A Path Less Travelled

The intrigue created by the new look to a masterpiece of United States golf, coupled with the prospect of America’s most popular golfer achieving a career-defining moment that will attract global attention, should be enough in most people’s assessment for the USGA to be more than content with this year.

Not so. The USGA’s current innovative streak seem to hold no bounds as the eyes of the world will also be trained on not just one but two United States Open Championships in consecutive weeks. In a concept proposed, endorsed and announced in 2009, the USGA will host the Opens of the men’s and women’s game back-to-back at Pinehurst No 2.

"With any innovation there is always some risk," Davis said recently. "But we thought there was more upside than potential downside. It would be an opportunity to showcase the best men and the best women in back-to-back weeks, and there is a secondary interest here in showcasing women’s golf.

"I’m a big believer the women never get enough credit. They can really play. I have come to realize how very, very good they are. This will give them an opportunity showcase their skills, and I think playing the week after the men on the same golf course will draw some people to watch that wouldn’t otherwise."

Davis’ gushing praise for the quality of the women’s game did little to hose down the concerns expressed to him in no uncertain terms when he addressed players at the LPGA Founder’s Cup tournament in Phoenix this March.

Although the dual-US Open announcement was made nearly five years ago, the reality of the situation seems to have set in only now - with course conditions being the focal point of player concerns, given the men will play their Open first.

Davis has said the scheduling of the men’s Open first up was with agronomical logistics in mind, as the USGA wants the greens to play firmer for the men than the women and that it’s easier to soften the greens from one week to the next than the reverse.

Green speeds during both weeks will measure around 11.5 on the Stimpmeter, slower than most Open setups but in keeping with the size and undulation of the green complexes at Pinehurst. The course will play nearly nine hundred yards shorter for the women.

This set-up will ensure landing areas on most holes will be further down the fairway for the women than the men, which Davis suggests should alleviate the expressed concerns the women had of having to play from fairways riddled with divots from the men’s Open.

"First of all, Bermuda grass divots are not as big an issue as with bent," Davis said. "At other Opens, we’ve had the public playing Pebble Beach right up to the championship and there are divots all over the place. In reality, they’re just a part of the game."