It wasn't set up as a championship venue...nut maybe that's what the PGA wants..they want to be the anti-US Open.
FYI..I got to play Bethpage Black in 2002, a few days after the Open, and just before they started restoring the course to normal. You can't imagine what the rough is like at an Open..until you disappear into it...I will NOT tell you my score...however..I will tell you that I went through 17 balls that round...admittedly we were playing under rules to not spend more than 2 minutes looking for a ball..
LOL. The first time I played Valhalla, I shot a 103... the rough that time was SEVERE! If you hit a ball into the rough, the forecaddie (Thank GOODNESS for them) would tell me to “bring and 8 Iron”.... no matter how far away I was.
The second time, I shot 101. That was a week before they closed the course for the Ryder Cup and they had dramatically lowered the rough.. to help the American team. I should have scored a LOT better that day, but....I was in the midst of “Shanking Crisis” with my irons... extremely frustrating.
In a 7 day span, I played Pebble Beach, Spyglass, and Valhalla.... The whole time, I was BOOMING my drives, chipping and putting very well.... and, even hitting some quality iron shots. But, about 1 out of 5 irons would shoot STRAIGHT RIGHT! It was scary.
I like the US Open for what it is. But, I don’t think every Major has to be that way. The Master’s sure wasn’t... before the last course ‘upgrade’. Now? It’s the most boring tourney of the year.