Torrey Pines Golf Course
Site of the 2008 US Open and Buick Invitational

As a municipal course for the City of San Diego, Torrey Pines is probably the most accessible US Open venue ever. I was fortunate enough to get to play the course and have put together this Torrey Pines hole by hole photo tour, along with satellite photos showing a birds eye view.

I’ll post a more detailed review later.

Rees Jones, the USGA’s point man for overhauling Torrey Pines to meet USGA specifications, says that the course will play a lot tougher at the Open than it did this past week at the Buick.

Torrey Pines is going to add some teeth this spring and, as if for excruciating emphasis, par will be sliced from 72 strokes to 71. For one week, at least, the world’s greatest golfers should see a clear distinction between overlooking the ocean and a day at the beach.

“This isn’t the same golf course that it’s going to be,” said Rees Jones, the golf architect responsible for reshaping Torrey Pines to meet U.S. Open specifications. “I think if you saw Tiger putt the USGA greens last year (at Oakmont), he putted them a little more defensively than he is this week.”

If Torrey Pines’ greens have measured 11 on golf’s Stimpmeter this week, Open speed is typically 13. To a professional putter, that is a knee-knocking difference. Consequently, Jones said he expects the winning score at the Open to fall in the range between 3 and 5 under par.

Making courses longer, and more difficult: Conventional wisdom says that short of taking Tiger into an alley and breaking his kneecaps, it’s the only hope the other players have.

Or maybe not. I’ve often thought that “Tiger Proofing” plays right into the Great One’s hands. Lengthening the course, narrowing the fairways and growing the rough just eliminates the other players. You could actually reduce the number of wins that Tiger accumulates by making the courses more strategic. If a track offers multiple ways to victory, then others can play their game, instead of always having to play Tiger’s.

Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union Tribune puts it succinctly:

The trouble with toughening a golf course to make it more challenging for Tiger Woods is that adding difficulty effectively subtracts the number of players who can be competitive. The surest way to a dramatic Open might be to make Torrey Pines South less daunting, to dial down the difficulty to make the results more random.

The USGA, however, is not interested in exciting golf. They’re interested in maintaining their reputation as the toughest test in golf. In spite of Sandy Tatum’s famous maxim ("We’re not trying to embarrass the best players in the world; we’re trying to identify them. “), that is indeed what the Open has come to. And in doing so, they’re going to guarantee a runaway Tiger victory.

The membership at the legendary Winged Foot has refused to extend an invitation to the US Golf Association for the 2015 US Open Championship. In addition to some interesting internal politics, it appears that the main problem was that the USGA is cheap. They were offering the club less money than they did in 2006, when the club also was forced to take the money losing US Amateur.

If the USGA is as cheap as the accusations, we may see a lot more municipal courses in the rota and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I like the idea of the US Open being played on courses that the average Joe can access. The USGA is supposed to represent all golfers—not just those at exclusive clubs. It can only help the USGA and the game of golf to have more Opens at places like Bethpage and Torrey Pines. I don’t care a lot about Winged Foot; I’ll never play there. I will, however, watch the Open at Torrey Pines this year with intense interest, since I have played that course.

They just announced on NBC that Michelle Wie has withdrawn from the US Women’s Open, citing a wrist injury.

Is she done as a force in women’s golf? I’ve read several golf writers who think so. They cite a combination of physical injury and mental stress and point other child prodigy sports stars who burned out early.

I’m don’t think so, though. She’s got too much natural talent. It may be that she disappears for a while, though, ala Karrie Webb. 

Sung to the tune of “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”

All cheer for me Argentina
I’ve won the US Open
And on a wild day
I held off Woods
And Furyk, too.
I’ve got my trophy

Don’t look for me Argentina
I’m off to old Carnoustie
I hope to find there
Some Argentina
DeVicenzo
and Cabrera