07a setup not to lympic standards
the mike davis era of setting up u.s. open courses has
been defined by the executive director’s efforts to restore
reward for intelligence and risk-taking. which made this
week’s u.s. open at olympic club feel like a contradiction to the progress made in restoring luster to america’s
national championship after hiccups during the tom
meeks years. although olympic club and superintendent
pat finlen shined in every respect thanks to immaculate
conditioning and bent greens deemed by players as fabulous as ever, the usga setup put players on the defensive.
fairways too narrow for olympic club’s canted fairways
took driver out of player’s hands and leveled the playing
field to the point that even driving accuracy was not always
rewarded. in the 1998 u.s. open, the field hit 58 percent
of fairways to just 46 percent in 2012, even though the
course was watered nightly to keep balls from running too
much and davis insisted that olympic played wider than
1998. the resulting finish of webb simpson edging a long
list of pursuers looked too much like this year’s indy 500
where the conclusion was determined not by a burst of
brilliant play and well-timed risk taking, but instead by who
managed not to crash on the final lap. olympic provided
fine theater and a beautiful stage. but it could have been
just a little better. —Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac)
eZra shaw/getty images
cover // contents // big pictures // 10 ThInGS // Zinger’s corner // pga tour // rank and file //equipment // tim rosaforte
