In the build up to the year's second major we look at five of the most controversial moments and issues in the US Open over the last 40 years.
greens staff water the 7th green at Shinnecock in 2004
US Open Controversies
The USGA are renowned for setting up US Open courses to be brutally punishing, often controversially so. With most accounts suggesting Mike Davis and his team will have the option to tweak Chambers Bay to be very tricky indeed, it’s highly likely that we’ll see opinions divided again this time out. In honour of the almost inevitable hullabaloo, we take a look at five of the biggest controversies in recent US Open history.
1 – Oakmont 1994
Ernie Els plays from a much improved spot in 1994
After a superb third round of 66, Ernie Els took a three shot lead into the final day at Oakmont in 1994. But the 24-year-old started poorly on Sunday with a hook into horrific rough. It looked as though the South African would do well simply to extricate his ball from the tangled lie, let alone reach the green.
But, when Els reached the spot, it was apparent that a camera crane was in his line. A rules official stated the crane was an immovable obstruction and, as such, Els was granted a free drop, which he took in a clear, and massively more playable, spot.
That might have seemed like just a lucky break, but the thing was that the crane was actually perfectly moveable. It had been moved four times already on Sunday before Els arrived and, as soon as he played, it was moved again to cover the action on another part of the course. The rules official would later admit that he got it wrong.
Els finished the day tied at the top of the leaderboard with Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts and then went on to win an 18-hole playoff the following day.
2 – Olympic Club 1998
Payne Stewart watches on forlornly as his ball comes back to him at Olympic Club in 1998
The USGA often set hugely challenging pin positions in the US Open but, at Olympic Club in 1998, many felt they went too far with their choice of hole location on the 18th in the second round. Set on a high point of green, numerous players who missed on their first try looked on in dismay as the ball ran back towards, and sometimes past, where they stood. The words Mickey and Mouse were bandied about that day.
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3 – Inverness Club 1979
Coming to the 8th hole in the first round at Inverness, Lon Hinkle saw an unconventional option off the tee. Aiming at a small gap in the trees he fired through and down the 17th fairway, dramatically reducing the length of the par-5. He made a birdie four. Hinkle’s playing partner Chi Chi Rodriguez and a number of others copied the strategy.
The following day, the shortcut was no longer an option. Overnight, the chairman of the greens committee had paid to have a fairly sizeable tree installed in the gap. It, predictably, became known as “The Hinkle Tree.”
4 – Bethpage Black 2002
Davis Love III searches for his ball on the 10th at Bethpage
A 260-yard carry to the fairway sounds pretty brutal. Try adding a strong headwind and soft ground conditions. That’s what happened on the par-4 10th hole at Bethpage in 2002. It became a nightmare for the shorter hitters and the scoring average over the weekend went up to 4.5. The feeling was that the set-up of the hole favoured the bombers to too great an extent. “I reckon 50% of the field couldn’t reach that fairway,” said Mike Weir afterwards.
5 – Shinnecock Hills 2004
greens staff water the 7th green at Shinnecock in 2004
The players started a bit too well at Shinnecock in 2004. After two rounds there were 11 players under par, and the USGA didn’t like it. They decided the most sensible course of action was to stop watering the course to firm it up.
Unfortunately, by the final round, they’d pretty much lost the greens and were having to water them between groups just to keep them vaguely playable. Vaguely would be the operative word – the scoring average on the final day was an astonishing 78.7.
6 – Chambers Bay 2015
Henrik Stenson looks on in disbelief as he misses a putt at Chambers Bay for the 2015 US Open.
This ended up being Jordan Spieth’s second major of the year, after recording a winning score of 5-under-par, one shot ahead of fellow American Dustin Johnson.
However the news of the week circled around the controversial putting surfaces over that week. Colin Montgomerie, who finished on +13 in a tie for 64th, described the greens in his pre-tournament warm up rounds as: “very, very poor. The quality of the surface of the greens is extremely poor. That is going to take away the consistency of the putts. The 10-footers that you see people hole all the time, that won’t be happening this week. The greens are extremely poor.”
Fellow professionals, most notably Ian Poulter and Sergio Garcia supported Montgomerie’s critique of the Chambers Bay greens.
With only eight players finishing under par that week, it was clear that the greens finitely were not up to major championship standard. Although Spieth won’t care about that.
7 – Oakmont 2016
Dustin Johnson with wife Paulina after a controversial final round at the 2016 US Open
Following the controversy at Chambers Bay the year before, there was yet more US Open controversy in last years tournament, in which Dustin Johnson won his first major championship.
When Johnson’s ball moved on the 5th green during his final round, without him approaching the ball, he stopped and made sure he interpreted the ruling correctly.
More than an hour later, the USGA informed Johnson it was unsure if he should be penalised a stroke under the idea that he had forced the ball to move. The USGA notified Johnson that the action on the 5th green would be reviewed and ruled upon at the end of his round. The American was eventually given a penalty stroke, dropping him back to 4-under-par, but it still meant that he won the championship by one shot. Close!
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