Pinehurst to Host Both Men's and Women's US Open in 2014
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 13, 2009 8:50 PM EDT
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PrintJason Sobel has the news vis a vis Golf Digest that Pinehust will be the first site to ever had double duty as host for both the US Open and US Women's Open.
For the first time, the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open likely will take place on the same venue in consecutive weeks, when Pinehurst No. 2 plays host to each tournament in 2014 -- pending approvals on Monday.
In 2007, the USGA announced that Pinehurst was slated to host the US Open for '14. Pending the approval, the No. 2 course will host the ladies in the same year and in consecutive weeks.
Pinehurst makes sense as the first place to attempt this for several reasons, according to the USGA's David Fay.
"It's a very good course on which to try this, for the following reasons: It's a resort and the ownership is willing to do it, which might not be the case with a private club," Fay explained. "And then you take the golf course itself, the sand-based area of the sand hills will minimize the traffic outside the ropes. Inside the ropes, having two championships on back-to-back weeks is basically a break for the golf course, because if you took the average amount of resort play on those two weeks, it would certainly be far more than what you're going to get for the Open and the Women's Open, particularly on the weekends. And then there's the setup of the golf course itself. There's no rough around the greens and while there's rough obviously on either side of the fairways of the par 4s and 5s, because of the nature of the grass, it's not as high as we would normally have. And the reality is that the women tend to hit it straighter than the men anyway, so rough should not be an issue."
In addition, the USGA only has to set up one course for two tournaments' worth of usage. Grandstands, concessions, and all of the tentage common to a USGA event will all be standing and ready for the ladies.
This isn't the first of its kind for the USGA. Pumpkin Ridge hosted the junior boys and girls competitions at the same time in 2000 on two separate courses.
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big mistake - HUGE !
Courses that stage a US Open generally require a few weeks to recover from the beating they take. Greens get baked out and pushed very close to the point of dying, even with the light touch of Mike Davis. The greens at Pinehurst #2 are different than any course on the PGA Tour – they torture even the best players in the world.
How do you keep greens running at speeds the men are used to playing – taking them close to the point of dying – then turn around and play a Women’s US Open the next week ? If the Pinehurst greens are groomed to run at 13-14, which is slow compared to most PGA Tour stops, they will be slowed down to 9-10 for the women in less than 24 hours ? I don’t think so.
It is conceivable that the rough could be cut down from the US Open setup to the Women’s setup overnight – weather permitting, of course. God help the women if there is a lot of rain that prevents cutting back the rough to widen the fairways enough for the women.
The women don’t need this kind of pressure. The visual difference between a US Open and a Women’s US Open course are big enough – seeing the men play this course the week before the women with all the differences in fairways and greens plus the difference in length – and add to that the difference in short game ability – this is a huge mistake. BAD idea.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
There are a lot of potential pitfalls to doing this. At first when I heard about this, I thought maybe the men would play No. 2 and the women would get No. 7 or something like that.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 14, 2009 12:36 PM EDT reply actions
Oh yeah, they’re definitely on #2, but when I heard from OEG that this was happening, I didn’t think it was going to be same course.
Email me any comments or questions at ryan@thegolfnewsnet.com.
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 15, 2009 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions
Lorena Ochoa needs to two-putt it through the clown's nose for the victory
Maybe they meant the miniature golf course next to Jack in the Box.
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