Congressional, Oakmont, Shinnecock Hills. Pebble Beach, Winged Foot, and The Country Club at Brookline. All historic golf courses, and all formidable venues proven worthy of U.S. Open competition. But while somewhat stunning to the eye, and idyllically located in the type of metropolitan northwest city the USGA has long clamored for, Chambers Bay Golf Course (the site of this year’s U.S. Open), is positioning itself to be one of, if not the biggest disasters in recent USGA history.
It’s been almost 8 years since Chambers Bay opened for golf, and just more than 6 since the USGA awarded the course in its infantile stage the U.S Open Championship. Since then, curiosity and angst have slowly built towards what many fear will be an epic fail.
Due to it being tucked-away from the heavily traveled path of the PGA Tour, few of golf’s elite had seen the course set to host this year’s 2nd major. But as it’s approached, players and media members have filtered in and out, leaving in their wake a tsunami of skepticism moving ever closer to engulfing the course and the people responsible for choosing it to host this country’s biggest golf event.
From the style (Links), to the greens. Alternating hole pars, to the fescue grass. And the uneven tee ground (yes, USGA Executive Director Mike Davis has suggested they may deliberately put tee markers on up, down, or side hill lies) proposed by the powers-that-be, players are beginning to chirp about a course full of question marks, in a tournament some suggest should have none.
The U.S. Open is this country’s biggest event. Its rich history includes iconic winners, iconic shots, and iconic moments in both tournament and golf’s history. It should be honored and celebrated by the USGA, not used as a tool in some sort of futuristic experiment. Innovation is fine, but to tinker for the sake of tinkering is disrespectful to an institution built on the foundation of its past.
Davis has been applauded for his work since taking over in 2011, but recent attempts to further alter this country’s Open have been met with conflicting results. The Olympic Club, coupled with its varying tees, was considered a win by most in and around the event. But last year’s Open at the newly renovated Pinehurst #2 was thought by many to be a step-back from the previous year’s events at the North Carolina resort, and a risk need not taken in an event not to be toyed with.
The U.S. Open has long offered the game’s toughest test. Its catastrophic rough, tight fairways, and slick, undulated greens became the standard for America’s ultimate test. While difficult to the nth degree, it nearly always rewarded the week’s best performance. Yes, it offered little mercy, but it simultaneously rewarded the player who best struck, putted, and managed his ball over 4 days of the game’s toughest exam. While likely difficult, Chambers Bay will offer a different type of test and will do so in a manner unfamiliar to players who like familiarity.
Davis has said players who’ve done their homework will fare best at Chambers Bay. But that’s asking a lot of tour players rarely in or near the Pacific Northwest and even more from players who’ll be qualifying within a couple of weeks this year’s national championship.
Fair? That’s a relative term. But too many it’s in doubt, and to even more it’s a question that will be left unanswered until the evening following Sunday’s final round.
As someone who lives and takes pride in this region of the country, I hope that Chambers Bay offers the type of test we’ve come accustomed to in the U.S. Open. But as someone who’s played it, I have questions. As someone who understands the game, I have even more. And as someone listening to the players who have and will be participating in this year’s event, it seems doubtful that the course will hold-up, and the players will leave respecting the USGA’s decision to fix what arguably isn’t broken.
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