How tough is the rough?

The rough at Merion, as most players saw yesterday, is brutal. Here are a few shots, using a $20 bill and my iPhone as reference points.

"The rough is thick — U.S. Open rough. The rough is thicker right now, because of the water… they haven’t cut it… it’s getting long and thick," Brandt Snedeker told me. "It’s going to be longer than normal because of the length of the golf course."

Furyk said some spots weren't as tough as others:

"It’s tough, it’s thick. You can tell in spots there’s definitely some fertilizer in there, to thicken it up. It’s not overly-overly long, in a lot of spots," he said. "Some of the short holes, like behind 11, it’s got to be 8 inches back there, but it’s not as thick. But you can tell in a lot of areas that they fertilized it and thickened it up."