There is some proof....
SAN FRANCISCO, June 1998— Payne Stewart escaped the United States Open today with a one-stroke lead, but nobody escaped the Olympic Club's wrath.
Stewart may have nightmares tonight about the putt he missed for birdie on No. 18, a putt that would have put him in the clubhouse with a three-stroke lead. It was a 10-foot sidehill putt that broke right to left, but the hole sat on a severe slope that was ready to kidnap any putt that strayed even inches from the target.
Stewart's putt barely missed the hole, turning about three inches short of it and almost coming to a complete stop. But then his ball caught the slope, and it rolled slowly, slowly down the hill. The gallery groaned with every agonizing revolution of the ball, while Stewart watched, seething.
Instead of a tap-in for par, Stewart faced a 20-foot uphill putt after the ball finally stopped rolling. He missed it, giving him bogeys on today's final two holes. It was another example of what makes the United States Open so demanding, why leads are so unsafe, why the tournament is still wide open, and why the weekend should be wild.