Poulter slams putting surfaces

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June 22, 2015

Ian Poulter was not happy about the condition of the greens at the US Open in Chambers bay, Washington.

The Englishman finished the final round tied for 54th, eleven over par, as he slammed the officials for organizing a second-rate golf course for a major.

Poulter was fairly quiet during the tournament but after an average performance, he finally opened up and took to twitter to air his thoughts about the much-criticized Chambers Bay golf course.

“It is disgraceful that the @USGA hasn’t apologized about the greens,” Poulter tweeted on his account.

“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.”

However, the 39-year-old did not stop there. He felt that only because it was a major that his fellow professionals did not pack up their clubs and withdraw from the tournament.

“What wasn’t playable were the green surfaces,” the angered Brit admitted.

“If this was a regular PGA tour event lots of players would have withdrawn and gone home on Wednesday, but players won’t do that for a major.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.”

The greens of the Chambers Bay were arguably the main talking point before, during and after the tournament.

Poulter, who turned professional at the age of 19, has stated that he has changed his view on the United States Golf Association (USGA) as this year’s US open was not up to standard, especially for a major.

“I think a lot of the players, and I’m one of them, have lost some respect for the USGA and this championship this year for the greens,” he explained.

“And not only the greens. One of the biggest issues I have is for the fans…the viewing is awful. When you’re not able to get up close and watch championship caliber players play a golf course, it’s disappointing.”

Poulter was not the only one who left Chambers Bay frustrated as American Billy Horschel echoed similar thoughts.

“It’s just a very disappointing week to be here,” Horschel told ESPN.

The 28-year-old claimed that one of his main strengths is putting, but felt that it was taken away from him because of the horrible greens.

“When you come to a championship tournament, obviously you are going to find out who the best player is,” said the disappointed FedEx Cup champion.

“But when you neglect one of the skills or take away one of the skills from a player, and that be putting…I’m a really good putter and I have not had a great week on the greens.”

Horschel then went on to state that if it wasn’t for the greens he would have probably have won the major as he claimed he would have shot up to eight under, which would have been better than winner Jordan Spieth who finished five under.

“And it’s not due to the fact that my stroke is off or my speed is off,” he explained.

“I’ve hit a lot of really good putts that have bounced all over the world. So it’s just frustrating. I played awesome golf today. I played my tail off to shoot 3 under par. And I really felt like I should have shot 6, 7 or 8 under, but I wasn’t able to due to the fact that some of the putts I hit just hit some really bad spots on the greens and got off line and didn’t go in.”

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