Sure Bet at 2014 U.S. Open - Pinehurst No. 2 Won't Disappoint

By: Dave Droschak

A Super Bowl played in a cold-weather city. A hockey game outside in Los Angeles. Why not a U.S. Open Championship without rough?

With iconic Pinehurst No. 2 setting a unique stage this time around, the USGA is taking a risk of unprecedented proportions in less than a month, producing a challenge for the game's best golfers without a thick layer of rough protecting its outer perimeter for the first time in the organization's history. And then doing it again a week later with the Women's Open at the same lovely location.

No. 2 will be hosting the U.S. Open for the third time in the last 15 years but will look nothing like it did in 1999 and 2005, when Payne Stewart and Michael Campbell captured glory.

Four years ago, the resort hired the all-star architectural team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw to resurrect the Donald Ross layout as it played in the 1940s. The center-line sprinkler system was reclaimed and 40 acres of lush, green grass was excavated from the course, replaced by a sandy perimeter dotted with native grasses and a level of unpredictability golfers may soon loathe.

Pinehurst's diabolical turtleback greens were left virtually untouched - except for minor additions to the 15th and 17th putting surfaces. But as the North Carolina heat starts to work its Bermuda-grass magic, the suggested angles of Ross are giving way to a crusty, dry edge that funnels errant tee shots into what could best be described as "junk." With No. 2 stretching more than 7,500 yards as a par 70, and golfers facing more than 100 bunkers, the course appears harder than a year ago - because under further examination it is.

The native areas, as described by Pinehurst Director of Grounds and Golf Course Maintenance Bob Farren, have been expanded significantly, with plants now reaching 24 inches and once-barren portions of the sandy graveyard resembling "organized" vegetation chaos.

A score of even-par now seems more realistic, more reasonable to most than a potential and almost unheard of U.S. Open double-digit under-par champion that was predicted awhile back.

Who will emerge as the favorite is anybody's guess on this layout, considering the uncharted waters golfers will be facing. I'm betting Pinehurst No. 2 will hold its own, and that patience and a hybrid in hand will rule, not aggression and hitting from the heels.

The most popular figure at a recent USGA media day was Coore, who played the course a lot as a college student at Wake Forest. Coore was seemingly encircled by the angry mob of reporters, grilling him on the changes to No. 2 and the reasons behind it.

The veteran architect stood his ground.

"The biggest obstacle here was simply that it was such a dramatic change," Coore said. "Over a period of decades, No. 2 evolved to where it was green grass from tree-line to tree-line, and in almost all instances out here people came to accept that as the way it should be.

"And particularly when you've played two national championships here. They watched it on television; it was green, it was pretty. Then all of the sudden we're doing something where people may come and say, 'What the heck happened here?' The perception is going to be extraordinarily interesting.

"You can have the presentation of golf that you have at Augusta, the perfection - it is absolutely perfect for that golf course and that championship, and then the second major of the year you are going to see this and people watching on television are going to say, 'What is this?' I don't know if you will ever see such a huge difference in presentations of championship courses coming back-to-back like this.

"There is no one that can say one is right and one is wrong," added Coore. "This is what Pinehurst was intended to be and we believe it is right for Pinehurst. What happens at the Masters is absolutely believed to be right for Augusta. We just applaud both and admire both."

At first glance, Open fans may need to adjust to the absence of "green" at No. 2. But Coore says, "There is room in the world of golf for this, and in so many ways this is the golf of the future.

"In today's world, with water issues, environmental-impact issues, costs associated with labor, the majority of courses are going to have to go more in this direction," he noted. "What we hope for is this presentation will showcase that and somehow convey that for those of us who love golf in this country and around the world that it's OK, and perfection does not have to exist on every course. For us, this is perfection. If you look at the old photographs, if you read Mr. Ross's writings, I think he would agree with that."

Sure, players will complain. That's what golfers do when the challenge can exceed the perceived execution. Take it all with a grain of salt, or should I say grain of sand. There's plenty of that to go around at No. 2.

Golf can be a game of luck, inherently more so than in other sports. Was it unlucky that Martin Kaymer's shot to the 17th green in the 2014 Players Championship almost rolled off the island green with more backspin than a break dancer, or was he lucky that it stayed dry?

No, it was just golf, a game of bounces and spins, along with calculated risks and rewards. There should be no better test of those ingredients than in June at Pinehurst No. 2.

"There is always a question in the back of your mind if it was the right thing to do," Farren said. "Our members have embraced it and I can't wait until the best of the world come here in June to see what they think of it."

A degree of excitement not necessarily associated with the U.S. Open - both from the standpoint of the players and fans - has surely been heightened.

"In the past when you saw this championship played, players who missed the fairway were basically relegated to playing some kind of shot to advance the ball down the fairway," Coore said. "In this case, you will see players miss the fairway and some will be in hard-pan sand with fantastic lies with the ability to produce some of the most spectacularly successful recoveries or approach shots ever seen in the United States Open.

"You will also see balls that just miss the fairway that will be in loose sand or pine straw or a little footprint here or there or some organic material that is sort of washed there by nature in collection areas.

"In those situations you are going to see the greatest variety of shots from anybody who has ever tried to play this great game. Anything can happen hitting a golf ball off pine straw. The best players can hit a spectacular shot or you can hit just a little behind the ball and it's like hitting it out of water - the ball just goes nowhere. Or you can hit rocket balls that are beyond description.

"For TV viewers and people in attendance, the spectrum of shots that you will see to the greens for those who miss the fairways will literally be from the Alpha to the Omega, just across as broad a spectrum as you could imagine."

With less than a month to U.S. Open tee times . . . dream on golf fans.

David Droschak has covered golf in the Carolinas for three decades, mostly with The Associated Press, where he worked for 20 years as AP sports editor in North Carolina prior to launching Droschak Communications, a full-service marketing and PR firm based in Apex, N.C.

Dave, 53, has covered numerous major golf tournaments, including the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Opens at Pinehurst Resort, and is a longtime member of the Golf Writers Association of America. Dave will represent Cybergolf to provide coverage of the historic back-to-back 2014 U.S. Men's and Women's Opens at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina's Sandhills.

Dave was honored with the Sports Writer of the Year award in North Carolina in 2005, and is currently editor of Triangle Golf Today (www.trianglegolf.com), a print and online publication regarded as the "No. 1 Source for Golf News in North Carolina." He is also golf editor for Pinehurst Magazine, an award-winning glossy publication.

Dave grew up in Penn Hills, Pa., about five minutes from famed Oakmont Country Club and was introduced to the game of golf as a caddie at Green Oaks Country Club in nearby Verona, Pa. Dave was the co-captain of the 1978 Penn Hills state championship baseball team, was a pitcher for the 1982 Atlantic Coast Conference champion University of North Carolina Tar Heels, and pitched professionally for two years in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He is a member of the Penn Hills High School Sports Hall of Fame, which also includes NBA coach George Karl and former four-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman Bill Fralic.

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