(Updated March 24 to show PGA Tour response)
Shortly after shooting a 65 in the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by MasterCard, Tiger Woods harshly criticized the greens.
Woods 7-under under put him in a tie for first place at 10-under par with Charlie Wi. Woods had 30 putts in the second round and 32 in the first.
After signing his scorecard, Woods had time for a few words with Golf Channel outside the scoring tent.
When asked about his strategy for the weekend, Woods first said he wanted to see what the weather was supposed to be then followed with, “This golf course, the greens are interesting because they’re not consistent. One green’s firm, one green’s not. So, I know that they’re trying to firm them up but some are, are firming quite a bit and some are backing up so it’s an interesting test.”
When the Woods was finished with the interview none of the announcers in the Golf Channel booth had a word to say about his criticism.
In the media room after the round he repeated the judgement.
“Some greens are sticking and some greens are repelling and you don’t know which is which,” he said.
On the Golf Channel Saturday tournament broadcast, commentator Frank Nobilo reported that Bland Cooper, Competition Agronomist for the PGA Tour, defended the course saying that the greens that are exposed to wind and sun dry out faster than the ones that are sheltered.
Calling greens inconsistent is one of the worst appraisal there is along with saying green speeds are inconsistent or calling the green surfaces bumpy.
It would be interesting to hear Arnold Palmer’s view of Tiger’s words.
