No. 7 green at Pebble Beach as the crew prepares for the U.S. Open. (Photo: Seth Jones)
What a day at Pebble Beach for our team at Golfdom! We got to the course early and got a bunch of maintenance photos, then stopped by maintenance to join the crew for breakfast. Once the maintenance shop quieted down, we went out to visit with players at the end of their practice rounds.
These are one-on-one interviews with players following their Monday practice rounds.
J.B. Holmes
“[The course] is good, it’s in great shape — the best I’ve ever seen it. I get to play this course every year with the AT&T [Pebble Beach Pro-Am], so I know the golf course well. Any time you get to come here it’s great, especially in this condition … it’s beautiful.”
The greens are good right now. They’re firm but they’ll hold a ball if you hit a good one. They’re very fair right now, but we’ll see how much firmer and faster they get.
You have to be in the fairway, you have to hit good shots. For a Monday, they’ll get it firmer … the greens are small and slopey, you have to be really precise with your irons.
Bubba Watson
“The course set-up is perfect. It’s the best we’ve ever seen it. The fairways are so flush and the greens are rolling really nice.
It’s only Monday so they can quit watering it, bake it out and roll the greens if they want to, or think they need to. I’m not in their head, I don’t know how they want to do it, but today it’s very fair. It’s very demanding, but very fair at the same time.”
Forced carry on No. 8 at Pebble Beach. (Photo: Seth Jones)
Martin Kaymer
“I just played the back nine. The greens looked lovely. Obviously they can’t make them much firmer or faster because of the slopes. You have to put the ball in the right positions on the greens. They’re so slopey, you have to give yourself uphill reads, it’s important. It plays a little different than 2010, but when you come to Pebble Beach, you know what it is.”
Cody Gribble
“The course is awesome. It’s in such good condition. It’s tough but very fair.
I played it in February and there were some spots that were a little sketchy, but it’s amazing what they’ve done. The weather obviously has been good to them because it’s in perfect condition … it’s in such good condition … the greens are spectacular right now. Kind of soft, but I think they’ll firm up.
The rough is up, it’s stereotypical U.S. Open rough. When I played Pinehurst and Chambers Bay, I played a lot of fescue native area instead of high rough … so it’s different for me. Now, I was just in Ontario, and they had high rough there so I’m a little adjusted to it … I think if you’re hitting fairways and greens you have a great chance of shooting a good number. If the weather keeps up, everyone is going to be pleased.”
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