by Jeff Skinner
With THE PLAYERS Championship in the books it is time to look towards the next big tournament and with all due respect to the next four weeks on the PGA Tour, that is the 2014 U.S. Open.
Pinehurst #2 will host both the Men’s and the Women’s Open starting in less than a month. It’s the first time ever both national championships have been held in consecutive weeks on the same course.
The USGA loves Pinehurst and this will be the third time in sixteen years that the Men’s Open has been held on #2. In 1999 Payne Stewart topped Phil Mickelson in what has become the stuff of legend. And in ’05 Michael Campbell out lasted Tiger Woods for his first and only major win.
The #2 course we all saw in those Opens is long gone as Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw have renovated and returned the course to the original Donald Ross design.
That means no rough…anywhere on the course. Rough, very deep, punishing rough has become the trademark for U.S. Opens but this Open will be a throwback to the days where sandy areas and natural grasses lined the course.
It indeed will be a different type of Open for all of us, the players, the fans, the USGA and in particular me.
I’ll be attending this U.S. Open with media credentials for the very first time. I’ve been to dozens of tournament with credentials but the USGA had been very tough in handing out credentials to its cherished Open. But Mike Davis and his USGA cohorts have seen the light and extended me a set of credentials.
Over the years I have attended many Opens but always as a fan so this year with access to the Media Center, press conferences and the players this year looks to be an extra special one for me. Now, if Phil can just find his game.
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