Pinehurst May Host Two Opens In Two Weeks
/Ron Sirak breaks the news that barring a possible last minute hiccup, Pinehurst No. 2 will host the 2014 U.S. Open (already announced) and the 2014 U.S. Women's Open in successive weeks.
According to sources, to hold both Opens on the same venue on consecutive weeks will be both a publicity grabber and cost efficient. The USGA will be able to leave its infrastructure in place -- scoreboards, bleachers, hospitality facilities -- and the network televising the events can leave its cable and cameras in place.
'"Because there are eight courses, they will be able to keep the other seven open during the tournaments," according to one of the sources. "And with the men's event held first, the USGA will be able to widen the fairways, trim the rough and slow the greens for the women if they desire," the source said.
First of all, they are not going to widen out fairways since the scalping would look ridiculous and the statement would be overwhelmingly condescending. The point of back-to-back Opens is to have both men and women playing a similar course.
I really love the concept, unfortunately I'm not wild about the venue they've chosen for this exercise.
Obviously two weeks in a town with limited accommodations, limited food selection and a limited volunteer base strikes me as a glaring weakness. And there's the dicey weather.
The dream site for back-to-back Opens is Pebble Beach, but I suspect it would be too huge of a financial sacrifice for the Pebble Beach Company and considering summer hotel prices in Monterey, a huge budget drainer for everyone else.
A close second and probably far more plausible venue would be Torrey Pines. Abundance of hotel rooms, huge population base to draw volunteers and oh by the way as I pack my Goretex for Bethpage, it doesn't rain in San Diego in June.