Ian Poulter rips USGA, calls US Open greens ‘disgraceful’

June 21, 2015

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Ian Poulter was one of many golfers who struggled with the conditions at Chambers Bay at the US Open this week, but few were as vocal as him in airing complaints.

After shooting a 7-over 77 Sunday to finish tied for 54th at 11 over, Poulter ripped the USGA in a post on Instagram in which he called the greens “disgraceful.”

“I look forward to congratulating the 2015 US Open Champion very soon, I simply didn’t play well enough to be remotely close,” Poulter wrote.

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 If this was a regular PGA tour event lots of players would have withdrawn and gone home on Wednesday, but players won’t do that for a major.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

Wow, tell us how you really feel, Poulter. We’ve seen the Brit complain about courses many times in the past, but as this Michael Jordan story showed us, he’s no mental midget. The greens really were that bad, and he wasn’t the only one who complained.

Billy Horschel ripped the greens after his final round. He lost his mind after missing this putt Sunday:

Billy Horschel, not a fan of the greens at Chambers Bay. pic.twitter.com/2wzkgVQ2eu

— Adam Sarson (@Adam_Sarson) June 21, 2015

Video of Billy Horschel unloading on the USGA for the greens at the US Open https://t.co/4jN7G9HaKT

— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) June 21, 2015

“These greens are not very good. I’m not going to hold my tongue on this. We’re not looking for perfection, but they surely aren’t very good,” Horschel said after posting a 3-under 67 Sunday.

The conditions of the greens were a sore subject for many golfers. Darren Clarke got this horrible roll on one of his putts Thursday before missing the cut.

And then there was this, which happened to Brandt Snedeker on 14 Sunday: