U.S. Open Championships - One-Time Opportunity for Women's Golf

By: Nancy Berkley


The recently unveiled poster for the upcoming U.S. Opens says it all - and differently than ever. In fact, it is a historic design that highlights the first time in USGA Open history that women and men will compete in back-to-back USGA Open Championships on the same course. It may also be the last time since the USGA has now announced separate locations for both the men's and women's Opens through 2018.

A little background: Historically, men have competed in the U.S. Open in mid-June and women in the U.S. Women's Open on a different course in early July. But this year's poster tells a different story. The men will play June 12 through June 15 and the women the following week - both on the same Donald Ross design at Pinehurst No. 2 in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The poster is symbolic and subtle. Those who look quickly might think it is just about one tournament.

Congratulations to Lee Wybranski, the artist, who has designed seven previous USGA Open posters, and cleverly captured the uniqueness of this year's Opens. In fact, the artist with the approval of the USGA legitimizes the event as "The U.S. Open Championships." Wybranski has even created a new logo for the combined event (lower left corner of the poster). Open merchandise - like hats, shirts and bag tags, with that one-time logo are sure to be collectors' items.

Not to be overlooked, the traditional separate logos for the women's and men's events have their spot on the poster as well on the right and left bottom corners. If you can't make it to the Opens, the poster is available for purchase at www.usgashop.com/cart.php?m=search_results&search=poster&go2=Go.

The men will play the famous course from tees of 7,400 yards and the women from 6,700 yards. The theory being that both the men's and women's tee shots will land in similar places, providing similar challenges for their shots to the green.

The back-to-back decision on the championships was made by Mike Davis, the executive director of the USGA, who has managed many tournament venues over his career with the organization. The decision has some risks, especially in terms of maintaining good fairway conditions through both tournaments - divots and all.

But with the men's U.S. Open playing first to an anticipated large television audience, the USGA has a unique opportunity for fans and TV viewers to hear about how women golfers will play the very same holes the following week. "Yes, Virginia, there are women golfers and you can be one!" is the message I want viewers to hear.

Mike Davis, are you listening? If there are not good female announcers and players in the booth during the men's U.S. Open that can appropriately discuss the upcoming women's play and strategy, a critical opportunity will be missed. And gender-vice-versa during the U.S. Women's Open the next week.

Whether the back-to-back tournaments effectively market women's golf will depend on whether Davis properly instructs NBC and the television announcers as well as he manages the rest of the tournaments. NBC may not be all that motivated since, beginning next year, Open coverage moves to the FOX network. Nevertheless, this is a test of sorts as to whether the USGA can live up to its "For the Good of the Game" historic tagline.

Will the announcers during the U.S. Women's Open explain to viewers that this is a "major" tournament on the LPGA Tour and explain what that means? Will they invite LPGA commissioner Mike Whan to sit in and talk about women's professional golf and its very successful LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program?

Or will the parochial and gender-based mindset of leaders in our fragmented golf industry win out after all? As an optimist, I am hoping that Mike Davis's one-time risky decision turns out to be an opportunity and tipping point for the growth of women's golf in the U.S. Hopefully, there will be lessons learned from this one-time experiment that will encourage more women and girls to play more golf.

Nancy Berkley, President of Berkley Golf Consulting, is an expert on women's golf and junior-girls golf. She is a frequent contributor to www.cybergolf.com/womensgolf. Her book, "Women Welcome Here! A Guide to Growing Women's Golf," published by the National Golf Foundation, is an industry reference on marketing golf to women and spotting trends within the industry. She offers information and advice about the golf industry on www.berkleygolfconsulting.com and is often quoted in national publications. She was a contributing editor of "Golf for Women" magazine and a founding advisor of "Golfer Girl Magazine." Her interviews with women in the golf industry now appear on www.golfergirlcareers.com. Nancy lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Harvard University and Rutgers Law School. After a business and legal career, she decided to write about the game she learned and loved as a teenager. She describes herself as a good bogey golfer with permanent potential.