I dont know, I just feel that it shouldve been a little more difficult, the pin location was good but a 354 yd par 4 into the wind a little on the last day of the U.S. open? I just thought it would be a little more difficult.

I definitely concur.

+1

+2. Supprised how bad the pros played those short shots

Agreed. This is so friggin stupid.

The USGA tried to make it a risk-reward, but the problem is it is not drivable, it is not difficult, and as Miller mentioned, very few people have even made birdie at his hole when they elect to drive it over the bunker.

That is why the 18th at Torrey was the best risk-reward finishing hole in Open golf. It was perfect.

Glover looks at the score board, has the two shot lead, and basically goes iron-iron two putt to win the tourney.

LAME.

God do you people have to b**** about everything, blame the usga for moving the tee's up, Not once this week did the course play any where near the yardage it could have

The problem was the rain. There was standing water in the lower part of the 18th fairway and they had to move it up. Did you want a mud ball on the last hole decide the US Open?

What does it matter? There were mud balls all over that damn course, so why give credence to the 18th hole?

As good as the coverage was, the tourney IMO sucked. Bethpage didnt play as a beast. To think that on a 7500yd par 70 course, that the winner would be at -4 when there was 6ft of rain that had fallen is very confusing. Again, this tournament was won on Friday afternoon, and it sucks that only HALF of the field was playing that day.

yes i can B**** about it because no one should walk on the 18th tee at the U.S. Open with a to shot lead and have that easy of a hole to where i hit 3 wood and have an easy par. My two cents.

Now that is truly deserving of a +1.

I didn't see anyone go iron-iron to birdie the hole. I don't know what tournament you guys were watching, but it looked like the players made 18 the non factor by gagging on 17, not the USGA. Or in Glover's case, sealing the victory.

I was just surprised that with all these pros giving tips to amateurs about laying up to lay up to a full wedges, almost all of them go out and leave a touch wedge to 18.

So there is something we dont know, and they do know.

The problem was, the pin placement was a joke. From that yardage, where Phil and Ricky were, you would have to hit a 60 yard teardrop flopper, or generate so much spin (near impossible), that the goal of the hole was negated by where the flagstick was.

Did anyone make birdie at 18?

I think one of the main problems is the Jones redesign of the hole. Shackleford has discussed this at length, but I have to agree with him. Take aut the last set of bunkers on each side of the fairway. These were added by Jones in the late 90's. That way you give the big hitters the option to hit driver and try to carry them with the tees back. It would bring a lot more options into play. Also mentioned has been playing the 18th on the Red as the closing hole, which is 463 yards, and a much better hole.

That is what I am saying. Dont move the 18th hole up to 350 yards if nobody is even able to birdie it. There is more that goes into being able to birdie a hole than just the yardage.

Make it play 463yds and require people to hit driver 6 iron into the green. The standing water issue should take a back seat. Ask all of the players about how many mudballs they had during the entire tournament. If it is not going to be LC&P, then nevermind the sogginess of the course...make it as difficult as possible.

That hole is nondescript and average, period. Not the fault of the USGA setup that the Black course ends with such a "sigh."

It's not long enough to really be a challenge but even w/ the tees up it's not tempting enough to give a real risk / reward option.

18 is not a great hole to finish a major on no matter where they put the tees. As someone pointed out on another thread, the finishing hole at St. Andrew's next year will be the same.

But, every course can't have a finishing hole like Torrey or Pebble.

So why didn't they hit the flop and birdie? 15 birdies on 18 in round 4, so 25% of the field figured out how to birdie it. I'll agree, it's not a great hole, but there was plenty of birdie opportunities for anyone smart enough to hit full wedge into the green. The setup at 18 was the least of the problems at this year's mudfest.

i thought Mickelson was the King of flopadopolism...hey may be he should have layed back and sucked one back to the hole. He has that shot too.

Great little hole in my opinion

I think the whole course is overrated. Just because it's long and public doesn't make it great.

Thank god next year is at Pebble, so the USGA can redeem itself.

Bethpage is now an after thought, bring it back to the 'good coast'!
As I stated in another thread, BP needs sub-air filtartion if they want to get it back!

Funny how I am thinking something and then go online here and see a thread on it. That hole sucked today, totally stupid. There were enough birdies made on it in relation to pars today, but hardly any bogeys and that's where the drama could have been with leaders coming in separated by 1 or 2 shots. How could there be many bogeys when you can take a 5 iron off the tee and not worry about hitting a foul ball with a Driver or 3 wood?

Actually until the leaders got to the 18th, I was finally starting to warm up to the whole tournament a little. I hate to be negative, I really do, but that finish just topped off this whole debacle of a U.S. Open for me.

