Western shoot-out The Western United States held its first Major in 1929, when the PGA Championship ventured to Hillcrest CC in Los Angeles, the 36th U.S. course to host a Major. Leo Diegel beat Walter Hagen in the semi-final before defeating Johnny Farrell in the final.
Davis will be looking forward to seeing his main event return to the comfort of the old guard on the north east and to Pittsburgh’s mighty Oakmont, which has held the U.S. Open more than any other club—this will be its ninth. The U.S. Open does venture to new ground once again next year though, and will be edging out of the north eastern stronghold when Erin Hills in Hartford, Wisconsin will be the 101st American golf club to host a Major. At least it’s west of Lake Michigan. With the USGA we always thought, whatever the level of the teeing ground, the U.S. Open would be in New York, Pennsylvania or maybe next door in Ohio and Michigan. No more. New frontiers beckoned on the other side of America, and the bosses have stretched their horizons. As Horace Greeley said long, long ago, “Go west, young man”.
80th anniversary Augusta National, home to the Masters, was the 42nd U.S. club to host a Major. It is golf’s only perennial Major venue, having hosted the Masters 80 times to date, making it not only the golf course to have hosted the most Majors in the United States, but in the world (St Andrews in Scotland is second worldwide in terms of Majors held, staging its 29th Open last July).
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SUMMER 2016
Picture: The PGA of America
What the USGA did was take advantage of television and a shift in the population from the so-called Rust Belt to the sunshine states (California, with more than 36 million people, now homes the largest population of the 50 states) and a change in thinking. Eastern journalists and some officials were hardly ecstatic when the U.S. Open was held in the Golden State three times in five years (2008 at Torrey Pines; 2010 at Pebble Beach; 2012 at the Olympic Club). Yet the networks are pleased to have a tournament held in the Pacific time zone, which is shown live in prime time in New York and Boston, where it’s three hours later. Mike Davis, the current USGA executive director, has been willing to step away from the conservative views of the past, and the best example was the decision to choose Chambers Bay for the 2015 U.S. Open, the first held in the Northwest. The PGA of America first ventured to the region with its PGA Championship in 1944 when it landed in Manito Golf and Country Club in Spokane, Washington. Portland Golf Club in Oregon then held the PGA in 1946. Outside Seattle, Chambers Bay is a former gravel pit. It was the first time the U.S. Open had been brought to a new course in 35 years, since Hazeltine in 1970, and it was the first U.S. Open played on fescue, the grass of Britain’s links courses. Unfortunately for the USGA—and for Dustin Johnson, who three-putted on the last green to lose to Jordan Spieth—spectator access was less than perfect and the condition of the greens was worse. “We had an exciting finish, a great player won, we had a great leaderboard, and that is what really does matter,” Davis said. “We were pleased about the ending.” “It was a great test of golf. I do think if we hadn’t had the bumpy green situation, my sense is you would have had more of the players say ‘It’s a different test, but it’s a good test.’ I didn’t hear many comments negatively about the setup. It was more the bumpy greens we got.” After a bumpy U.S. Open it is likely to be considerable time before the U.S. Open returns to Chambers Bay and