U.S. Open host Chambers Bay is not your run-of-the-mill USGA course.
First of all, the national championship has never been played in the Pacific Northwest. Second, Chambers Bay is a public course younger than every player who will compete there. Third, it's a links-inspired track with quirks, bounces, mounding, bunkering and elevation changes that are an initial jab to the senses.
In other words, it's a course that, as USGA executive director Mike Davis cautioned on media day on Monday, will require some study and a full embrace if players want to be successful there.
For a number of PGA Tour players, that sounds miserable, and Ian Poulter passed along some of that feedback on Twitter on Tuesday night.
Well several players have played Chambers Bay in prep for US Open. The reports back are its a complete farce. I guess someone has to win.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) April 29, 2015
Note that this isn't Poulter's opinion of the Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed course. He hasn't played it yet. Perhaps that was why a number of fans gave the Englishman guff for sharing the views of at least a few of his peers.
RELATED: PODCAST: Learn more about Chambers Bay in Jay Flemma's interview with architect Robert Trent Jones. Jr.
However, one respondent had good reason to disagree with what Poulter's peers are saying: Peter Uihlein. The up-and-coming pro won the U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay in 2010.
@IanJamesPoulter I didn't mind it during the U.S. AM
— Peter Uihlein (@PeterUihlein) April 29, 2015
So why would so many players have a problem with the course beyond simply being quirky? The USGA is going to offer a unique setup that takes full advantage of the versatility of the track.
For one, hole Nos. 1 and 18 will switch par at least one day during the championship, with one playing as a par 4 and the other a par 5 on any given day of tournament week. (That's perfectly legal, by the way.) Some holes will feature tee boxes on downslopes and sidehills, creating an odd challenge. Many tee boxes are placed at very different angles and distances, allowing drastically different looks from one day to the next.
This brand of golf certainly isn't going to appeal to every player in the field. However, the players that enjoy the challenge Chambers Bay presents are licking their chops at the thought of their competition psyching themselves out before ever setting foot on property.
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