you mean "over" par...not under.
the pros play from longer tee boxes, the rough is grown out longer, the fairways are narrowed, the greens are dried out to make them faster, and the pin positions are really hard. they will slowly bring the course back to normal over the next few weeks.
i got a chance to play bethpage back in 2002 right after the open. back then i was probably a 8 handicap. we played the tips just to see what it was like. i shot a 109 that i felt was pretty good actually. never seen a course that tough in my life. what the USGA does to these courses is unbelievable. when you see the pro's playing a course on TV it's nothing like what the public plays.
