Pebble Beach

The day before we arrived at the first tee of America’s most hallowed golf ground, Mike Davis, USGA senior director of rules and competitions, talked at length in front of a room full of media about how rigorous Pebble Beach would play come June 17. He was especially candid about the greens, which he called “maybe the scariest we've ever had for a US Open. They are absolutely the smallest greens in major championship golf.”
Those words rang loud in my head as I stepped over a 12-foot, downhill putt on the 376-yard, par-four opening hole. Fearing a comebacker of at least the same distance, I stroked it with all the force of drizzle. The ball stopped about a foot short of the cup.
Interesting, I thought. Not national championship speed, after all. The previous day’s rain — an anomaly this time of year at Pebble — had made a noticeable impact.
But the USGA is good at nothing if not implementing devilish cosmetic changes to an Open venue. And at the par-four third, a short dogleg left, one addition the organization is famous for — growing the rough up around bunkers — sank its claws into me. The knee-high fescue not only gobbled up my third shot, but also my fourth. I walked away with a triple bogey seven and a big- time reality check after having eagled the second.
At the daunting par-five sixth, it was Mike’s turn to feel the wrath of Davis & Co. After a pulled drive into the graduated rough, the thick blades strangled his hybrid, causing a knuckleball into the ocean.
“Wow,” he said. “That was weird.”