Players rip U.S. Open setup as a ‘disgrace’ and a ‘shame’

The 2015 U.S. Open is in the books and judging by the reaction from players, there probably aren’t many hoping to see Chambers Bay again anytime soon. Some players said all the right things about the course. Others, like Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy, praised the course for the most part, while mentioning the greens could have been better. Others though, they just hated it and let their displeasure known.

Billy Horschel was probably the most adamant about his displeasure. He criticized the USGA on Twitter and even mocked the course during his round on Sunday -- despite playing well. Horschel’s complaint is with the greens which have drawn criticism from a number of people, including Gary Player.

Horschel may have been the only player doing a snake dance to mock the greens during play. But he was far from the only player to have a negative opinion about the greens. Ian Poulter completely trashed the USGA and the course following his final round.

I look forward to congratulating the 2015 US Open Champion very soon, I simply didn’t play well enough to be remotely close. This is not sour grapes or moaning or any of that crap. It simply the truth. Mike Davis the head of the @USGA unfortunately hasn’t spoke the truth about the conditions of the greens. I feel very sorry for the hundreds of greens staff who spent countless hours leading into this week and this week doing there best to have it the best they could and I thank them for that. But look at the picture. This was the surface we had to putt on. It is disgraceful that the @USGA hasn’t apologized about the greens they simply have said. “we are thrilled the course condition this week”. It wasn’t a bad golf course, In fact it played well and was playable. What wasn’t playable were the green surfaces. If this was a regular PGA tour event lots of players would have withdrawn and gone home on Wednesday, but players won’t do that for a major. They were simply the worst most disgraceful surface I have ever seen on any tour in all the years I have played. The US Open deserves better than that. And the extra money that they have earn’t this year from @FoxSports, they could easily have relayed the greens so we could have had perfect surfaces. Simply not good enough and deeply disappointing for a tournament of this magnitude. I don’t like it when people lie on camera to try and save face. And to all you fans that paid good money to try and watch us play golf but couldn’t see anything on most holes because it wasn’t possible to stand on huge slopes or see around stands, I apologize and I’m sorry you wasted your money traveling to be disappointed. I hope we all learn something moving forward to not have these problems in the future. Happy Fathers Day.

Other players chimed in as well.

Chris Kirk took issue with the entire course, going as far as saying the USGA should be “ashamed” of the set up.

The 10 he took on No. 1 on Sunday, which included six chip shots from nearly the same spot, probably didn’t help his opinion.

It’s the U.S. Open. The course is always hard and the players are always a little frustrated with the setup. Maybe the rough is too long, or the greens are too fast. For players to complain that the course -- or at least part of it -- is so bad is unique. The USGA has remained adamant that the course was in great condition and that isn’t likely to change, no matter what antics Horschel gets into and how many tweets there are.

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