North-South Amateurs Praise Pinehurst No. 2 Restoration

EARLIER THIS MONTH TOP AMATEURS teed it up in the 111th Men’s North & South Amateur Championship at Pinehurst, North Carolina. It was the most significant tournament at Pinehurst No. 2 since the storied golf course reopened in March following a full restoration by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore. A few of the amateurs share their thoughts about No. 2 in the above video. For the North & South, Pinehurst No. 2 played at 7,346 yards and to a par of 71.

Restoration Elements

Beginning in 2008, the $2.5 million restoration was undertaken to elevate the experience for members and resort guests, Pinehurst Resort said in April. The USGA was consulted throughout the process since it will conduct the U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open at No. 2 on consecutive weeks in 2014.

Following are specific elements of the restoration.

• The wall-to-wall grass look synonymous with the modern era has been eliminated, leaving just two lengths of grass: greens and everything else.

• All rough has been eliminated from the course.

• Approximately 32 acres of grass have been stripped, returning natural areas of hardpan, sand, pine straw and wiregrass that were part of the original topography. More than 100,000 wiregrass plants were added.

• Fairways have been widened by almost 50 percent on average, offering more strategic options. Fairways also will be kept firmer, benefiting good shots and penalizing stray shots that continue to bounce into distressed areas, pine straw and native grasses.

• Almost 700 sprinkler heads have been removed, leaving about 450 operating heads along the single, center water line. These irrigation lines will define fairways, but leave other areas to be defined by the weather and natural elements.

• The removal of sprinkler heads coupled with no winter overseeding and the focus on firmer conditions will reduce overall water usage by as much as 50 percent.

• Eight new tees have been added to the championship course, increasing the total championship yardage to 7,485 yards from 7,214.

• All greens have been sodded with A1/A4 bent grass.

• Bunkers have been restored, eliminated or reshaped based on aerial images of the course from the 1940s.

• While No. 2’s famous greens went largely untouched, minor modifications were made to the 15th and 17th greens in order to create additional pin placements.

“My mouth literally falls open when I see the incredible work that they’ve done,” said USGA Executive Director Mike Davis.

I hope to get to Pinehurst sometime soon and see for myself.

−The Armchair Golfer

Golfweek: Evian Masters to Become 5th LPGA Major

THERE IS A FIFTH MAJOR after all. No, it’s not the long-debated Players Championship. It’s the LPGA’s popular Evian Masters played in Paris, France, according to Golfweek:

Beginning in 2013, Evian will be designated as a major championship, the LPGA’s fifth, sources told Golfweek.

The LPGA’s number of major championships has been a moving target over the years. The tour’s current majors—Kraft Nabisco Championship, Wegmans LPGA Championship, U.S. Women’s Open and Ricoh Women’s British Open—have been a foursome only since 2001. Before the British Open achieved major status, the du Maurier Classic was the tour’s fourth major, from 1979 to 2000.

Golfweek also reported that the Evian Masters course will be lengthened and other changes will be implemented to make the tournament worthy of its major designation. Evian has been a mainstay on the LPGA schedule and boasts a $3.25 million purse, same as the U.S. Women’s Open.

Jiyai Shin told Golfweek Evian’s new major status created “more chances to win.”

But a veteran player and major winner who requested anonymity said, “I originally probably would be opposed to something like that.”

In other news, So Yeon Ryu won the U.S. Women’s Open in a three-hole playoff at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. Ryu birdied the final hole to catch clubhouse leader Hee Kyung Seo at 3 under par. The event rolled into Monday due to numerous weather delays.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo: Courtesy of Celso Flores, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Creamer Rises to the Top

2010 U.S. Women’s Open Recap
Winner: Paula Creamer
Score: 3 under, 281 (72, 70, 70, 69)
Quote: “I believed I could do this.”
Fact: She didn’t watch leaderboards.
Thought: Mental toughness wins majors.

PAULA CREAMER IS A major champion. What so many have long expected since the talented California native turned professional five years ago finally came to pass today under blue skies at Oakmont Country Club in western Pennsylvania. She is only 23, but doesn’t it seem that Paula has been grinding for that first major victory for quite a while?

Count me among those who were thoroughly impressed by Creamer’s performance. I know Oakmont was playing soft after the heavy rain on Friday. It’s still Oakmont, though. Playing through pain in the aftermath of surgery to her left thumb, Paula was the only player in red numbers for 72 holes, shooting 3-under par to win by four strokes over Na Yeon Choi and Suzanne Pettersen. She saved her best round for last, a 2-under 69.

Few players have a four-shot cushion when they play the final hole of a U.S. Open (a dream scenario and then you wake up), but apparently Creamer didn’t know it. Paula said afterwards that she didn’t look at a leaderboard until the 18th green.

“That was a goal of mine,” she said, “to just go and play the golf course, and if somebody played awesome, then somebody did. I didn’t want to change my game plan.”

How do you explain a first major after so much adversity and such a long layoff? Paula was obviously not at anywhere near her best physically—she could only hit 40 balls in warm up, winced in pain on the course, and told the press she was about 60 percent. She had only played four events coming into the national championship, missing the cut last week at the Jamie Farr Classic.

