Pinehurst’s rustic rough presents unique challenge

“What’s all in there is what Donald Ross called ‘the perfect rough.’ Why? Because when a player hits a shot into those sandy natural areas, it’s a walk up that fairway of a bit of anxiety, a bit of emotion, because they don’t know what they’re going to get,” said John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s Chief Championships Officer. “The randomness of that, it’s not just five-inch green lush rough. It can be something gnarly, wire grass, or it can be a perfect sandy lie.”