Golf's world number one Rory McIlroy had a tough day yesterday at the first round of the US Open in Chambers Bay yesterday. Much of the build up to the second major of the year has focused on the course - about how the players have never played a tournament there before, and how different it is compared to anything they have ever seen.
Well several players have played Chambers Bay in prep for US Open. The reports back are its a complete farce. I guess someone has to win.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) April 29, 2015
With the first round now consigned to the history books, there was still an air of discontent amongst players, with Rory McIlroy particularly annoyed with the state of the greens - which have been described as not championship standard. McIlroy struggled on the greens as he posted a two-over-par 72 round.
I felt like I played well tee to green and gave myself a lot of looks but did not take advantage of the good shots I was hitting. There were a couple of misreads and a couple of bad strokes in there as well.
It's hard to pick the line and trust it and then you start making tentative strokes and you are not getting a true roll on the ball. I need to work on that before tomorrow's round and see if I can figure something out.
McIlroy wasn't the only player upset with the greens, with Colin Montgomerie expressing his frustration at their condition when he went on to Sky Sports' commentary team after his round. While Sergio Garcia took to twitter to express his annoyance about the state of the greens:
Happy with my Even par round today although it could've been a bit better by the way I played but this greens are as bad as the look on TV 😖
— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) June 18, 2015
I think a championship of the caliber of @usopengolf deserves better quality green surfaces that we have this week but maybe I'm wrong!
— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) June 18, 2015
If my problem is saying what everyone thinks but they don't have the guts to say it, then I'm guilty of that for sure
— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) June 18, 2015
Some of you are taking what I said the wrong way! I'm trying to give credit to @usopengolf because this kind of championship DESERVES better
— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) June 19, 2015
Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson share the lead after round one, at -5.
Picture credit: Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE
