Players talk Congresional course conditions

I just talked to a few of the players about the way the course is playing the day before the first round of the U.S. Open. Here is what they had to say:

Jim Furyk

"It’s got some brown spots around the greens, you can tell the greens are relatively new and I’m sure the heat from last week put a lot of stress on them… probably need to get a little bit of water, maybe a little bit of rain would help. But the course overall looks pretty good.

I keep reading in the paper how the rough needs some rain because it’s not that thick, but I wouldn’t agree with that. I’ve hit out of it all week, if you can get a club on it you can advance it a little bit, but you’re not going to see a ton of great scores coming out of the rough."

Dustin Johnson

"The course is in great shape. I think the USGA’s done a great job setting it up – it’s tough, but it’s fair. It’s not crazy, if you just miss the fairway they give you a chance to advance the ball. They’ve done a really good job.

The greens are good, they’re rolling good. They’re new, so they react like new greens. You’re not going to see a ball spin back, it’s just not going to happen, just because they’re new. But they’ve got them about as good as they could with new greens.

I think the rough is good and thick, it’s nice. They’ve done a good job with setting it up, they’ve got a couple different cuts. If it just barely runs off the fairway you’re not going to be punished severely."

Bubba Watson

"(The course is) tough, very tough.

The rough is good. It’s fair, you can hit shots out of it, but it’s going to be tough.

People don’t understand how hard it is (to get the course up to U.S. Open conditions). And then with the weather, the weather has to cooperate and I know last week was 100-and-some degrees. There are some bad spots, but it’s because of the weather. The superintendent can only do so much, then the weather has to do the other part. Every golf course is going to have little spots, no matter how perfect it is. That’s the key, is the weather. That’ll make the course or break the course, is weather. And that’s what the superintendent fears, is weather.

(On the winning score) If the weather gets crazy, and gets hotter and hotter, the course is going to get tougher and tougher and harder and harder. You’re looking at even par to 5-over. If the weather cooperates, to somewhere between 1-under and 5-under, somewhere in there. Nothing major, though, I don’t think there’s going to be a 14-under, unless it stays soft somehow."