"I think, finally, we are playing a good golf course"

Steve Elling reports that Vijay Singh delivered an impromptu rant on the Oakland Hills PGA setup, perhaps egged on by the modest setup and more reasonable greens at Ridgewood.

"I think, finally, we are playing a good golf course," Singh said of Ridgewood.

Ouch. Within moments, he made it doubly clear that he was both praising Ridgewood and pasting Oakland Hills.

Two things to consider when weighing Singh's considered opinion: First, he is a former PGA Championship winner, so he's not going to launch into a dated diatribe without good reason. Then again, he was credited with five-putting one of Oakland Hills' undulating greens, which Jack Nicklaus once characterized as the toughest in golf.

"From tee to green that's one of the best golf courses I have played, but it's a disgrace to have greens like that on a golf course that good," Singh said of Oakland Hills, site of multiple U.S. Opens and PGAs in years past, not to mention the 2004 Ryder Cup.

"If the members were to play the speed of the greens we played, they would all quit," he said. "I don't think there would be any members left.

"I don't know what the PGA was going at. I don't think they could ever hold another golf tournament on that course if the greens are like that."

The course underwent a tweaking and lengthening three years ago by designer Rees Jones, but the greens were essentially untouched. Maybe they should have been bulldozed, too, Singh said.

"They should get somebody to redesign those greens," he groused. "From tee to green it's one of the best golf courses you can ever play. But on the greens, it was just a disaster."

Comments

[jason]

He's just upset he didn't make more birdies for those St. Jude kids.

[Smitty]

And what were Vijay's putting statistics at Winged Foot or Oakmont? Maybe he could putt before (Augusta, 2000), but Oakland Hills proves beyond all doubt that the big Figian can't roll the rock anymore.

[KS]

I'm just glad Vijay is mailing in his designs rather than actually putting that design philosophy into practice.

[Smitty]

And what were Vijay's putting statistics at Winged Foot or Oakmont? Maybe he could putt before (Augusta, 2000), but Oakland Hills proves beyond all doubt that the big Fijian can't roll the rock anymore.

[Huh]

I really dont know where else to post this, but I'll post it here.

pgatour.com streaming is only available to americans. I know the "majors streams" were also geo-blocked, but this is the first time its being done for a "pgatour" sponsored event.

Note, the rights holders for the pgatour for my country is TGC, just as it is in the states.

Dont know why pgatour is doing this, but I think its a really sad showing. I have checked other rights holders for the pgatour in other countires, and NONE of them are rebroadcasting the internet stream.

[ellis]

Clearly a case of sour grapes. But there is a debate waiting to happen in there somewhere. The real issue is about green speed. Those Ross greens were not built to accommodate the goofy speeds of today. But a championship setup must have greens running at 12+, right?

[frank D]

well i hope so becasue do not forget - westchester country club course is the one that is being replaced - and everyone liked that short but challenging course


frankD

[Doug]

frankD

Everyone, except Eldrick Woods

[michael]

what would be most cost efficient, especially in an economic' downturn': reconstructing greens - which today must be usga specified with their specifications for layers, adding even more the expenses - or simply raising the mower heights to something that might resemble what Ross originally intended?

I don't understand why we must have these greens on the brink of death. There used to be several different factors to reading a green (mowing pattern, undulation, time of day, weather situations); now its just find out if they're playing like concrete or glass, address your ball and tap it gently towards the hole.