Some thoughts on Pinehurst's 2014 Open doubleheader
Mike Dudurich
Posted 2009-07-29
It’s been over a month now since that historic announcement was made on the Monday of U.S. Open week.
World-renowned Pinehurst Resort, the crowned jewel of the North Carolina Sandhills, was to become the first U.S. Open venue to also host the Women’s U.S. Open in the same year (2014) … and, even more amazingly, in consecutive weeks … on the same course.
The grand plan includes storied Pinehurst No. 2 being the obvious choice for those two events, the USGA to be the recipient in terms of reduced setup, infrastructure, transportation, etc., costs, and the LPGA and women’s golf in general would benefit greatly from the momentum created by the men’s Open.
The USGA’s Jim Hyler, chairman of the Championship Committee, said he expects on minimal course changes between the two events. With no rough to speak of around the greens, that will be easy. And with the USGA’s policy of graduated rough now firmly in place, the Bermuda rough – that won’t be extremely high even for the men – can be taken down slightly for the women relatively easily.
That’s the grand plan.
I love grand plans. The expectations are great, the skies are blue, the golf course is hard and fast and nasty, 40,000 people line the fairways and greens and the best golfers in the world have their hands full with those Donald Ross greens.
But I’m a member of the media and you know how we are, always with the questions. And I do have some questions about this whole thing, questions I think golf fans everywhere have as well.
Like:
-- While you know it’s a given that Pinehurst will give the Opens the very best playground possible, the one thing the folks at 80 Carolina Vista Dr. can’t do much about is the weather, right? There’s no need to go any further back than this year’s Open at Bethpage to see what a stalled weather system can do to the best-laid plans for a major championship. Should something like that happen in 2014, the women might not get any practice on the course until Tuesday.
-- While the grounds crew at Pinehurst is one of the best in the business, is it really feasible for top-flight conditions to be in place for both national championships? Have you ever seen what a golf course looks like the week after hosting a professional tournament? Tee boxes won’t be a problem because the women won’t be back on the tips where the men play. But fairways will hammered with repaired divots, greens will be well-trod after seven straight days of being cut to within an inch of their lives. Even something like spectator crosswalks will be an issue. Crosswalks are situated at a distance from the tee where drives normally land short of it and therefore don’t come into play.
That may become an issue for the women, who’ll play from shorter tees and may end up have to play second shots from worn-down areas.
-- A key part of the hype surrounding golf’s biggest-ever doubleheader is that golf fans will be able to spend two weeks in golf’s mecca, see the best men’s and women’s players in the world. The media, so the thinking goes, will be able to cover two major championships in 14 days without excessive cost.
Here comes the media again.
Everybody expects the economy to rebound and everybody hopes things will be in good shape by the time 2014 gets here. But how many golf fans, do you think, will be able to afford to take two weeks of vacation, absorb the costs of two weeks of hotel accommodations and food to take advantage of this great opportunity?
And, from that media standpoint, unless something major happens in a good way in the newspaper industry – and media in general for that matter – very few outlets will have their representatives staying for two weeks on the company dime.
They’ll come for the Open because of the intense interest there is in it. On a normal year, when both are stand-alone events, media numbers at the men’s dwarf the women’s.
Do you see a common thread here?
I’m concerned for the women’s end of this twinbill. I think the theory is a good one, but I have some severe doubts about its execution.
It seems to me that the part of this that should have the most to gain could well be the part that loses the most.
"We felt like it was an opportunity to not only help the women's Open, but to put an extra wrinkle into the U.S. Open," said USGA Executive Director David Fay. "And as you know, the U.S. Open is not restricted to male players, so it's possible to imagine a scenario where someone qualifies for both."
Sure, and Michelle Wie could win both with me finishing second in both.
Paul Jett, Pinehurst’s long-time superintendent on No. 2, was in on the discussions from the earliest days and has maintained a sense of humor during all of the questioning about how this can be pulled off.
“No one’s ever done it,” the long-time superintendent at Pinehurst Resort’s famed course said, “so no one can tell me I’m doing it wrong. But if I ever wanted to challenge myself, this is the way to do it.”
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against this concept. I think it can be a spectacular show, but for that to happen everything’s going to have to fall together perfectly.
And if that doesn’t happen, it will be the women’s event that will suffer.
That would be too bad because the trend recently has been for Women’s Opens to be staged on some of golfer’s more grand stages: Oakmont, Crooked Stick, Cherry Hills. The Women’s British Open was held on the Old Course at St. Andrews in 2007.
One way or the other, it will make for a couple weeks of good television watching in 2014.
Start a Feedback Thread Or Talk About This Article
NEWS
FORUMS
EQUIPMENT
COURSES
PRO SHOP
DIRECTORY
CONTACT US
GIVEAWAYS
ADVERTISING
As a sports writer for over 35 years, Mike Dudurich has seen a lot of great things, covered spectacular events, but his passion is, and has been golf.
He recently ended a 29-year career at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and will now be a frequent contributor on GolfGearReview.com.
Mike hosts a weekly golf radio show on 1250 ESPN in Pittsburgh from the beginning of April through the end of August.
The show airs Saturdays from 8-9 a.m. and can be heard online at