From someone who has played the Black a lot (including three times this year) and has also done some research into it's history, I'm fully behind the bunkers on Nos. 9 and 14. I think the old No. 9 became a boring driving hole for the long hitter, who, with no hazard in the way on either side, could put one on top of the hill and have a flip wedge into the green. Now, with the tee back and that fingered, hack-it-up-the-fairway bunker on the left, the drive is more the way Tilly envisioned it -- one where you have to account for the right-to-left slope leading into the hill while trying to leave yourself a good look for a more substantial second. If you want to try and get to the top of the hill now by carrying it up the left side, you have to challenge a bunker -- and isn't that terrific risk-reward? No. 9 is a way better hole than it was in 2002.
As for No. 14, I've got to agree with Phil. With that front tongue, the bunker left was needed. It would've been an impossible up-and-down from thick rough over there. (And that front tongue, although not original Tilly, is a cool little addition.) The back part of the green was also necessary for maintenance, and brings in a variety of options for set-up men like Mike Davis.
The two changes I full-heartedly disagree with are the bunkers left of No. 13, and the softening of the green at No. 15. The bunkers left of No. 13 are just overkill. With the new back tee, I can't imagine anyone being able to fully carry the tree on the right, which makes it a substantial obstacle for the drive (which it is, too, if you are going to try and carry it). To add two deep bunkers up the other side makes a very -- hmmmm -- TRENT Jonesian drive. Please, just please stop pinching driving areas.
And I loved the old 15th green. Maybe they could have extended it in the back and to the right a little -- I am correct, Phil? What were the size of the original Tilly greens again? How much bigger?? That was an incredibly difficult hole, and it was one that defined the challenge of Bethpage. You don't see Oakmont softening greens, do you? It's a damn tough course, one that is publicly proclaimed as not for bad golfers. Let it be tough!