"We really think that the new groove, particularly at Pebble Beach, where we know we're going to have dry conditions, is going to matter a lot."

The USGA wisely holds their media day right after The Players to ensure minimalist coverage, so it was nice to find Kevin Merfeld's summary of the comments from Pebble Beach.

Two things from Mike Davis caught my eye with regard to this year's setup:

"These greens are absolutely the smallest in major championship golf," Davis said. "With these sized greens, distance control is so important, the ability to spin the ball is important," Davis said. "So if you're coming out of the rough, you're at a definite disadvantage. We really think that the new groove, particularly at Pebble Beach, where we know we're going to have dry conditions, is going to matter a lot."

That would certainly make Pebble unique in that the PGA Tour stats running in Golf World each week are showing the grooves actually helping players a bit.

This was also refreshing:

"Relative to other U.S. Opens, these greens will probably be the slowest we've had in the last decade or so," Davis said. "However, I would say that they are maybe the scariest greens we've had. You get out there and see so many of these greens have a lot of pitch from back-to-front or side-to-side, and they're small, and you get windy conditions. That speed is a very scary speed if you short-side yourself or get on the wrong side of the hole."