Gordon Updates TCC Situation: Fay Issues Traditional Non-Denial Denial
/Joe Gordon writes:
It seems unlikely that the United States Golf Association intends to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Francis Ouimet’s momentous win at The Country Club as an amateur in the 1913 U.S. Open by selecting the Brookline club to host the 2013 U.S. Open.
Asked about a published report that the 2013 event had already been awarded to Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa., rather than TCC, which had long been anticipated, USGA executive director David Fay would neither confirm nor deny it.
“I don’t make comments about anything until we have signed contracts,” Fay said. “I think I just ought to leave it at that.”
Reading between the lines would seem to support the speculation that the USGA and Merion have agreed in principle to a deal.
“I think what the USGA is trying to do is keep whatever they’re doing as quiet as possible,” said David Chag, general manager at The Country Club. “We have no news. They hold their cards pretty close to their chest and you’re not really learning anything at this point, which, to me, tells me they’re doing something (else).
If TCC is not going to get the U.S. Open to commemorate the Ouimet victory after hosting Opens in 1963 and 1988 on the 50th and 75th Ouimet anniversaries, Chag said the club would like to host a U.S. Amateur or Walker Cup in 2013.
Fay said the USGA is committed to Merion in 2009 for the Walker Cup and has U.S. Amateur venues slated through 2012. “I don’t imagine we’d be making any decision on a 2013 Walker Cup until perhaps 2008 or 2009,” Fay said. “But on the Amateur, sometimes we go up to seven years out.”
There had been some speculation that The Country Club might be considered to host the Deutsche Bank Championship occasionally if that tournament ventures from its home at TPC Boston in Norton.
“We haven’t heard a word about it here as far as we’re concerned,” Chag said of the Deutsche Bank rumors, noting that the only time TCC veered from USGA sanctioning was to host the PGA’s 1999 Ryder Cup. “I would think that over the long haul, (TCC would) find more of a relationship with the USGA than anyone else.”
