Pebble Beach - Fair Test or Too tough?

What does everyone think to how the US Open venue stood up last week?

Too tough for even the pro's or do you like them being tested to their limits and getting high scores on their cards?

I for one would prefer to see the pros earn their cards, although I did feel for Poulter on Friday when the course just seemed to have it in for him!  The comment was made before the tournament started that it could be won by someone on as little as -2, so much had the course been toughened up. 

Question is, what would one of us mere mortals score if the pros are struggling? 

It was tough for the pro's no doubt, but how often do you see them carding scores that some of the members on here would be ashamed of?  It was a treat to see accuracy rather than distance playing a major part - it was so refreshing to see the big hitters being severely punished for over-running the fairways or stranded hopelessly in the rough simply because they still chose to boom it rather than plot their way around.  It was enthralling viewing, simply because it's so very rare to see a pro needing to make a par on the last to win and knowing that there was absolutely no guarantee that it would happen.

A great win for McDowell, and smugly pleasing to see no US players in the top 3.. 

i rmember watching a Graeme Mcdowell interview a while back where he spoke of the current crop of players inability to play shots. He was talking about the european tour where they have windy days the players just blast it through the wind and the courses are set up to allow the hitters to just blast it straight. He grew up learning to play shots on tight courses and in really windy conditions and he felt it set him up well to win a major as this is what is needed on the tough course.

How right he was.

I can see where Poulter was comong from on Saturday. If you set a course up like they did with Pebble, you have to have a way into all flags. The 7th on Saturday gave the guys a patch about 1ft square to land on (Dustin Johnson did it) and Poulter couldn't even see that.

I don't see the difference to a viewer whether the leader needs Pars to stay in front or Birdies. At Pebble a run of Pars between the 8th and 15th Tees is like a run of Birdies at most other venues.

Well done G-Mac, I thought we would have someone from Northern Ireland win a Major this year, but I wasn't thinking of you.

TheLyth