The US Open is now firmly in the books following the weekend but the fallout from the event is continuing to dominate discussions among analysts, particularly when it comes to the wet conditions.
Standing water after hard rain on the Sunday left Oakmont even harder to play and it effectively cost Sam Burns the tournament as he was forced to play from what was basically a puddle.
Sure enough, Adam Scott was among those confused by the Burns ruling and the issue has continued to harness debate this week.
With the USGA having the over-arching say on the US Open, it was left out of the usual hands of PGA Tour officials to make the calls on rules like lift, clean and place being enforced.
And speaking on the issue, American golfer Kevin Kisner has suggested that the USGA got it all wrong.
Kevin Kisner says why the USGA were wrong with US Open rulings
Speaking on the latest episode of The Smylie Show podcast, Kisner was asked for his thoughts on the playing conditions at Oakmont and whether things would have been different in a bog standard PGA Tour event.
Indeed, according to Kisner, it was a baffling decision that simply wouldn’t have happened normally.
“Pretty sure we’d play the ball up on the PGA Tour on the Sunday. With the conditions already set and the looming forecast, the PGA Tour does a great job of getting the tournament in within the time slot,” Kisner said.
“It sure is a lot easier to go play in those conditions when you don’t have to worry about casual water and we have arguments like Sam did in the 15th fairway. Just move the ball and don’t worry about playing it up.
“So I don’t know why the USGA went high horse on not playing the ball up. I know they want to play golf the traditional way but is it golf if the best players in the world are skulling sand wedges because they’re scared to touch the ground? Or fatting irons or going 30 yards left because the conditions are causing that.
“I don’t mind conditions causing bad shots, but when it’s something out of your control, like water off the fairways…man.”
Why Oakmont was ‘borderline unfair’ according to one LIV Golf player
The conditions were hard enough around Oakmont Country Club before the heavens opened and saturated the place.
Tyrrell Hatton was among the players to complain, with the Englishman getting angry at questions about the wet conditions from reporters afterwards.
Furthermore, Lee Westwood also criticised the course, claiming it was actually getting to the point of being unfair.
“It is the toughest test of any golf course anywhere in the world that I have experienced. Then obviously when they set it up for the US Open with the thick rough and the greens running at 16 on the stimp meter it becomes borderline unfair at times, I would say,” Westwood said.
“That golf course was not designed for those conditions. But it’s just the way that the modern game has gone now. Because players hit it so far, I don’t want to say it, but you have got to trick the golf course up in certain ways. So to reward the accurate play is to penalise the inaccurate way and the only way to do that is to grow really thick rough.”
Of course, what’s done is done now. But it will be interesting to see if future US Opens learn from this one and if the same situation occurs, a different call is made.
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