{"id":163799,"date":"2025-06-06T20:05:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T20:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/163799\/"},"modified":"2025-06-06T20:05:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T20:05:12","slug":"rory-mcilroy-compared-golf-course-to-cauliflower-at-worst-us-open-venue-in-living-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/163799\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy compared golf course to cauliflower at ‘worst US Open venue’ in living memory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ask most golfers who competed in the 2015 U.S. Open about the course and you may unlock memories they desperately tried to erase.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The setting for several nightmares was the Chambers Bay course in Tacoma, Washington.<\/p>\n

\"Fans<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Fans must have scratched their eyes upon seeing the greens and their surroundsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

First opened for play in June 2007, the course cost just over \u00a315million to build.<\/p>\n

But in 2015, some players wouldn’t have been shocked if they were told it cost 15 pence.<\/p>\n

As they descended on Chambers Bay, players were greeted by greens that looked nothing quite like the brochures.<\/p>\n

If anything, they may as well have been called browns, such was the state they were in.<\/p>\n

A spray paint job may have sufficed to at least give the greens a more presentable look, even if they weren’t up to scratch.<\/p>\n

After all, the groundskeepers at Augusta supposedly drop blue dye into the water<\/a> to keep them looking pristine for The Masters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, several of the U.S. Open<\/a> field could not come to grips with the greens as their putting game capitulated.<\/p>\n

And they wasted no time in taking aim at the United States Golf Association, who stage the tournament, over their failure to ensure the course would be in a condition worthy of a major.<\/p>\n

Nine-time major winner Gary Player, who was at Chambers Bay as an analyst, led the chorus of outrage as he labelled the course ‘unplayable’.<\/p>\n

“The worst golf course I might’ve ever seen in the 63 years as a professional golfer,” Player said.<\/p>\n

\"Golfers<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Golfers vented their fury at the state of the greens at Chambers Bay…Credit: Getty\"As<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

As many pointed the finger at the USGACredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“The USGA, who I admire and have chosen great golf courses in this great United States of America – they’re preaching speed of play. Enjoyment. User-friendly.<\/p>\n

“This golf course here, if you’re a 10-handicap, you couldn’t break 100 if you had the best day of your life.”<\/p>\n

Billy Horschel admitted he couldn’t wait to talk to the press about the greens and claimed he ‘lost some respect for the USGA and this championship’ because of how poorly they were prepared.<\/p>\n

“I heard someone say that the TV is making the greens look worse than they are,” Horschel said.<\/p>\n

“That’s a complete lie.”<\/p>\n

Five-time Ryder Cup winner Ian Poulter<\/a> described the greens as ‘simply the worst most disgraceful surface I have ever seen on any tour’ and claimed players would have packed up and gone home had it been a regular PGA Tour event.<\/p>\n

\"English<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

English star Poulter held nothing back in his verdict of Chambers BayCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Henrik Stenson described the greens at Chambers Bay as ‘pretty much like putting on broccoli’.<\/p>\n

But Rory McIlroy<\/a> went a step further.<\/p>\n

The Northern Irishman had next to no trouble getting himself onto the green thanks his booming drives off the tee.<\/p>\n

Yet he was let down by his putting game and there’s no prizes for guessing why that was the case.<\/p>\n

When asked for his verdict on Stenson’s claim about the greens, McIlroy went one step further from the broccoli swipe.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think they’re as green as broccoli,” McIlroy said.<\/p>\n

‘It surprised me’ – Rory McIlroy left golf legend in the dark weeks after crucial Masters advice<\/p>\n

“I think they’re more like cauliflower.”<\/p>\n

However, the Northern Irishman was seemingly reluctant to pin an overwhelming amount of blame on the greens.<\/p>\n

“They are what they are, and everyone has to putt on them,” McIlroy added.<\/p>\n

“It is disappointing they’re not in a bit better shape. But it is somewhat mental.<\/p>\n

“Some guys embrace it better than others, and that’s the way it is.”<\/p>\n

McIlroy was not immune to the wrath of the greens at Chambers Bay as he missed seven achievable putts from his final nine holes in the third round.<\/p>\n

The Northern Irishman ultimately finished tied for 9th alongside Jason Day and Shane Lowry with a score of even-par.<\/p>\n

Ultimately it was Jordan Spieth<\/a> who prevailed as he finished on five-under, one stroke ahead of Dustin Johnson and Louis Oosthuizen.<\/p>\n

Remarkably, it was Spieth’s second-consecutive major having won The Masters two months prior as he also became the youngest winner of the U.S. Open since Bobby Jones in 1923.<\/p>\n

Although Chambers Bay will evoke happy memories for Spieth, the same can’t be said for many of his rivals.<\/p>\n

And those problematic greens are perhaps the dominant reason why the U.S. Open has never returned to Tacoma since 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ask most golfers who competed in the 2015 U.S. Open about the course and you may unlock memories…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[68719,68720,39278,63358,10082,2826,4366,13593,68721,2998,4298,8635,4287,79,16,15,8642],"class_list":{"0":"post-163799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-2015-u-s-open","9":"tag-chambers-bay","10":"tag-controversy","11":"tag-criticism","12":"tag-gary-player","13":"tag-golf","14":"tag-golf-news","15":"tag-greens","16":"tag-ian-poulter","17":"tag-latest","18":"tag-pga-tour","19":"tag-reaction","20":"tag-rory-mcilroy","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom","24":"tag-updates"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114638220437147317","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}