The US Women’s Open is in a three hole playoff between So Yeon Ruy and Hee Kyung Seo.

The weather finally looks nice there.

Update: So Yeon Ruy has won the US Women’s Open.

David Fay, former USGA director, calls for America’s private golf clubs to open their doors to visitors in the same fashion as British clubs. A telling fact:

The British Open championship nine-course rota includes six prestigious private clubs: Muirfield and the five “Royals” (Birkdale, Liverpool, Lytham & St. Annes, St. George’s and Troon) feature golf courses that are among the finest in the world. Visitor information for each is prominently featured on the clubs’ websites. Visitors from overseas as well as Great Britain and Ireland aren’t required to play with a member and/or be introduced by one.

On the other hand:

There’s not a single private golf club that has been the host of a U.S. Open in the past 30 years that allows visitors who aren’t either playing with a member or sponsored by one. And the same is true for the majority of Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Greatest, where most of the courses on the list are private.

I totally agree with Fay, and think that the USGA could do one simple thing to encourage this: refuse to hold any of their championships at courses that aren’t open to the public for at least limited play. Why should America’s national championships be held on courses where the vast majority of Americans aren’t allowed to set foot? Why am I, as a USGA member, not allowed to play courses where my organization holds events. (except as a paying viewer)? The private courses that host the US Open derive enormous profits from the People’s Championships—not necessarily directly from the events—but from the prestige they confer upon that course, which allows management to charge exclusionary entry and membership fees. Without the US Open, Oakmont is a slightly mad course that few outside Pittsburgh know. Without the US Open, Oakland Hills is just another old line club.

Open ‘em up!

The headline says it all. I absolutely hate the USGA’s US Open website. It’s awkward to navigate, hard to find information and slow.

For my money, the PGA Tour’s Shot Tracker is far better. The USGA should see how that one is executed.

I’m going to rely on third party sites for my information.

David Fay, who has been executive director of the USGA for more than two decades, is retiring at the end of this year. Whatever his other accomplishments or faults, I am certain that Fay’s legacy with the USGA will be bringing the US Open to public courses. Prior to Fay’s tenure, the US Open was the domain of private clubs—the 1972, 1982 and 1992 tournaments at Pebble Beach being the sole exceptions. Under Fay’s watch, the US Open has been played at Pinehurst #2, Bethpage Black, Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach. Indeed, five of the last ten, and seven of the last 12 US Opens have been at public courses. Future US Opens at public courses are scheduled for Pinehurst (2012), Chambers Bay (2015), Erin Hills (2017) and Pebble Beach (2019).

For Fay, I offer my best wishes in retirement. While in my retirement, I plan to play a lot of golf.  I can’t imagine, however, what the retirement dreams would be for someone who has spent his whole career in golf. Fishing, perhaps.

As for the next USGA executive director, my hope is that the institution finds someone who continues the trend toward “democratization” – and not only in the selection of championship courses. The USGA should be reminded that the pros constitute a very small minority of its potential constituents and that the country club set seems certain to occupy an ever-decreasing position. For the USGA to remain relevant in the twenty first century, rules, procedures and equipment regulations need to accommodate a new brand of golfer: masses of weekenders who don’t have a “home course”;  who play with a rotating cast of partners and; are strapped for time and money. To that I might add that their courses are different, too. The tracks of the majority of golfers are public courses, tightly packed with sub-optimal conditions.

Several potential issues come immediately to mind. First, I think the USGA also has to find a way to fix the handicap system, which I regard as largely broken. What worked when golf was dominated by clubs where people played in regular groups under the attentive and familiar gaze of a handicap committee simply doesn’t work in today’s environment.

Another is the equipment question – such as the new rules regarding grooves or potential future ones rolling back ball or driver performance. The USGA should not be in the business of making golf more difficult for the 99.99% who don’t play top flight tournament golf. If they persist, the USGA should add the word Competitive to the acronym – the USCGA – and open the door for an alternate association for everyone else.

One rule I’d like to see the new USGA revisit is the stroke and distance penalty for a ball out of bounds or a lost ball. I don’t know anyone who actually uses that rule; instead, they simply drop at a location that everyone deems amenable and add a stroke. On a crowded public course, to go back to the previous spot after searching for five minutes is an invitation to a melee with the trailing foursome.

Another: that golfers should get a free drop from damaged areas through the green, provided the playing partners agree it’s damaged.. Most of us don’t play on the grass carpets that pros and country clubbers enjoy.  From the midpoint of the season, many of the courses I play on look comparatively like the surface of the moon, with chili dip craters, large patches of dead grass and swaths of rock hard fairway.

And there are so many more. Best of luck to the new USGA Director.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that her dream job is to be Commissioner of the NFL. But she’s a huge golf fan, so I’m sure a close second for her would be President of the USGA.

Condi may have taken a step in that direction recently when she was named to the USGA’s nominating committee. The nominating committee picks the members of the Executive Board, and decides which of those will serve as officers.

There’s a Washington Post interview with Condi about her golf game here and another at Golf.Com. 

While it’d be nice to see Condi as President of the USGA, what I’d really like to see is Condi as President of the USA. Hers is an extraordinary story and there’s no doubt in my mind that she would do a terrific job in the highest office in the land.

Condi has recently hit the bestsellers list with the story of her family: Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family

GolfWeeks reports that the USGA assessed 12 one stroke pace-of-play penalties, even as the rounds at Chambers Bay extended to six hours.

Mike Davis of the USGA gave the course partial blame for the glacial pace. It’s apparently a difficult walk, and by the afternoon, firm conditions complicated things.

They need to get that worked out before the US Open gets there five years hence.

Well, perhaps not everyone thinks of the US Amateur as a Major these days, but it certainly was to Bobby Jones. And now here’s an amazing story: 47 year old Jeff Wilson shot a ten under 62 on Monday to take a seven shot lead. He followed that up with a 74 on Tuesday and held a 1 shot lead.

The US Amateur this year is at Chambers Bay.