Westwood slams unfair Oakland Hills after 77

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Michigan (Reuters) - Britain's Lee Westwood lambasted organisers for an unfair course set-up after sliding to a seven-over-par 77 in the U.S. PGA Championship opening round on Thursday.

Westwood said the lush rough at Oakland Hills Country Club was too long and penalised players who narrowly missed the fairway.

"I didn't do a lot wrong," he told reporters after carding five bogeys and a double-bogey six at the 16th. "The fairways are narrow and unfortunately if you miss the semi (rough) by a foot you are worse off than if you miss by 20 yards.

"You have to reward the accurate players like they did at the U.S. Open," added Westwood referring to the graduated rough at Torrey Pines two months ago.

"If you missed a shot, you had half a chance. Here I had a shot on the fourth, hit a driver and because the fairways are firming up, it ran through the fairway a foot into the rough.

"I couldn't even get a lob wedge to the green and I only had 95 yards to the front. That's the sort of thing you are battling against out there."

BRUSH BACK

Westwood, whose third place at Torrey Pines was his best result in a major, also criticised the way the rough at Oakland Hills had been brushed back toward the tee on each hole before the start of the tournament.