“I’d rather be 260 yards in the fairway than 310 yards in the rough."

Between Twitter bickering and Monty's dubious claims of little course setup tinkering, Alistair Tait says "Friday can’t come soon enough."

However, it's hard not to comment on the setup and the hoped-for outcome.

Ian Poulter said the course is set up like a U.S. Open venue. “I’d rather be 260 yards in the fairway than 310 yards in the rough,” Poulter said. “That’s how penal it is around here.”

Of course, Monty’s favorite major is the U.S. Open, the one he’s come closest to winning on three occasions. No surprise, then, that Celtic Manor would be set up U.S. Open style.

There is no question course setup plays into the Europeans’ hands. With the U.S. containing more long-bombers than the Euros, it makes sense to grow the rough to catch the big hitters who hit it off-line. Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Jeff Overton, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson might struggle if they don’t put it in the fairway.

FYI Monty...Dustin Johnson led the U.S. Open through three rounds and the Woods/Mickelson combo each scored top 5's this year.

"I was hardly going to set up to a US Tour set-up."

In an unbylined Irish Times piece, Monty is quoted this way about the Celtic Manor setup:

However, when asked if the course was set up as for a standard European Tour event, Montgomerie admitted: "Hence to our advantage, if it is a European Tour set-up. I was hardly going to set up to a US Tour set-up.

Soft, green and rough lined fairways does scream European! We sure don't have golf like that here!

Who Dustin Johnson Should Be Expecting Thank You Notes From...

1. Pete Dye - should thank DJ for creating a distraction that will have us forgetting about the worst goofiest finishing holes imaginable. The 17th has been a well known absurdity at 235 yards with extreme banks more suited for a 135 yard par-3, not something receiving mid-to-long irons. But the re-worked 18th was the real standout Sunday, with the new green not improving matters over last time and the re-imagined strategic options non-existent throughout the tournament. That, however, was also the fault of...

2. Kerry Haigh - The PGA's setup man didn't get Whistling Straits right. This is a course that has to be set up with a 20 mph wind in mind no matter the forecast, and the last two PGA's there have given the impression they were not thinking of the effects of wind. There is way too much dark green, U.S. Open-style rough in places that Dye intended as fairway, or worse, thick stuff harvested next to greens. It's all made more disappointing when you hear that they were out primping the stuff up. (On a faux links!?) There also did not appear to be enough varying of yardages and in the case of No. 18, an unfortunate use of a front left hole location likely not accessible with a wedge, much less 5-irons on up to hybrids as we saw Sunday.

When the best shot--according to Faldo and Nantz--is a 5-iron to 20 feet from Rory McIlroy, something is amiss (unless they are playing into a gale force wind, they were not). For all of the people who like to brand what the USGA's Mike Davis does as gimmicky, you can imagine what he might have tried: use the same hole location but move the tee up 75 yards to give the players a chance to use the new fairway and leave themselves with a flip wedge. Potential risk-reward and maybe even better television. This also would have taken those sandy pits along the right side of the fairway out of play, and we probably wouldn't be talking about crowd control and walking rules officials today. But thanks to Johnson's mistake, few noticed just how awful the hole played all week and especially Sunday. (No scoring average for Sunday is available on the website, I guess we'll have to wait for Golf World to hit the mailboxes?).

3. Tiger Woods - He missed the Ryder Cup team on points and now, according to a Tweet by Steve DiMeglio, may miss the playoffs. Unfathomable! And yet, no one is talking about it today.

Dear Dustin: Thanks, From Tiger, Kerry and Pete.

Flashback: "Let me say that I saw flesh-and-blood children digging up rocks and building sand castles in bunkers overlooking the eighth green."**

John Garrity, on Wednesday of PGA week, foreshadowing the inevitable questions about Whistling Straits's sandy hazards with two styles of maintenance, two types of preparation and most definitley two types of supervision.

The sand hazards at Whistling Straits are unlike those at any other major championship. Roped-off spectator paths lead you right into the sand, which is neatly raked on one side of the rope and churned up like a child's sandbox on the other. And before you challenge that last metaphor, let me say that I saw flesh-and-blood children digging up rocks and building sand castles in bunkers overlooking the eighth green.

Update on 2010-08-16 20:02 by Geoff

**Nice spot by reader Michael C. of a PGA posted Getty Image of kids playing in a Whistling Straits bunker. Adorable on so many levels. And screen captured here just in case it should magically disappear into cyberspace.

"Presidents Cup, a major, we're way down the road. We want to walk before we run."

Randy King talks to Jim Justice about the Greenbrier's foray into PGA Tour golf and besides hinting that he'd like to bring a U.S. Open to the resort, he suggests the low scoring was somewhat intentional.

Justice wanted the tour players to enjoy their first trip to the West Virginia mountains. Players had fun taking on Old White, shooting astronomically low numbers on the short course with very little rough and receptively soft greens.

''First of all, in my world, fans love to see birdies. It adds a lot of excitement,'' Justice said. "I love to see birdies, and I don't want to see the players chipping it out back in the fairways out of the rough U.S. Open style and the green's hard as a brick bat.''