Robert Allenby moved within two strokes of the first round lead at the U.S. Open on Thursday, before launching a withering attack on the state of the Torrey Pines greens.
Allenby shot a 1-under-par 70 in the first round, one of just 11 under-par rounds for the day. But that did not stop him from ripping the condition of the putting surfaces without mincing any words.
“They were probably the bumpiest I’ve ever played on, at least they were this afternoon,” Allenby said, bringing up the matter without even being asked. “I only had a 10-footer for birdie at the first and I took one look at the greens and it scared the crap out of me. I couldn’t believe how bumpy they were.
“I’m hitting the ball well. It’s just a matter of finding a putting stroke that will adapt to these greens. They were pretty bad. A lot of times the ball’s jumping four or five times before it gets to the hole.”
The Torrey Pines greens are infamous for being bumpy in the afternoons, due mainly to the fast-growing poa annua grass that is found in patches on these greens, and grows quicker than the rest of the putting surface.
Allenby grew up in Australia on poa annua grass, so he is no stranger to such greens, but then again he did miss an eight-foot birdie putt at the last, so maybe that had a little bit to do with his assessment.
But the greens, bumpy or not, did not prevent him from making four consecutive birdies mid-round to claw his way back into the tournament after a poor start.
“After being 3-over, to get to red numbers is a pretty awesome feat,” he said. “I’m hitting the ball really well.
“I keep leaving a lot of putts short. They look so quick and then they’re bumpy so they bobble off line and pull up short.”
But Geoff Ogilvy, who shot 69, did not agree with Allenby’s take on the greens.
“That’s an exaggeration,” said Ogilvy, told that Allenby had called them the worst greens ever.
“The greens we played Thursday and Friday afternoon at Winged Foot (two years ago), they were a lot worse than today by 10 times I thought. If you hit it on line (here) and hit a decent putt, it goes in. If you miss, it gets scary, but it looks worse than it is.”
Allenby, by the way, is coming of a playoff loss at last week’s PGA Tour event in Memphis, where his perfect career playoff record, previously 10-0 worldwide, came to an end.
But with the Torrey Pines greens obviously getting into his head, it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his position on the leaderboard.
