par is assured when you’re on these placing surfaces.

“You need to play loads of break on these greens,” Clark mentioned.

“After we’re hitting lag putts and quick putts, you might have a 10-footer downhill, down-grain. Usually, you’re no more than 4 or 5 inches outdoors the cup on most greens. Right here, you’re possibly enjoying 10 to 12 inches, so that you’re not getting beneath the outlet and having it run away. It’s actually loads of follow. That’s what we’re going to deal with quite a bit.”

Clark didn’t compete within the 2014 U.S. Open, the final time Pinehurst No. 2 hosted this championship. He was nonetheless in school then.

However Webb Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion, did.

“They’re fairly much like 2014 from what I keep in mind,” Simpson mentioned Monday.

“That is fairly typical U.S. Open within the sense that par is a good buddy to you all week. It’s a brutally laborious golf course. I feel what Martin Kaymer did in 2014 was unbelievable. If you happen to take out his profitable rating [of 9-under], second place that 12 months, and the earlier two winners, it was someplace proper round even, one over or one underneath. I don’t foresee anyone doing what [Kaymer] did then. However you by no means know ‘trigger guys are so good.”

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in Via. Make sure to try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as effectively.