Earlier this week, the executive director of the USGA sat in the clubhouse of the Olympic Club in San Francisco and was thinking about the historic U.S. Open that just took place, 2,431 miles away, in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
While at the site of next year’s U.S. Open, Mike Davis wanted to make one thing very clear.
In no way, shape or form would Rory McIlroy’s record-setting 16-under par at Congressional Country Club alter his philosophy when it comes to setting up a golf course.
“Won’t change one thing,” Davis told the Post in a phone interview. “I think we know enough to know that Mother Nature caused it to be easier this year. Last thing we want to do is retaliate, where good shots wouldn’t be rewarded.”
Certainly, all of McIlroy’s good shots were rewarded, as he shot the lowest score in the 111-year history of the U.S. Open and lapped the field for an eight-shot victory.
“We’re trying to set the golf course up in a difficult way, and at the same time a fair way that identifies the best player for that given week,” Davis said. “For all of us at the USGA, clearly Rory was the best player that week. Whether it was easiest or hardest [setup] in history, he would have dominated that week.”
According to Davis, it was a confluence of events out of his control that lead to Congressional playing so soft and accessible. It started with the heat wave that preceded the Open by two weeks, stunting the growth of the rough.
“The longer rough, we didn’t cut it for 21⁄2 weeks,” Davis said. “That’s unheard of.”
The second main factor was the four consecutive days of overnight rain, making the greens incredibly soft and receptive to approach shots. Davis pointed out that the sub-air units that the club had installed under the greens less than two years prior — at the urging of the USGA — are not able to harden the greens at the flip of a switch. Their function is to drain the water from the bottom-most layer of gravel so that the surfaces themselves don’t become saturated, as they did at the Open at Bethpage in 2009.
“The good players, they know exactly how far they hit it so that makes it significantly easier for them,” Davis said. “That’s why we talk about fast and firm conditions all the time. It brings in the element of ‘when the ball lands.’ ”
All of that led to Davis taking quite a bit of criticism, with people likening the U.S. Open to regular PGA Tour birdie-fests.
Since he started being the lead man setting up U.S. Open golf courses in 2006 at Winged Foot, Davis’ idea of the graduated rough cutting — the farther from the intended playing surface, the longer the grass — has been overwhelmingly lauded.
Then after one easy week, he was overwhelmingly ridiculed.
“I kind of read those things or hear those things and they go in one ear and out the other,” Davis said. “Most people commenting just don’t know the facts. It doesn’t bother me.
“What bothers me,” Davis said, “is when we get it wrong.”
The 46-year-old Chambersburg, Pa., native, who took over the executive director’s position earlier this year, thinks back to the final round of the 2010 Open at Pebble Beach, when Graeme McDowell won in a battle of attrition.
“The greens were too firm,” Davis said, “and that was my fault. Very good shots were not being rewarded.”
Davis sounded in pain while talking about U.S. Opens courses that went awry, yet speaks with pride when thinking about Congressional.
“There hasn’t been one championship I’ve been involved with where there hasn’t been multiple mistakes,” Davis said. “This year, there may have been fewer mistakes at Congressional than the other 22 opens I’ve been a part of.
“I think people need to put it in perspective.”
bcyrgalis@nypost.com