Do We Know the Saturday Pin at Pebble's 14th for the Open?

After Bryce Molder and Paul Goydos both gave away their tournaments at the par 5 14th hole on Sunday by each making nine there in consecutive groups.  As Goydos put it, he had to watch 18 shots on that hole.  The major source of the problem was that the pin placement on 14 was on the top tier of a very small green, just feet beyond a bunker whose depth causes a downslope near the pin.  In other words, aiming for the pin is extremely difficult in that pin.

Most players, included Goydos, wound up playing short and right of the pin.  That left a chip shot up a slope, but left the player without a direct line to the pin.  Goydos and Molder made their mistake by trying to angle their way to the pin instead of playing to the back of the green and conceding a two-putt bogey.

Instead of doing that, though, they chipped toward the hole, passed it by, and the ball slid off of the green and down a mowed area.  From there, the comeback chipper was much too difficult to hold, ultimately leading to nine for both players.

If you think about how that pin would play out in the US Open on Saturday (because Mike Davis likes to tempt players on par 5s on Sunday), the 14th would potentially be a disaster for the tournament.  Consider that Pebble on Sunday was not set up with US Open firmness and brown-ness, and the nines still happened.  The 14th was the third hardest hole yesterday.  It would easily be the hardest hole in the Open.

It would seem unlikely that Mike Davis would take this pin position, though.  Davis likes options.  This par 5 would have no options if this pin was in play.  Golfers would have to lay up as best they could, fly in a wedge to the middle to middle back of the green and hope to hold it if they want a birdie.

The only way that Davis could make this pin palatable is if he moved the tee up drastically in conjunction with it, thereby enticing players to go for the green in two.  Were a longer player able to drive the ball to the left side of the fairway and then draw in the ball hard from the right to the putting surface, there is at least the vague chance for an eagle.

That is probably the only way that we see this pin at 14 at the Open.