Pebble Beach more fair than farce as USGA finally gets balance right

This is a big week for the United States Golf Association, who can ill afford another embarrassment during the US Open.

For a quick refresher, there were the ravaged greens at Chambers Bay in 2015 that Rory McIlroy described as putting on cauliflower; the handling of the Dustin Johnson ruling that led to a delayed penalty for his ball moving on a putting green in the final round of the 2016 US Open in which Shane Lowry later conceded he didn’t know where he stood in the championship; an Erin Hills course set-up that played too easy; and the most recent debacle at Shinnecock Hills last year when Phil Mickelson struck a still-moving putt during Saturday’s third round in a moment of temporary insanity when the USGA course setup went over the edge.