Saturday: Bethpage's Greens Take Mysterious Speed Jump!

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You had to be eyesight-deficient to not notice the increased speed of Bethpage Black's greens on Saturday where afternoon players moaned loudly about an apparent overnight switch-flip.

Bill Fields samples some of the player comments and only leader Sergio Garcia would not question what happened, even though he noticed the difference too.

Yes, that's right, Sergio took the high road! Sort of.

"Was it unfair? I wouldn't say it was unfair," said Garcia. "It was borderline." The Spaniard likened the greens to the infamously dried-out surfaces at Shinnecock Hills during the final round of the 2004 U.S. Open. "You could have a 10-footer and hit what you thought was a good putt and hit it six feet by."

Woods had one of the worst days when he got to the greens, unable to get the speed down. "I felt like I hit good putts, but my speed was awful," he said. "I don't remember blowing putts by eight to 10 feet. So that was a bit of a shocker."

As Garcia put it, "It was easy to make bogeys with good shots."

Doug Ferguson's game story tries to conclude what happened. The tour rules staff is insisting no practices were changed that led players to invoke the "unplayable" and "unfair" words.

Slugger White, the tour's vice president of rules and competition, disputed the idea that course was on the verge of being unplayable.

''The golf course is not unplayable,'' he said.

White conceded a few greens became ''crusty,'' particularly at Nos. 2 and 8, and that the staff was thinking there would be more cloud cover. He went out to the greens after the last group came through and said, ''I saw no issues.''

''Players always want firm and fast,'' he said. ''It seems like when we give them firm and fast, they don't want firm and fast. I hear Tiger say it was too soft on Thursday. And then some guy walks off the tee and says, 'Have you guys run out of water?' Where do you go? We're doing the best we can.''

Watney didn't entirely agree.

''There's firm and fast, and then there's this,'' Watney said. ''I mean, this is pretty extreme.''

Jim McCabe went to the stats and they confirmed something happened. A PGA Tour field just doesn't collectively lose its ability to putt overnight! These guys are that good.

Well consider the statistic for average putts per round. The PGA Tour lists 195 players in this category and only five average more than 30 per round. But Saturday, with warm wind and more sunshine baking out Bethpage Black, of the 75 players who made the cut, 47 took more than 30. Heck, two of them – Pat Perez and Robert Garrigus averaged exactly two per hole, a whopping 36 total – while Justin Rose and Vijay Singh each had 35.

Bob Estes in his post round interview noted that it's a morning v. afternoon issue, suggesting that the greens were withering up.

BOB ESTES:  The golf course is great and I don't know who is in charge of the greens, and they are okay in the morning, but there's too big of a difference to the way the golf course plays in the morning to the way it plays in the afternoon.  I've seen a little bit of both, and the first 14 holes, the golf course played pretty much the way it should.  It was difficult and the greens were still fast, but the last four holes you played, the greens really dried out, you almost kind of‑‑ they are so brown in places‑‑

Q.  Is speed the biggest thing?
BOB ESTES:  Well, they did get a lot firmer.  So at least they are not‑‑ at least they real fairly true but they are just so fast, that a putt that you think is just up near the hole might easily go five, six, eight feet by the hole.

Brandt Snedeker, not usually one to complain, complained.

BRANDT SNEDEKER:  Yeah, you just can't hit greens out there, I don't care what anybody says, the greens are pretty much unplayable for the most part.  You can't keep the ball‑‑ you can't hit them.  Just really, really tough test.  You're going to miss greens and I got up‑and‑down when I had to which is great, made a bunch of key, par‑saving putts and I felt like I played as good as I possibly could play today and I was very happy to shoot 68.

Q.  Can you give us more detail on the conditions, because when I was following you, 15, 16, 17, 18, it appeared to get colder and the winds whipped a little stronger?

BRANDT SNEDEKER:  It did, and unfortunately I think they got the greens a little too firm, they lost a couple of par 3 greens coming in and 17 is unplayable right now, unfortunately.  It's a great hole but you can't possibly hit one close there, so you have to play to edges of greens, backs of greens and get up‑and‑down from there.  The wind whipping around makes it tough on some holes.

Ian Poulter melted down on Twitter, calling the setup and greens a variety of things. First this one:

I played poorly today & no excuse for my play I was rubbish. but I do know my job & trade & the golf course today was borderline unplayable.

And this which will lead to a fine, and thus, a charitable donation:

The worst course setup I have ever played in 13 years on tour. They have ruined what is a great course, greens like concrete stupid pins.

Ian is just thinking of the little people:

I'm just personally disappointed that spectators pay good money to watch players have good shots punished because poor setup. End off....

Finally, this from Tiger:

TIGER WOODS:  Some of the greens have grass, some of them are a little bit on the dirt side.  They are just slippery.  Some are quicker than others, some had more grass than others and others a little more dirt.

Those things were quick, and even though uphill putts seemed a little bit on the quick side, you know, all week this putting green over here has been a foot faster, maybe a foot and a half faster than we do on the golf course, and all of a sudden that putting green is actually slower than the ones on the golf course, and that was a bit of a shocker, at least to our group.

Q.  Do you remember a course changing this much over 24 hours?

TIGER WOODS:  Mm‑mmm.  Mm‑mmm  (shaking head no).