U.S. Open recap: Crazy finish, questionable playing conditions, and lots of technology

UNIVERSITY PLACE, WASH. — The Northwest’s first U.S. Open had it all — drama, controversy, and lots of great golf.

We had fun covering the huge sporting event, joining more than 120,000 fans who descended upon University Place, Wash. this weekend as golf’s second of four annual major tournaments was played at scenic Chambers Bay.

The four-day tournament concluded on a beautiful Sunday afternoon after Dustin Johnson not only missed a 12-foot putt on the final hole, but then also missed the 4-foot comeback-er that would have forced an 18-hole playoff on Monday with 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth. Instead, Johnson missed, and Spieth won his second consecutive major championship this year.

Johnson didn’t blame the course conditions for his putting miscues, although some other players certainly voiced their concerns about Chambers Bay — particularly the greens, which Ian Poulter called “unplayable” in this epic thrashing of the USGA:

I look forward to congratulating the 2015 US Open Champion very soon, I simply didn’t play well enough to be remotely close. 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 If this was a regular PGA tour event lots of players would have withdrawn and gone home on Wednesday, but players won’t do that for a major.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.

A photo posted by Ian Poulter (@ianjamespoulter) on Jun 21, 2015 at 6:13pm PDT

Other players shared similar feelings:

Happy with my Even par round today although it could've been a bit better by the way I played but this greens are as bad as the look on TV ?

— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) June 18, 2015

Here's Billy Horschel breathing fire re: the Chambers Bay greens. pic.twitter.com/Y5rNAUY9wN

— Christian Caple (@ChristianCaple) June 21, 2015

Despite the apparent poor playing conditions, other golfers seemed to play just fine, particularly on Sunday:

According to the USGA, the scoring average of 71.29 for Sunday's final round was the lowest for ANY round in #USOpen history.

— Tim Booth (@ByTimBooth) June 22, 2015

Interesting convo with my caddy last night re. US Open greens. We don't think I missed anything inside 6 feet for the week. #badgreens?

— Brad Fritsch (@BradFritsch) June 22, 2015

While the course conditions may have been questionable, we did notice that Chambers Bay wasn’t the easiest place to watch a golf tournament given its hilly terrain.

What's disappointing about @usopengolf is the fans not being about to walk around the course/get close enough to most of the greens to cheer

— Billy Horschel (@BillyHo_Golf) June 19, 2015

The 115h U.S. Open was also the first major golf tournament for FOX, which carried live coverage throughout the week. FOX employed a number of neat tech gadgets for its broadcast, using everything from drones to virtual reality cameras to remote control cars to show what was going on at the course.

Despite the cool camera angles, some were critical of the broadcast.

Can't fall asleep? Tune into Fox Sports coverage of the U.S. Open. You're welcome.

— Josh Scobee (@JoshScobee10) June 20, 2015

I just stepped outside the media center to make sure we weren’t in a rain delay. Nope, just @FoxSports thinking @usopengolf is a talk show.

— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) June 20, 2015

Speaking of technology, this was the first U.S. Open in history where fans were allowed to bring their mobile devices. However, they weren’t allowed to take any photos or videos during the tournament — the USGA even had “mobile device task force” volunteers perusing the course to make sure nobody was snapping pictures with their smartphones.

There was no video streaming allowed, either — for both fans and reporters.

But given the new mobile device policy, the USGA worked with IBM to launch an app that showed fans which golfers were playing on what hole in real time thanks to new laser position technology and volunteers spread around Chambers Bay. We tested out the app throughout the week, and for the most part it was a nice tool to have while on the course.

You can check out all our U.S. Open tech coverage here.

All in all, I think you can expect the U.S. Open to return to Chambers Bay despite the player complaints. Sure, the greens may not be as pristine as the ones at Augusta National, but that’s what makes Chambers Bay unique. It presented a different challenge for the professionals, and at the end of the day, the best golfer still came out on top.