Bethpage Lands 2012, '16 Barclays Events?

Mark Herrmann and Yancey Roy break the story, and because it's behind a pay wall we'll defer to Brendan Prunty for the detail that most people are wondering about: the relationship with the USGA.

Rumored to have been on the outs with the USGA after hosting two U.S. Opens in a seven-year span, the brawny public golf course in Farmingdale had been searching for a big-time replacement event. After being the first daily-fee public course in U.S. Open history to play host to the national championship, Bethpage Black ran into bad luck and tricky local politics.

Both of its U.S. Opens had been rain-soaked, including the rain-delayed 2009 Open won by Lucas Glover. In addition, there had been rumblings that the state and local government had irked the USGA and caused golf's governing body to search elsewhere for its New York-area Open venues.

If true about 2012 and '16, I do wonder about the chances of Liberty National returning. With Ridgewood and Plainfield also part of the mix, you have to give the tour credit for putting together a formidable rota. Unless they add Liberty, then I rescind that compliment.