Rose predicts 'tennis', Monty slams greens, USGA 'won't lose Chambers Bay'

Justin Rose on how to win the US Open, Colin Montgomerie mauls Chambers Bay, USGA confident

Charlie Lemay's picture
Thu, 18 Jun 2015
Rose predicts 'tennis', Monty slams greens, USGA 'won't lose Chambers Bay'

Anyone for tennis?

Justin Rose reckons bouts of "tennis" could break out at Chambers Bay.

The Englishman says players may end up criss-crossing certain greens, and believes the key will be to stay away from the "big numbers".

“There are holes here where you’re going to see some stuff - you might see a little bit of tennis on a couple of greens with the ball being putted from one side to another," said the 2013 US Open champion.

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“When I won the US Open, I think I didn’t make a double bogey the whole week. My mindset was to stick as close to par as possible. If you can do things like that and not give away cheap shots that’s going to help come the end of the week."

Asked whether he will draw more on his US Open title or Open Championship experience, Rose said: "I'm going to go with winning the US Open, because my Open Championship record is not great."

Monty mauls greens


Colin Montgomerie has slammed Chambers Bay's greens as "very, very poor" ahead of the US Open.

The 51-year-old, who has been a runner-up three times, is playing his first US Open since 2008 after winning the Senior US Open last year.  

"The quality of the surface of the greens is extremely poor," said the Scot, who claims he is "playing as well as I ever have".

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"That is going to take away the consistency of the putts. The 10-footers that you see people hole all the time, that won’t be happening this week."

He added on SkySports:“A course of this demanding nature had to be in perfect condition and unfortunately it is not."

USGA can tame fiery Chambers Bay

US Open boss Mike Davis admits the tournament committee do not know how Chambers Bay will react to the weather, but was adamant they are “not going to lose it” if conditions get firm and fast.

“The pressure comes from making sure the golf course plays properly and it's different every year," said the USGA chief executive. "We've got more unknowns, just because we haven't been here.

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"At Oakmont next year, we have a really good idea what that's going to play like if it's wet, what it's going to play like if it's windy or dry. And here we just don't have as much history to go on, and for that reason I think we really do have to be a bit more cautious.

“We learned a lot of things from the US Amateur in 2010. And granted that was an August event. It was a matchplay event, but nonetheless we learned a lot of things that we've come into this conservatively particularly when it comes to how we're handling water. Right now I don't think we have an overly firm golf course.”

Not everyone's a winner

Defending US Open champion Martin Kaymer thinks most professionals compete for money and are not playing to win.

“Some players they just have it naturally, that they want to win,” the two-time major winner said. “For example, Mickelson, I can imagine if he’s up there in contention, he doesn’t really care if he finishes second or 15th or 18th, or wherever, he wants to win.

"So many players, I notice they still play for the money, for world ranking points. So little players actually play for the win. 

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“That gives you more confidence in yourself. Because you’re not there to finish second or 10th. You want to win. And knowing that they might don’t want to win, so you see how they play the last few holes. They are not that aggressive anymore or they leave their putts short or you see it in their body language. And you kind of like feed from it.”

The 30-year-old chose Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy as US Open contenders. 

All you need is luck

Former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel bemoans luck factor at Chambers Bay.

When asked what he thought of the course,  Schwartzel told the Daily Telegraph: “Ummmm, not sure. Is it a golf course?

“I think it’s a course that involves a hell of a lot of luck. You don’t only win by luck of course; you need to hit good shots. But most guys aren’t of the mindset to be able to shoot the scores you’re going to see here and remain focused.

“You play a golf course like Muirfield Village (which hosted the Memorial two weeks ago) and you’ve got the most perfect putting surfaces you could ask for and then you come to the US Open and you’ve got surfaces that a good putt doesn’t really matter.”

The 30-year-old won the 2011 Masters and has nine European Tour titles.

US Open alternate has clubs confiscated 

A US Open alternate had his clubs confiscated because he played a practice round at Chambers Bay with fellow Australian Geoff Ogilvy.

Clint Rice, ranked 1188th in the world, qualified for Chambers Bay as an alternate which means he will not play unless a player withdraws.

He was stopped after 13 holes, as USGA rules prohibit alternates from playing warm-up rounds.

“It’s a bit silly if you’re not holding anybody up or interfering with their practice,” Ogilvy told Australian Associated Press.

“I’d get it if there were no spots available for players in the field. But this wasn’t the case here…what happens if he gets in on Thursday and hasn’t seen the course? He effectively has his chances limited.”