It’s the offseason essentially, so I wanted to take some time to look ahead to next year.
Yes, it’s gonna get weird with the changes for the field sizes at the elevated events, but you know what?
That’s out of my control and I’m just happy to watch, enjoy, and gamble on golf.
Obviously, the biggest and easiest way to start to look ahead at next year is by focusing on the majors, and we’ve got some stellar stops next season:
The Masters: April 8-14 at Augusta National, Augusta, Georgia (duh)
PGA Championship: May 13-19 at Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Kentucky
U.S. Open: June 10-16 at Pinehurst No. 2, Pinehurst, North Carolina
British Open: July 15-21 at Royal Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland
I have no idea why we started out of order, but I had asked Ron to jot down some thoughts and early looks on next year’s major venues and he said that he wanted to start with Pinehurst, so here we are. Just like a normal week with the newsletter, minus the betting and weather (if you must know it’s 61 degrees and cloudy in Pinehurst, NC as I write this)
Pinehurst is obviously iconic in American golf. If you’re a design hardo, you know so many big names have had their hands in on designing the nine courses on site: Hanse, Ross, Nicklaus, the Jones’ and Fazios. But No. 2 is surely the most famous, a course Donald Ross worked on up until his death.
Pinehurst has hosted nearly everything a U.S. course can: A Ryder Cup, a PGA Championship, and a handful of U.S. Opens, as well as Senior, Women’s, and Amateur Opens over its hundred-plus years.
It’s been a minute since we’ve had a U.S. Open here. Last held in 2014 and won by Martin Kaymer, but we will return again in 2029, along with a few more scheduled stops down the road.
So, as always, an excerpt from Ron’s (very early) course preview:
Pinehurst No. 2
With its classic Donald Ross design, Pinehurst No. 2 was restored by the team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw in 2010 to reinvigorate the historic course with Ross’ original 1930’s playing conditions. First opened in 1907, it is considered to be Ross’ best work and he called it “the fairest test of championship golf I have ever designed.” He continued to perfect it until his death in 1948.
The course is famous for its exceptionally difficult green complexes which were a signature of Ross designs, and many of the greens are crowned causing shots that are short to roll off the green, leaving a difficult chip shot. Johnny Miller once famously compared trying to land a shot on a Pinehurst green as “like trying to hit a ball on top of a VW Beetle.
Measuring 7,562 yards, the par 70 is a beast of a course. In the 2014 U.S. Open, the cut was 5-over par and the tournament was won by Martin Kaymer with a score of 5-under. There is some room for players off the tee with wide fairways. However, even then, strategy is a must, with strategically placed bunkers and deceptive fairway undulations ready to test even the world’s best players.
Pinehurst, like many courses in the North Carolina Sandhills region, was without long rough for much of its early history. However, in 1974 a redesign by R.T. Jones led to the installation of thick Bermuda rough throughout the course. This lasted until a restoration in 2010 by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, who removed all of the rough and reshaped the fairways and bunkers to restore the course to its original Ross design. In lieu of rough, golfers now find hardpan sand and native scrub bordering the fairways.
Almost 35 acres of Bermuda rough had been replaced by the waste areas, with roughly 250,000 wiregrass plants added, said John Jeffreys, course superintendent for No. 2. Darin Bevard, USGA senior director of championship agronomy, said that after the 2014 U.S. Open there was a “backlash” from the public and some of the golfers about the course’s aesthetic appearance being scruffy and brown. “We would like to present a greener golf course than what we had in 2014 … if the weather cooperates.”
The greens are one of the many things that make Pinehurst No. 2 so unique. “It’s very challenging,” said Scott Langley, the USGA’s Senior Director of Player Relations who finished 54th here at the 2014 U.S. Open. “It’s very difficult to get the ball close to the hole with the approach shot into these greens, particularly if you’re in the wrong part of the fairway.” Players will need to be both mentally and physically strong. Brevard said the greens should roll 12 to 13 on the Stimpmeter
I’ve got five more Wednesdays between now and when you can expect to read about the The Sentry at gorgeous Kapalua Resort. I don’t know the order, but we’ll get to the other three majors in due time, as well as an overall look at the schedule and some predictions for 2024. I hope you’re enjoying the offseason, and have a Happy Thanksgiving if that’s something you do.
And Just because we should keep up on the news, there is a prettttty hot rumor circulating and coming from the mouths of some big names.
I don’t know if there’s merit to this, and there have already been some theories tossed around regarding the late arrival of the 2024 LIV schedule (Rahm negotiating changes). But this would obviously be a massive move for the Spaniard if it’s true.
Either way, here’s the schedule that was put out this morning. I’ll dig in more, but so far it appears that they are not too worried about going head to head with some bigger PGA events.
As always, be good, have fun, bet responsibly even if it’s not golf, and have a nice long weekend.
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