By Torleif Sorenson on 6/20/13

Geoff Ogilvy won the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Or perhaps we could say that he survived the 2006 Open at Winged Foot; his winning score was +5 (285), although that Open might be remembered more for Phil Mickelson's mental error that cost him the championship, as well as for the mind-numbing scores registered by the field.

Having also gone through this year's meat-grinder at Merion, Ogilvy has piped in with an assessment of Merion Golf Club under Open conditions, as devised by USGA Executive Director Mike Davis.

Ogilvy's feedback is balanced between the good...

"I also loved the greens, which tend to be more tilted than undulating, offering the chance to hit some inventive shots. I especially liked the very cool fifth green. On Friday I landed my approach on the fringe maybe 30 feet from the cup, from where it rolled slowly down to the hole. Had conditions underfoot been a bit firmer, I would have been able to land that same shot maybe 10 yards farther back, the ball spending even more time on the ground. It reminded me of why links golf is so special."

...and the not-so-good:

"I would like to see dry, 'flier' rough rather than the 'chip-out' long grass we had at Merion. Maybe the wet weather precluded doing anything about the thickness of the rough, but it would have been nice to see guys attempting risky recovery shots (perhaps the most exciting aspect of professional golf) rather than hacking out 50 yards or so up the fairway."

Gentleman that he is, Ogilvy bypassed the opportunity to criticize Davis for turning short par-4s into par-3s, as well as Davis' now-usual trick of 530-yard par-4s.


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Image via Flickr, Steven Newton