Ryan Moore's comments follow.... Thoughts?
Moore ties for 33rd, blasts USGA
ouch: Puyallup golfer says ‘tricky’ courses produce ‘horrible golf’
TODD MILLES; STAFF WRITER
Published: 06/21/1012:05 am
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – A good night’s sleep didn’t do much cool off any of Ryan Moore’s beefs with how the United States Golf Association sets up U.S. Opens.
The Puyallup golfer matched his best round of the week – a 2-over-par 73 at Pebble Beach Golf Links – and finished in a tie for 33rd at 12-over 296 in the 110th U.S. Open.
It was the eighth time he made the cut at a major championship – and his third in a row over the past two seasons.
Thrilled? Not exactly.
And after spending a fourth consecutive day desperately trying to get on a roll – attempting to make a few birdie putts on Pebble Beach’s crusty, bumpy surfaces – and coming up empty, Moore let off more steam Sunday afternoon about what it takes to win a U.S. Open.
Lots and lots of luck.
“U.S. Opens are U.S. Opens,” he said. “I feel like (the USGA) is … going for trickiness, to be honest. I’ve played in five now. Three out of five were just extremely tricky and they had nothing to do with being difficult.”
Moore used the steep 14th hole – in particular, its controversial green with about a 20-foot landing area – as an example of the how the USGA has turned the tournament into a showcase for embarrassing the best players in the world.
“They know they can do something about hole (No. 14). It would take not much to make that green halfway reasonable,” Moore said. “They refuse to do it. Beyond that, they make it more severe and tricky on top of it. I think they go for a spectacle or something. They want something to draw attention … or make everybody look stupid, I guess.
“It doesn’t reward good golf shots. That is why I don’t understand why you have a tournament that doesn’t reward good golf shots.”
As he stood on the 17th tee, he told his brother and caddie Jason that he couldn’t hit a shot that would hold on that green with a 7-iron, much less the high, cutting 4-iron shot he needed to get close from 205 yards.
“It’s just a horrible golf hole the way (the USGA) set it up,” Moore said. “I don’t know what they’re trying to demand. Where is the skill? I don’t know. If you can’t even hit a shot to stay on the green, where is the skill involved?”
Moore later said he could not “physically … hit the shots” the USGA requires to score at a U.S. Open.
On Sunday, he made one birdie – a tap-in 3-footer at the eighth hole – and spent the rest of his round hitting chips and trying to save pars with reasonably short putts.
He even had a visit to the beach when his drive kicked off the left side of the fairway on the 18th hole. He found his ball in high grass, hit it back into the fairway and ended up making par.
While Moore talked briefly with a small group of reporters, he was asked if he’d ever consider skipping a U.S. Open – as a sort of protest.
He paused.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ll probably keep playing them, just to torture myself once a year. I get angry, and it makes me hate golf for two months. Then I’m OK again.”
All of this is coming from a guy who won three USGA events as an amateur – the U.S. Amateur in 2004 and the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 2002 and 2004.
“I’m sure all of this is going to be printed, and (the USGA) is going to hate me,” Moore said. “But I’m OK with it. I’ve won three of their championships. I’m OK.”