{"id":1251891,"date":"2024-06-11T16:37:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T16:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/?p=1251891"},"modified":"2024-06-12T15:38:50","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T15:38:50","slug":"tiger-woods-says-fast-greens-could-turn-us-open-into-great-war-of-attrition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/golftoday.co.uk\/tiger-woods-says-fast-greens-could-turn-us-open-into-great-war-of-attrition\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiger Woods says fast greens could turn US Open into \u2018great war of attrition\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tiger Woods is braced for a \u201cwar of attrition\u201d as Pinehurst<\/span><\/strong><\/a> hosts the 124th US Open Championship.<\/p>\n

Woods was third behind Payne Stewart at the North Carolina venue in 1999 and runner-up to Michael Campbell in 2005, but did not compete in 2014 due to a back injury.<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s Martin Kaymer was the runaway winner a decade ago in the first US Open since restoration work by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore meant there was none of the typical heavy rough and narrow fairways, leaving sandy \u2018native areas\u2019 and \u2018turtleback\u2019 greens as the course\u2019s defence.<\/p>\n

Keeping a ball on the ninth green proved so difficult that a forward tee had to be used, with USGA officials wary of a repeat of the farcical scenes in the final round at Shinnecock Hills in 2004 when fast greens and a questionable pin position saw play stopped while the seventh green was watered.<\/p>\n

Defending champion Wyndham Clark warned on Monday that the greens were already \u201cborderline\u201d and Woods predicted games of ping-pong could break out as players chip or putt from one side of a green to the other.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis golf course is going to test every single aspect of your game,\u201d the 15-time major winner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to take a lot of mental discipline to play this particular golf course. We\u2019ve been working on that and making sure that I understand the game plan and be ready in two more days.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Tiger
Tiger Woods putts as his son Charlie watches on the seventh hole during a practice round for the US Open (George Walker IV\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all different. I played it on bentgrass. So now having Bermuda, it\u2019s very different. It\u2019s grainy. I\u2019ve used long irons and woods around the greens and I\u2019ve seen a number of guys do the same thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m guilty as well as the rest of the guys I\u2019ve played with \u2013 we\u2019ve putted off a lot of greens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt depends how severe the USGA wants to make this. But I foresee just like in \u201905 watching some of the guys play ping-pong back and forth. It could happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of playing Donald Ross (the original architect) golf courses, he tests you. And since the renovation here I think they\u2019ve done an amazing job of doing that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were talking about it the last couple of days. When Donald did this golf course and made the greens this severe, I don\u2019t think he intended it to be running at 13 on the stimpmeter (a device used to measure green speed). They were the speed of fairways.<\/p>\n