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PINEHURST, N.C. — Pinehurst No. 2 is anything but perfect for the U.S. Open, at least in the traditional sense of major championships in America.

USGA executive director Mike Davis could not be any more thrilled.

“It’s awesome,” Davis said Monday as he gazed out at a golf course that looks like a yard that hasn’t been watered in a month.

Sandy areas have replaced thick rough off the fairways. They are partially covered with that Pinehurst Resort officials refer to as “natural vegetation,” but what most anyone else would simply call weeds.

The edges of the bunkers are ragged. The turf is uneven just off some of the greens, with patches of no grass.

Instead of verdant fairways from tee-to-green, the fairways are a blend of green, yellow and brown.

That was the plan all along ...

PINEHURST, N.C. -- A restoration of Pinehurst in anticipation of the U.S. Open has meant a potential rules issue for players competing in the tournament: knowing the difference between waste areas and bunkers.

With nearly all of the rough removed from the venerable No. 2 course, players will find themselves in sandy areas throughout. But the United States Golf Association has elected to make a distinction between those waste areas and bunkers -- even though it is not necessarily easy to discern the difference.

"The way we explain it to the players, and certainly our own rules officials, is that the bunkers really by definition are hollows and they contain sand," said Mike Davis, executive director of the USGA. "And that's what you have out there. And balls are almost always going to roll to the bottom.

"Where there's maybe any question about, 'Am I in a bunker or am I through the green (in a waste area)?' we will have a walking rules official with every group, just like we have since 1991 at every U.S. Open. And they will make a decision. But even if it's so close you'd say I'm not sure -- because somebody raked this further than maybe they should have -- we've told our rules officials to treat it as a hazard.

The difference is important; if you are in a hazard, which bunkers are considered to be, you cannot ground your club nor remove loose impediments. That is allowed in waste areas, which is technically considered "through the green." ...

Webb wrote:Pinehurst anything but ‘pristine’ for this US Open

PINEHURST, N.C. — Pinehurst No. 2 is anything but perfect for the U.S. Open, at least in the traditional sense of major championships in America.

USGA executive director Mike Davis could not be any more thrilled.

“It’s awesome,” Davis said Monday as he gazed out at a golf course that looks like a yard that hasn’t been watered in a month.

Sandy areas have replaced thick rough off the fairways. They are partially covered with that Pinehurst Resort officials refer to as “natural vegetation,” but what most anyone else would simply call weeds.

The edges of the bunkers are ragged. The turf is uneven just off some of the greens, with patches of no grass.

Instead of verdant fairways from tee-to-green, the fairways are a blend of green, yellow and brown.

That was the plan all along ...

The US Open is always the toughest test in golf.

“We’re not trying to embarrass the best players in the game. We’re trying to identify them.”