PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Tiger Woods missed a short birdie attempt on the sixth hole Friday, trudged toward his waiting caddie, and then profanely informed Joe LaCava that his ball took an unscheduled hop on its way to the cup. The scene summoned Woods' assessment of Pebble Beach's Poa annua putting surfaces during the last U.S. Open played here in 2010.
"The greens," Woods said in 2010, "are just awful."
David Fay, then the executive director of the USGA, ripped Woods for ripping the greens, and Tiger responded by maintaining that a lot of players felt the way he did but didn't have the nerve to say so.