2014 Men's/Women's US Open Back to Back

[DaveLeeNC]

According to "rumors on the range" and local scuttlebutt, the Women's US Open will be held the week after the Men's US Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014.

I have not yet heard any official announcements, but my sources are typically reliable.

It actually makes a lot of sense because you only have to do one set-up (you just can't believe the infrastructure that accompanies a major golf tourney), and the course disruption extends well before and after the event. I assume that the ladies will play the 'blue tees', or maybe even Donald Ross orginal tees which were 6900 yards, IIRC.

Should be interesting.

dave

[BTGolfer]

If somehow Michelle Wie were to qualify for both US Opens (and play them back to back), that would be cool. And I guess that would be very unlikely as well.

BT

[DavidFehertysBike]

In the past two days, you may have seen some news reports regarding the 2014 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open. I wanted our USGA Members to be the first to know that it’s now official: Today we are announcing the unique pairing of the 2014 U.S. Open and 2014 U.S. Women’s Open, with the two national championships to be played in consecutive weeks on the No. 2 course at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C.

Kinda neat. Im interested in if or how they would change the course between the two events.

[AmenCorner]

Make the girls play the tips!

[RocketSauce]

this will be interesting. i wonder what the yardage differences will be?

[Mr3Putt]

That's pretty cool!

I hope the men's Open doesn't go into a Monday playoff, the girls will be missing enough on course practice time as it is now.

[DavidFehertysBike]

make the girls play the tips!

+24 ftw!!!

[flanagan]

I'm sure I probably don't know enough about course setup, etc., but just from the way courses I've played look after a couple of days of a tournament, I can't imagine what the ladies will face after the men traipse about the greens, etc. for a week before they get to come play.

I know the USGA has their course setup wizards, but seems a stretch to me, and I'll bet if the ladies played first, the Tour would be up in arms.

[DaveLeeNC]

I'm sure I probably don't know enough about course setup, etc., but just from the way courses I've played look after a couple of days of a tournament, I can't imagine what the ladies will face after the men traipse about the greens, etc. for a week before they get to come play.

Based on what I saw in 2005, most of the conditioning issues seem manageable to me. In particular the vast majority of the spectator traffic is through the pinestraw. The fairway crossings will be mostly a mess, but that is true on Sundays no matter what you do.

A course like No. 2 typically sees maybe 160 golfers/day so the 'load' created by 4 days of tournament play really isn't huge. Practice days are a bigger impact. IMHO what this really does is limit what the USGA can do to course conditions in the first week. They regularly dry out a course close to death for the weekend. They will have to be very cautious in 2014. I assume that they will widen the fairways a tad for the ladies (converting 1st cut to fairway should not be a big deal). And they will also I assume cut down the rough an inch or so - also relatively easy as bermuda is really tolerant of all kinds of mistreatment once the weather turns hot (and it gets watered). dave

[RemyM]

The women will obviously not play from the same yardage as the men. This year's women's open yardage is about 6,700 while the last time the men played Pinehurst it was 7,214. There could also be a difference in par for the two set ups. 8 and 16 are played as par 4's for the men's open but could revert back to par 5's for the women. Placement of the crosswalks will be the biggest issue so that they won't normally be in play for both tournaments. I doubt they will change fairway widths, but they could cut the rough a little shorter after the men are done. Green speed would be another variable (a foot or two) but that is easy to adjust by not rolling or cutting the greens for a day and adding a little more water.

[kris]

wow I wish I lived over there...

[Lemay427]

Thats assuming the LPGA is around in 2014... LOL

[DavidFehertysBike]

Thats assuming the LPGA is around in 2014... LOL

Ohhhhhh...what a buuuuurn.

[RemyM]

Thats assuming the LPGA is around in 2014... LOL

The LPGA has nothing to do with the US Open.

The LPGA isn't going anywhere, they may have fewer tournaments here in the USA but they'll still be around.

[PEZGolf]

According to "rumors on the range" and local scuttlebutt, the Women's US Open will be held the week after the Men's US Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014.

Good post and the official announcement has been made. It is a great idea and helps to promote women's golf.

[NotAStick]

Good post and the official announcement has been made. It is a great idea and helps to promote women's golf.

The guys on the golf channel were saying (or at least implying) exactly the opposite.

They said "how interesting, we can compare similar shots hit by the women and the men on the same course" The clear subtext was "now we can see how much better the men are" I'm quite curious to see. I know that when the Women played at Cherry Hills in Denver a few years ago, they played a tee further forward than the boys high school invitational that year, which shocked me a bit. I figured they would really tip it out for the US Open.... Granted, they played a par 71 instead of 72, but the 18th hole was played from in front of the WHITE tees and was oft criticized as "too hard". It's surely more difficult with fast greens, but I've got a 3 on that hole two of the three times I played it. *shrug* Sorry, don't mean to be critical. Another important consideration is the economics. the Women's open has never been a good money maker for the tour. I think they actually lost money on it when it was at Cherry Hills.

[iacas]

the Women's open has never been a good money maker for the tour.

The "tour" doesn't put on the U.S. Women's Open. The USGA loses money on it every year, though, yes. The only USGA event that makes money is the U.S. Open.

[lobsterzilla]

i think it's a fabulous idea.