"It's almost beyond belief"

Thomas Bonk talks to Mike Davis about the weird development of the Torrey Pines rough, which has more kikuyu thanks to our warm, sunny spring.

The problem is with the 15-foot width of primary rough, which is troublesome even though it has been cut to only 2 1/4 inches. The rough is a combination of Kikuyu, over-seeded rye and poa annua, and that's what is concerning the USGA right now.

"It's almost beyond belief," said Mike Davis, senior director of rules and competitions who is in charge of setting up the course.

Davis walked the course late Monday afternoon and said he dropped about 250 balls in the rough to check the conditions.

Some of the balls sank deep in the grass, some went halfway and some sat right on top of the grass like they were placed on a tee.

"We've never had rough this short, but we've never had Kikuyu in the mix," Davis said today. "My gosh, you could drop two balls only three inches from each other, and one disappears and the other stays right up on top. It's hard to believe. Is this the U.S. Open or the World Junior Championship?"

I'm going to see it firsthand the next two days and will post some thoughts. But those balls sitting way up in kikuyu can be deceptively difficult.  I know from hitting countless sky balls and assorted other whiff-like shots from what looked so simple!

Comments

[Chuck]

I played Torrey-South some months ago, Geoff, and I commented on this site that I had never seen a golf course with so many different varieties of grass in playable areas. It was like a turfgrass experiment farm.

I can absolutely picture what Mike Davis appears to be describing. I think he's absolutely right.

The question I have is why this news surprises anybody?

[Terry]

This may well prove to be the dominant story for this year's Open. Kikuyu is a very nutty strain of grass and it will lead to some comical and some tragic results during the week of the Open.

[clarence]

The one and only time I played Torrey, I hit one in the rough and could see the ball from 50 yards away.

I thought, "I might be able to get that one on the green."

Once I got to the ball and saw the lie close up, I thought, "Now whatinhell am I supposed to do?"

The course may not be architecturally dazzling, but I expect to have fun watching the pros play it.

C

[dbh]

The vagary of this sort of rough actually sounds appealing to me (as a spectator).
Seemingly players will have to have command of a number of different shots in order to play from it. So 'play it as it lies'.

[dmp]

Hit it in the fairway and you don't have to worry about the rough! Of course, you're still playing off kikuyu there, but that's another story/complaint!

[Traveler]

"My gosh, you could drop two balls only three inches from each other, and one disappears and the other stays right up on top. It's hard to believe. Is this the U.S. Open or the World Junior Championship?"

Horrors!! You mean there might be an element of chance involved (gasp)?? How terrible for a sporting contest!

I haven't seen the rough, of course, and I guess something could get so random that it would be an issue, but sorry, USGA, this kind of chance and variability makes sporting contests great, it doesn't detract from them.

I don't know the context of the interview, I don't know if Davis was maybe joking a little, but taken at face value, it suggests the USGA is anal retentively, irrationally, childishly fixated on an unachievable concept of "fairness." Ridiculous.

[dsl]

Here's where they have a chance to draw the line - keep the rough at a moderate length and let the character of the kikuyu shine through. If they do that, it could be very interesting.

However, this is the USGA, so I'd bet they try to get it to knee length just off the fairways. Then, they'll drop in some poisonous snakes to increase the element of 'chance'.

[Jackson]

Getting this kind of newsflash two weeks prior is inexcusable. Mike better hope the "specific cutting technique" works, or it could be his last US Open.

[dsl]

Wouldn't it save everyone a lot of time and money if the USGA just planted OB stakes along the edges of every tee, fairway and green?

[Smolmania]

Why is "consistency" in the rough something to be desired? Is there some provision in the rules that calls for two balls landing in the rough to be treated the same that no one told me about? If so, why did Payne Stewart lose an Open because his ball ended up in a sand filled divot?

As dmp correctly notes, they're supposed to be hitting the ball in the fairway. If they don't, they'll have to deal with the vagaries of the kikuyu grass.

[Chuck]

OB stakes around every fairway, indeed. With Claymore mines attached to the OB stakes on holes where they didn't have any room to push the tees back.. Oh, and speed up the greens, too.

"We're not trying to embarass the best golfers in the world...we're trying to injure the best golfers in the world..."

[Bill V]

Torrey Pines sucks on a good muni day, what the hell's the Open gonna be????

;-)))))

To Quote good old CB:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[Bill V]

That got cut off, it was supposed to end
-GGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers, maties

[Dream Ticket]

First two days' pairing of Phil and Tiger will trump everything now, the usual nonsense about the course/rough...as it should be.

Better than Oakland Hills since they're competing against each other on such a familiar (to both of them, somewhat to us altho altered) track.

Somewhat surprising since I thought for TV and for fans watching they like to spread out stars somewhat--Tiger early one day, Phil the next, etc.

David Fay still the not-so-hidden hand behind the pairings?? I'm sure he consults with Ebersol.