For the most part Chambers Bay is playing wonderfully. A touch of water was put on the greens which helped make the course play darn near perfect Monday morning.
The only exception to that would be the 1st hole. I watched not only our group, where 2 of 3 ended up down below when they both thought they hit very good shots, but another group as well in the afternoon where everyone of the players ended up below. I saw a ball hit from down below that flew up the green, almost pin high, and then roll all the way back down. It was silly golf and in my opinion brings too much chance into determining the best golfers.
Think Shinnecock #11, thats how this hole was playing. The stroke average was over 5. 7 was the other hole that coming into the tournament seemed to cause most players the most trepidation. the usga moved the tee box up about 20 yards so that helped things, but there was still only about a 20 paces of the green where you could land it without having the ball come back 60 yards
The other problem with the set up is the length of time it is taking to play the course. The shortest group to play yesterday too 5:21, the longest about 5:57. 14 groups were assed penalty strokes, many of whom the USGA took away after appeals, but not all. Before you jump all over these kids for slow play keep in mind that the place on a normal day takes 5 hours to play. Throw in there the ridiculous speeds of the greens (i'd say at least 13), the incredible firmness of the whole course, and the competitive conditions, its no wonder its taking 5:30 on average to play the course. Most groups were not waiting until they came till the last hole, where there was often a 15 minute wait. Our group played what I would say at a good pace, we never waited on anyone until the last hole and no one ever waited on us, the round still took 5:30 hours.
Marc thought his 77 was maybe the best competitive round of golf he had ever played. It could have been as good as a 74, and as bad as a 82-83. There just isn't much difference between 75-82 out there. We figure we need to shoot somewhere around par at the home course this afternoon to make the cut. The home course is without a doubt an easier course by 5 or 6 shots, but its still 7400 yards and the greens and surrounds are firmer than 95% of the courses in this country, making it difficult to score on.
By the way, everyone in our practice group was thrilled to have Richard Choi walk us through the course on Saturday. I know all of them found his knowledge of the course to be a great help. He without a doubt must know that course as good as anyone out there.