USGA Press Conference at Newport

Sadly, most of the talk centered around the flooded course and the dreadful forecast for Thursday. Still, a few items of interest:

Q. We had the first major here in the U.S. in 1895, and we waited nor 100 years for the U.S. Amateur. Why did it take so long to come back here? I know it's probably before your time?

DAVID FAY: Thank you for that.

An innocent mistake. The bow tie that makes him look older.

DAVID FAY: And I think that Winged Foot confirmed that a great old golf course can still be a great championship site for contemporary golf. It's remarkable that 32 years ago the story line from Winged Foot was the massacre at Winged Foot, the unfairness of the golf course, the trickery of the golf course. The winning score was 287. Two weeks ago the winning score was 285 and the greatest criticism I heard was that the greens were a little slower than they expected. There was no comment about fundamental unfairness of the golf course or it's not playable or it's not rewarding good shot making. It certainly punished errant shot making?

You see, the winning score doesn't matter to them. Nope, not a bit.