Chip,
I think the answer is: You can't count on Mother Nature, but, you can count on man narrowing the fairways.
Firm and fast can only exist if Mother Nature co-operates.
So many times rain has made a golf course soft for a tournament.
The failsafe method is to narrow fairways, and I can understand the sponsor, USG/PGA not wanting to take the risk.
What's interesting about this process is that it's SOP to begin depriving the greens of water, making them super fast and firm to the point that it brings them to the brink.
And then, the other horror is, recommending that the very character contained in the greens, their slope and contour, be wiped out, to accomodate the need for faster and firmer greens.
I don't know all of the factors involved with WF's rejection of the 2015 Open, but, when I heard that it was suggested that certain greens be softened to accomodate the tournament, I was horrified and philosophically opposed to that disfiguration, for any reason.
The unfortunate factor with respect to narrowed fairway widths is the club's failure to restore them to their original or architecturally intended lines.