US Open 'ping-pong' golf fears mount as former champion withdraws after being forced to wear one flip-flop

“Well, in a month, the course has changed quite a bit,” declared Clark, who landed his maiden major win in the USGA event at Los Angeles Country Club 12 months ago, of his thoughts on this week’s test. “The greens are extremely fast and penal. You hit it on the green, the hole is not done. I was just amazed how fast the greens are. They already are borderline.”

The last time that happened in this tournament, Phil Mickelson ended up looking as though he was in a Benny Hill sketch as the six-time major winner scuttled across a green at Shinnecock Hills in 2018 after realising he’d hit a putt too hard and then hit it again before it had stopped moving, picking up a two-shot penalty in the process. With some hot weather on the way, a course that is already firm and fast could be like concrete come the weekend and, with lots of the greens being like upturned saucers, that could lead to some fun and games once again in this tournament.

“The last few days playing practice rounds – I'm guilty as well as the rest of the guys I've played with – we've putted off a lot of greens,” admitted three-time winner Woods, who played at this venue in 1999, finishing joint-third behind Payne Stewart, then again in 2005, when ended up as Michael Campbell’s closest challenger. It depends how severe the USGA wants to make this and how close they want to get us up to those sides. But I foresee just like in '05 watching some of the guys play ping-pong back and forth. It could happen.”

Ahead of the 2014 event won by Martin Kaymer, the highly-acclaimed Donald Ross-designed course underwent a restoration by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore. Woods missed out on that event and was asked about the surrounds of the greens being different to his last visit.

“Yeah, it's all different,” he declared. “I played it under bentgrass. So now having Bermuda, it's very different. It's grainy. We had the grain on the greens during those Open Championships, and they were softer than they are now. Granted, I know the surrounds were burnt out in '05, but the greens were not like what they are right now. That's very different.

“The shot selections around the greens I think are more plentiful this year from either putting it to wedging it and 6 or 7-irons. I've used long irons and woods around the greens, and I've seen a number of guys do the same thing. There's a lot of different shot selections, and the grain is going to play a big part of it.”

How would Viktor Hovland, last year’s FedEx Cup winner, describe the challenge on and around the greens? “Not to throw my caddie under the bus, but, if he's putting the pins in the right locations where the pins were last time, then there are just multiple spots where hitting a putt to a disc, I miss it maybe a foot low side, with just a hair too much speed, the ball is off the green,” said the Norwegian. “It doesn't just roll off the green, sometimes it rolls off the green and into the bush. Seems to me that some of those pins are a little bit close to the drop-offs.

“So I don't really know where they're going to end up putting the pins. But, if they were, in my opinion, borderline yesterday when the greens were soft, what if it starts blowing up a little bit and the greens just keep getting firmer and faster. It'll be just interesting to see.”

Meanwhile, 2021 winner Jon Rahm has withdrawn from this week’s event due to a foot injury. The Spaniard announced his decision a few hours after turning up for his pre-event press conference wearing a golf shoe on one foot and a flip on the other.

Rahm, who was forced to withdraw during last week’s LIV Golf League event in Houston after the problem flared up, wrote on social media: “After consulting with numerous doctors and my team, I have decided it is best for my long term health, to withdraw from this week’s US Open Championship. To say I’m disappointed is a massive understatement!

“I wish all my peers the best of luck and want to thank all of the USGA staff, volunteers and community of Pinehurst for hosting and putting on what I’m sure will be an amazing championship! Hopefully I'll be back in action sooner than later.”

Earlier, Rahm had been asked what had happened and replied: “We've been trying to figure it out because I think that the closest term would be a lesion on the skin. If I were to show you, it's a little hole in between my pinky toe and the next toe.

“I don't know how or what happened, but it got infected. The pain was high. On the Saturday round, Saturday morning, I did get a shot to numb the area. It was supposed to last the whole round, and by my second hole I was in pain already.”

As for off-course matters, Woods delivered an upbeat verdict on talks last week between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. “It was productive,” he reported. And is there light at the end of tunnel? I think we're closer to that point than we were pre-meeting. We discussed a lot of different endings and how we get there. I think that both sides walked away from the meeting, we all felt very positive in that meeting.

"Both sides were looking at different ways to get to the end game. I think that both sides shared a deep passion for how we need to get there. And, yes, there are going to be differences of opinion, but we all want the same thing.”