2017 U.S. Open – Erin Hills
The crew is mowing down areas of fescue roughs that were knocked down by heavy rains. “It would be unplayable,” @USGA‘s Darin Brevard said pic.twitter.com/5TtEQOaM5e
— Golfdom (@Golfdom) June 13, 2017
The 117th playing of the U.S. Open didn’t even get underway before the USGA made headlines. Just two days before their biggest event, they surprised everybody by chopping down some of the highly criticized fescue rough on several holes. Some players expressed their concern over the unplayable rough just yards off the already generous fairways (by U.S. Open standards), but the USGA insisted their complaints had nothing to do with the decision. The issue was that recent heavy rain was causing the long rough to lie down on top of each other essentially creating conditions that could create physical harm to the players. According to them, this was part of their plan that was all dependent on the weather.
