US Open officials hope to avoid repeat of last year
Tournament officials will use on-course video review stations at Erin Hills to avoid a repeat of the farcical situation which overshadowed last year's US Open.
Dustin Johnson claimed his first major title at Oakmont 12 months ago, but only after being given a one-shot penalty following an incident which left players, officials and spectators unsure of his score with just seven holes to play.
Johnson had overturned a four-shot deficit to seemingly move two shots clear of the field before being told on the 12th tee that officials would review an incident on his fifth hole after the round.
Dustin Johnson holds the US Open trophy after winning the tournament last year
The 32-year-old had seen his ball move fractionally as he lined up a putt, but called in the referee walking with his group and was initially cleared of any wrongdoing before holing out for par.
Rory McIlroy labelled the decision to review the incident after the round as 'amateur hour' from the USGA (United States Golf Association), who revealed on Wednesday the steps they have taken to avoid something similar happening.
'I think last year there were two things we fell short on,' John Bodenhamer, the senior managing director of championships said. 'It took too long to make the ruling and it left uncertainty with the competition.
Johnson claimed his first major championship at Oakmont 12 months ago
'I think should a similar circumstance happen I think we are poised to move quickly.
'We've enhanced the technology so we'll be able to have a quick look. We have four on-course video-review locations to assist us in expediting our rules decision-making process.
'These locations will be augmented by tablets and some of us on the committee will have those with us and will be able to move quickly on making decisions considering facts as we go forward.'
Last year's controversy followed on from the heavily-criticised course set-up at Chambers Bay in 2015, when Henrik Stenson described the greens as like 'putting on broccoli'.
'If we're being honest, yeah, we're human,' USGA executive director Mike Davis said. 'We know we've had some issues the last two years.
'So moving forward we want a nice, smooth US Open. But you never know what's going to happen with Mother Nature. You're never going to know what happens with certain rule situations or how the players play the course. So you just deal with them and you remain nimble and flexible.'
As part of that philosophy some of the tall fescue grass was cut down on the fourth, 12th, 14th and 18th on Tuesday, although Davis insisted that was not due to complaints from some players.
'It's not as if we don't listen to feedback from players, but I will tell you in this case it had nothing to do, absolutely zero to do with what the players were saying,' Davis added.
'We looked at some spots and we said this is simply not going to play properly.'
Davis also said there were no plans 'in the foreseeable future' for the US Open to change from an 18-hole play-off, the most recent of which produced Tiger Woods's last major victory in 2008.
'We've had good experiences with it,' Davis said. 'I'm thinking about that great three-man play-off in 1994 at Oakmont. If we had a sudden-death play-off one player would have won, if it's a three or four-hole play-off another player would have won. But over 18 holes Ernie Els was the best player that day. And we think there's something to that.
'And think about that magical 18-hole play-off with Tiger and Rocco (Mediate) in '08.
'We could get one where maybe it would change our mind. It's ultimately up to the championship committee. I'm kind of hoping it doesn't happen under my watch.'