Bethpage greens a speed bump

Graeme McDowell went completely off his greens in the final round of the US Open at Bethpage Black - and he wasn't the only one.

Poor drainage at the Long Island course meant that the greens dried out at different rates, leading to varying speeds.

The Ulsterman did not want to criticise the maintenance staff in any way and praised them to the heavens for getting the course ready for play after days of heavy rain.

But it is clear that the pace of the putting surfaces was a major issue for him and others.

"I don’t want to criticise the set up of the golf course but I struggled on the greens the last two or three days," said McDowell who finished tied 18th after taking 35 putts in the final round. "The green speeds were very indifferent. You get on one green and it is absolutely flying and you get on the next green and it is slow.

"It was very hard to gauge the speed of them. It is just completely weather orientated. They were absolutely sopping wet. It was very difficult for the greens staff to get the speeds right. I think I had three three-putts in this 18 holes. It was a disappointing 18 holes on the greens considering I was putting really well."

New champion Lucas Glover had 27 putts in the final round with Phil Mickelson taking 29 and David Duval just 24 as he finished top the putting charts with just 109 putts over the four rounds.

Mickelson had just one three putt all week, a crucial mistake on the 15th in the final round.

Tiger Woods took 118 putts over the four days and broke the 30-putt barrier just once. 

"I striped it this week. I hit it just like the Memorial and unfortunately, I didn't make anything. I hit so many putts that .... my good ones are not going in and then my bad ones aren't even close. It is a little bit slow and bumpy but you have to be committed to hitting it that hard and I left a lot of putts short. And then when I tried to hit it harder, I gunned it past the hole. But I didn't make the adjustment the right way."

McDowell added: "The pace was very variable. It was some greens drying out quicker than others. And they were very difficult to get the speed on. I completely lost my speed around the turn today. I really lost my confidence. I couldn’t roll the ball at the hole - kept blowing it by and left the next one short. It was weird.

"Yesterday (Sunday) morning they didn’t get the mowers on them and running pretty slow. Jim Furyk was particularly annoyed. They hadn’t put the mowers on and hadn’t told us. They were running slick today in places and in other places they weren’t. I am not going to criticise the greens staff. They did an unbelievable job. They had so much to deal with and had the golf course as well presented as it could possibly be."