Very interesting replies. I don't mean to come off as a Pebble Beach-hater; quite the opposite, in fact. In years past I have always looked forward to watching this tournament on TV so that I can see all the great holes that Pebble has--not just the ones on the ocean, but holes like 14 and 16. In the past, I have enjoyed watching #14 for the very reason that it is a tough par, rather than a legitimate birdie chance. It has always played that way, as far as I can recall from watching the tournament. But alarm bells start to go off in my head when three pros make a quad on the hole in the space of a half dozen or so groups. The contributing factor among all three of those blowups seems to be the shaved-down area to the left of that green.
I think collection areas are great--that's why the Masters is so much fun to watch. When players end up in short grass ten, twenty, thirty yards away from the pin and have three or four different ways to play a shot, that's golf theatre at its best. Such was not the case with this particular chipping area, which fed every ball into shade-covered, damp rough. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that collection areas that feed balls into long grass in that sort of way are not favored.
Also, I do not believe it was as simple for Goydos or Molder to play it safe from short and right as some seem to be arguing here. Wasn't there the same problem--a dropoff to a chipping area--over the back of the green as the left? Faldo and Nantz seemed to think that no matter where he aimed, Goydos had no shot to get the ball anywhere in the neighborhood of the hole. And since that right-hand slope in the green seemed to funnel balls into the same place, I'm sure there were footprints and divots galore down there.
Is this the first year that left side was shaved down? If they leave it for the US Open and they put the pin where it was today, the USGA runs the risk of a situation like they had at Shinnecock in 2004 if things firm up.