Tournament: 124th United States Open, June 13-16, 2024
Course: Pinehurst No. 2 Course, par 70, 7,543 yards. Located in the Village of Pinehurst, NC. About an hour and a half southwest of Raleigh, and an hour and a half east of Charlotte.
Purse: $20 million total, and $3.9 million to the winner.
Defending Champ: Wyndham Clark. The Oregon Duck was showing some glimpses of good form when he won at Quail Hollow a month before, and just plugged along at LA Country Club while others wilted and faltered behind. With little major championship experience, Clark stayed steady and held off literally the two best players in the game (Scheffler and McIlroy) on Sunday.
Fun Fact: The only major championship venue I’ve played. You may not know that there are now 10 courses at Pinehurst, 11 if you count the par 3 course (“The Cradle”) which is serving as the driving range this week. #1 is reasonable in price and gives you a feel of sandhills golf. #2 has always been the gem and the championship course. #4 was between #1 and #2 in terms of difficulty but a recent restoration by Gil Hanse has it back to a strong complement to #2. #3 is a delightful short course, and the greens are every bit as tricky as #2. #6 is off-site but a nice track with surprising elevation. #8 is as tough a course as I like to play, it just isn’t in the sandhills style and a tad more parkland in nature. #9 is the old Pinehurst National, a Jack Nicklaus design that demands a lot of fades (right handed) off the tee. #10 is also off-site and was formerly known as “The Pit” due to being reclaimed from old sand mines.
TV Times: Dig out your Peacock streaming credentials folks – NBC has the television rights this week. (All Times Eastern) Thursday 6:30 a.m.-5 p.m. on USA, then 5-8 p.m. on Peacock. Friday 6:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on Peacock, but 1-7 p.m. on NBC with 7-8 p.m. back on Peacock. Saturday is more straightforward with 10 a.m.-noon carried on USA, and noon- 8 p.m. on NBC. And then the final round Sunday on 9 a.m.-noon (USA), noon-7 p.m. (NBC)
‘Dawgs in the Field: 8. Russell Henley, Davis Thompson, Greyson Sigg, Harris English, Brian Harman, Sepp Straka, Chris Kirk, Brendon Todd.
The town (okay, Village) of Pinehurst is simply not built to handle the crowds descending upon it. The population is less than 20,000 and they are expecting over 200,000 visitors for the week. So while the Village is quaint, charming, and perfect for a quiet drive, the local constables are closing most of the local streets to traffic and most of those throngs will simply be bussed in from the parking lots 10 miles away. (I have a decent story about a drag race one night on Midland Road, but it’s probably only good for the locals.)
The course, however, can indeed handle what’s coming. In 3 previous Opens at Pinehurst (1999, 2009, 2014) only 4 total golfers have finished the tournament under par. The course is a test, and pars are good scores.
There is no rough to speak of. Thanks to a restoration in 2012 by the famed Coore/Crenshaw design team back to more of the original design and framing, Pinehurst #2 relies on three main defenses: natural areas and native grasses that swallow wayward tee shots, a layout that begs for very specific angled approach shots (or good luck from the other side), and typical Donald Ross dome-shaped greens. Upside-down cereal bowls, turtlebacks, the descriptions of the putting surfaces are as numerous as the 3 putt bogeys.
Small in size, diabolical in contour, they are surrounded by runoff areas on most every side (instead of thick rough). But they are also very grainy and the surrounds are sticky Bermuda grass with tough-to-judge reactions. The greens will repel balls for every golfer on approach. You will be “Ross’ed” multiple times a round – a slightly less than perfect shot hits the green but follows the slopes and false fronts to end up 10 yards right, left, or yonder. The trick is to end up in the best spots off the green because some will be much easier than others. And with a hot and dry forecast, the greens will be firmer and faster than ever. Some players have been quoted as saying they are already “borderline” in their playability.
The fairways should also be firm, and unless rain comes in, you will see balls running off the fairway into the natural areas. This is mostly hard-packed sand, and can be quite playable. But is bordered and scattered with tall, thick, wiry native grasses. Most of this grass is locally referred to as “Love Grass” – because once you’re in it, you’re screwed.
The landscape is fairly flat – only a couple of holes on the front and couple on the back have anything like an elevation change. And though the rise on 18 to the final green isn’t much, I promise you playing your approach it feels steeper than 18 at Augusta National.
As far as our ‘Dawgs are concerned, there isn’t a ton of success at US Open sites. Brian Harman had a 2nd place at Erin Hills – that was 7 years ago but remember he just won the British Open last year. Russell Henley played very well other than a bad Sunday at Torrey Pines just 3 years ago. And Harris English has a couple of recent top 5s including last year at LACC and a 4th back in 2021. Sepp Straka is coming off a top 10 last week, and Chris Kirk was a winner in Hawaii back in January. What I’m saying, if I’m saying anything at all, is… at least there’s a chance.
I’m taking a few days off work and heading down to Pinehurst myself. I’m lucky enough to be close by, and even luckier that my Father’s Day present to my own dad is to take him and my son to the US Open. The forecast is looking like Williams-Brice September noon kickoff hot, so we’ll see how my elderly father takes the strain. But three generations of GlimmerTwins will be in attendance, and you can bet we’ll make sure the former Bulldogs competing know we are rooting for them. I hope you all enjoy the golf and/or Father’s Day, and as always…
GO ‘DAWGS!!!