I really enjoyed watching the final round today and watching the charges made by Mickelson and Duval. I was, however, a bit surprised that the 18th was only playing 354 yards today. I heard Johnny Miller say it was a birdie hole, but it didn't seem like a birdie pin placement. Hindsight being 20/20, it would have been more compelling to me as a viewer to watch Glover have more of a decision to make on the tee than the one he made, which was to hit 5 iron/9 iron to the green. I had thought in earlier rounds the hole was playing more around 420, or so. I know the course was very wet, so I don't know if that factored into the decrease in yardage today on 18. If Glover wanted to play safe with an iron off the tee, it would have been more challenging if he were left with a longer approach in with say a mid to long iron.

Any thoughts?

not to be a "correction" guy but glover hit 6 off the tee whichi think in itself is a joke for a closing hole of a US Open. Totally agree with OP, courses setup IMO could have been much better/challenging today.

I didn't understand why so many of them were hitting driver there. Seemed to me that it'd be easier to get to that pin from 85 to 110 yards out, just being able to put that much more spin on the ball. From 50-60 yards, they had to play conservative.

You're right, it would be easier, except that the majority of the fairway from 85 to 110 was unplayable due to mud.

85 - 110 would bring in the bunkers

this site has really become so unbelievably negative...i just watched a great US open with numerous compelling storylines, on a difficult venue that provided a lot of drama. And when i get home and check Golfwrx the majority of threads are all negative, about the 18th hole, how the USGA screwed players with the draw etc...

not every 18th hole can be the 18th at Oakmont. It's not the end of the world to have players have a chance at birdie on the 72nd hole of a major. Though it seems most people would rather watch guys stumble home with Bogeys

I think most guys were hitting driver so they would be far enough up the fairway to avoid potential mudballs. Farther back they took the chance of getting a mudball and having no idea where the ball was going to go. That is my best guess because I know I would much rather have a full club to that pin rather than having to hit a touch wedge shot.

It was pretty interesting to watch how they played the short par 4. All the courses I play on have some flavor 350ish yard par 4 and i've always wondered how the pros would play something that short. Even with the pin placement I thought we'd see a few birdies from the last groups and nothing.

Seems like a lot of west coust posters are leading the negative comments for what ever reasons.

I agree some type of subfiltration is needed, but I don't know if it could have handled the rain that Long Island has gotten for the past 2.5 months. Records have been broken for june already with 8 days left. For a course that has no filtration and with the help of all the workers it was a miracle that the tournament finished on monday.

Reason for the foward tee on the 18th was the fairway was puddling of water in parts of the fairway.

I can understand why people who have only seen this course on TV say its average. TV does not give enough persepctive to grasp the elevation changes from tee box to fairway, and fairway to green. I too thought from 2002 that Bethpage was overated and I only live 45 mins away. This all changed when I got tickets to this years open. Walking the course on Mon, Wed, Fri, and again on Monday I can see why people sleep in their cars over night. Now, I'm not saying that BPB is the best course on the face of the earth, but given the right conditions it can be a real test for a golfer.

I disagree. It wasn't easy. Indeed, it was nearly impossible to make a birdie (2 out of the the last 20) under pressure. Getting the approach shot close to the hole from the bottom of the hill was extremely difficult. Anything short was dead meat.

As a result, everyone was forced to play to the middle/back of the green (an easy shot). Unless they did something really stupid or three putted, bogey wasn't really a risk either.

Bottom line - everyone made par. No risk - no reward.

Because the 18th hole at a U.S. Open should be a an easy par? Par is good at a U.S. Open usually, listen i understand that course was soaked, but for players to be hitting irons off the last hole at a U.S. Open just kinda ruins it for me at least, It was a great Open with great story lines, but to not have a finishing hole that is just an iron ,wedge just isnt a true test. . My 2 Cents.

I can tell you this.

Lucas Glover was very happy he was playing Bethpage Black when he stood on the 18th tee with a two shot lead. That to me is a testament to how weak the finishing hole is. He needs to be confident but intimidated. He was thrilled.

"Ohhhhhhhh 5 iron, 9 iron, 2 putt, VICTORY....thats all I have to do?"

Actually I think it's only the NY area and north east people defending this Open and not just the west coasters bashing it. I'm not sure how anyone could truly believe that the way the 18th hole played today (for whatever reason) was less than satisfactory for a major championship.

I will admit and I've stated in previous posts that a lot of the negativity from people steams from the media over-hyping the fans, the course, the grounds crew, the guy selling hats and so on. Espn leads the way in this and as far as i'm concerned that network has become nothing more than a cheap tabloid hype machine. Disgusting from how it started out. They would sell out their own mother for ratings.

So like I've said, if NY fans are as good as advertised, then they would at least understand a little why people are criticising this Open, because frankly, it had some problems. IMHO

I liked the course, but I strongly belive it needs more water hazards - for some even the high rough didn't seem to be a problem.

I too was surprised at how many guys were able to get out of the rough with little penalty. Oh well, those days will be over next year with the new groove rule.