U.S. Open: Wyndham Clark offers 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 taking part in a follow spherical, he made a surprising characterization of the course’s greens.

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

“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 yr. Chambers Bay in 2015 additionally obtained a good dose of criticism, as did Oakmont a yr later.

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

Photograph 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 edges 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 subject should cope with them for what they’re.

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

“At present, I went with my caddie [John Ellis] and we have been actually charting to sure pins, like we’d somewhat be right here than there. Generally, that just about might imply not that you simply’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 fireplace at flagsticks however to play proper into the guts of the greens. From there, you need to attempt to two-putt and stroll away with par.

Photograph by David Cannon/Getty Photos

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

“It’s a must to play quite a lot of break on these greens,” Clark stated.

“After we’re hitting lag putts and quick putts, you’ve gotten a 10-footer downhill, down-grain. Usually, you’re no more than 4 or 5 inches exterior the cup on most greens. Right here, you’re perhaps taking part in 10 to 12 inches, so that you’re not getting beneath the outlet and having it run away. It’s actually quite a lot of follow. That’s what we’re going to deal with rather a lot.”

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 just like 2014 from what I bear in mind,” Simpson stated Monday.

“That is fairly typical U.S. Open within the sense that par is a superb good friend to you all week. It’s a brutally arduous golf course. I feel what Martin Kaymer did in 2014 was unimaginable. In the event you take out his successful rating [of 9-under], second place that yr, and the earlier two winners, it was someplace proper round even, one over or one below. 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 workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By. Be sure you take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You may comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.