“It just shows,” Paula said, “how much the mental side of golf can really take over.”

There’s also the experience and maturity Creamer gained from disappointments at the last two U.S. Women’s Opens at Interlachen and Saucon Valley. And there’s the putting, which this time was superb on Oakmont’s crazy fast and undulating greens.

Because of Paula’s extreme popularity—and because an American has won the U.S. Women’s Open—this is bound to be a huge lift for women’s golf and the LPGA Tour. With Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa gone, the game needs star power, and Paula has it in mega-wattage. Now she also has her first of what may be many majors.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Keith Allison/Flickr)

Oakmont Is Cage Fighting in Fashionable Clothing

THE USGA’S COURSE SETUP MAN Mike Davis is “giddy” about course conditions at Oakmont Country Club heading into this week’s U.S. Women’s Open near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Giddy, I tell you.

“I am truly giddy the whole week that I’m here. It’s just so good,” Davis said at USGA.org. “In fact, it’s perfect [and] it’s been that way the last five days we’ve been here.”

This might not be good news for the women who must actually play Oakmont for 72 holes over four days. When the USGA man declares that Oakmont is a firm and fast test for the world’s best female golfers, you just know there’s going to be trouble—and lots of it. Some are predicting scores in the 90s and a cut at 12-over par.

Here’s what I know about Oakmont after watching the boys play it since the late 20th century: It will seriously mess you up. It will blacken your eye and bloody your nose. It will spit in your face and kick you in the groin. It will beat you up, take your lunch money and steal your identity. Oakmont is cage fighting in fashionable clothing.

If you have a bag and 14 sticks, Oakmont doesn’t like you. If you come near it, it will try to destroy you. Oakmont is Lee Van Cleef in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales. Oakmont is Alien, The Terminator and Predator.

Oakmont does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, or political beliefs. Man, woman, child—Oakmont doesn’t care. It whips all comers.

If you complain, whine, or cry about it, Oakmont gets stronger. If you talk to yourself, toss your club in disgust, or berate your caddie, Oakmont gets stronger. When—not if—when you make bogeys, double bogeys and “others,” Oakmont gets stronger.

Oakmont is permanently in a surly mood, and has been dating back to 1973 (if not longer). That’s when golden boy Johnny Miller slipped by Oakmont without so much as a tear in his plaid slacks or a scuff on his red, white and blue patent leather golf shoes. Johnny walked away with a 63 and the U.S. Open trophy, and he’s been reminding people about it for the last 37 years. Oakmont has been taking it out on golfers just as long.

Godspeed, ladies.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: StonehouseGolf/Flickr)

Kerr Pow!

2010 LPGA Championship Recap
Winner: Cristie Kerr
Score: 19 under, 269 (68, 66, 69, 66)
Quote: “It’s a dream performance.”
Fact: Shares same birthday with yours truly (October 12).
Thought: Watch out for CK in the U.S. Women’s Open.

THAT SOUND ON SUNDAY in Pittsford, New York, was the shattering of a tournament record. Cristie Kerr obliterated the competition to win the LPGA Championship by a record 12 shots. It was her second major title and 14th career win. Kerr’s four-day masterpiece left her nearly speechless. I can see why. Ginormous victory margins are unusual in golf, especially in majors.

Cristie carded 23 birdies and just four bogeys in 72 holes of major-championship golf. When I saw that she held an eight-shot lead going into the final round, I thought she might put it on cruise control on Sunday. After all, an even-par round would mean her closest pursuer would have to post a 64 just to tie. But there was zero let up. After reeling off six straight pars, Cristie birdied seven of the last 12 holes to shoot a final-round 66. The field had no chance. It was total domination.

Song-Hee Kim was runner-up at 7 under and Ai Miyazato and Jiyai Shin tied for third a very distant 14 shots back.

With the victory Kerr claimed the top spot in the women’s world golf rankings (Rolex Rankings). She displaced Miyazato who had been No. 1 for a week after winning the ShopRite LPGA Classic. Shin was the top golfer just two weeks ago. Cristie hopes to be queen of the mountain for awhile. “I’m there now,” she said, “but I have to prove I deserve to be there.”

There certainly was ample proof on Thursday through Sunday that Kerr can dominate against the best when her game is on.

−The Armchair Golfer

15-Year-Old Alexis Thompson Will Turn Pro in June

TEENAGER ALEXIS THOMPSON has lined up a summer job: professional golf. Thompson will make her pro debut on the LPGA Tour when she tees it up in mid June at the ShopRite LPGA Classic in New Jersey. Before she arrives in New Jersey, she’ll play on the U.S. Curtis Cup team in the June matches against Great Britain and Ireland in Manchester, Massachusetts.

“She thinks she’s ready,” said her father, Scott Thompson, at SunSentinel.com. “She tells me all the time at dinner, 'I’m ready, Dad, let me go.'”

Alexis will be a younger pro than Michelle Wie, who was one week shy of her 16th birthday when she entered the professional ranks.

The golf prodigy is used to firsts. In 2007 at age 12, Thompson was the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open. She also played in the championship in 2008 and 2009, and was ranked as the No. 1 female amateur last year.

−The Armchair Golfer

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Alexis Thompson Still Tops News About 14-Year-Olds