Billy Horschel says USGA chief Mike Davis agrees U.S. Open greens were not up to par

Billy Horschel continues to apologize for his behavior on the greens at Chambers Bay on Sunday but not only does he stand by his criticisms of the U.S. Open putting surfaces, he claims USGA executive director Mike Davis agrees with him.

“We talked about my comments. He totally understood them,” Horschel told Jason Sobel, referring to a 15-20 minute talk he had with Davis after the USGA head called him following last week’s tournament. “He admitted that the greens weren’t what they wanted and he was sorry for that. He knew the greens were at a level that the USGA wasn’t happy with and said that if they ever go back there, they know what to do.”

Horschel, who stopped just short of pounding his putter into the sixth green and pulling some sort of serpentine routine on No. 9 on Sunday, said the discussion was cordial. He made it clear the only problem he had with the host course was how the greens were rolling.

“He understood what my comments were all about and he had no hard feelings toward them at all, just as I have no hard feelings toward the USGA,” said Horschel. “I said, ‘I know you guys are going to do a good job, you always do a good job.’ I’ve never had an issue with anything the USGA has done at any U.S. Open or any U.S. Amateur.

“The one time I had an issue was with the condition of the greens,” Horschel said. “It wasn’t how they set up the golf course, it wasn’t moving tees around, it wasn’t hole locations. It all just came down to the condition of the greens.”

Horschel, who somehow found a way to drill a few balls into holes on his way to a final-round 3-under 67 (good enough for sixth place), was not the only player to voice frustration with burned-out surfaces that caused balls to roll inconsistently. Ian Poulter termed them unplayable, Henrik Stenson compared them to broccoli, Rory McIlroy said they were more like cauliflower, Sergio Garcia said putting on them was like playing the NBA finals with no backboard, and runner-up Dustin Johnson wondered if he lost the title because of a bad bounce.

Statistics seemed to back up their complaints. Mike Stachura presented several figures, with one that particularly stood out: while the average three-putt percentage for U.S. Open from 1997-2014 was 4.84, it was an eye-popping 8.58 at Chambers Bay.

“Chambers Bay is more than three standard deviations worse than the U.S. Open average for the last two decades. That seems beyond an aberration,” according to Stachura. “Clearly, something abnormal was happening on the greens at Chambers Bay last week. Odds are, one way or another, it won’t happen again.”

Davis has publicly acknowledged the greens could have been better but obviously believes they were not as bad as Horschel and many of his peers said they were.

“In some ways, they weren’t as good as we would have hoped but some people would make it out that they’re putting on broccoli,” Davis told the Seattle Times. “I completely disagree with that assessment. That’s an unfair assessment to say they were that bad because we have had bad greens before that were bumpier than these. We just have.”

Which brings us back to Horschel, who really wanted fans to know how sorry he was for his antics during the finale.

“I felt bad that the action I showed on the sixth green wasn’t the kind of professional manner I’m trying to show,” he told reporters on Wednesday at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn. “But my comments were straight, honest opinions. There was nothing wrong with my comments. The only thing I should have done was said them in private instead of airing them out in public.”

Horschel was especially passionate about the perception that he added another hole to the sixth green.

“I did not hit that green,” he contended. “I swear on my life. My caddie was there, he will swear on his life I did not hit that green.”

Even so, Horschel said he was disappointed in himself.

“The actions I showed on six green weren’t acceptable. I’ve done really well since 2011 ... with my emotions and controlling them and growing up and being mature. But it was something that I’m not very happy with,” he said. “When I walked off the golf course I had a sickening feeling for what I showed on the sixth green ... It wasn’t acceptable.

“It’s not the role model I want to be to millions of young golfers,” Horschel added. “And I can understand that if people that were my fans that are turned off by it that are no longer my fans, I totally understand their reasoning behind it. The only thing I can say is that I promise I’ll do better in the future, and I want to be the role model to millions of young golfers.”

Horschel again stood by his comments about the greens but had one regret about he handled that situation.

“I don’t take back my comments that I said on Sunday, not one comment at all,” he said. “But I do wish I would have done it in a private setting with Mike Davis and the USGA staff. To air some stuff out in public was not acceptable.”