Where Duffers Walk in Tiger's Footsteps
PEBBLE BEACH, CALIF.--Back in 1972, America's premier golf tournament was staged here--for the first time--on a course open to the public. That was no small breakthrough for golfers with the wanderlust to travel to where the greats of the game have trodden. Since the inaugural U.S. Open in 1895, the general tradition has been to conduct the championship at private country clubs, like Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., the site this week for the 2006 Open.
But in recent years, the U.S. Golf Association has been going populist, holding the tourney twice at the No. 2 course at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina and once at the Black course at Bethpage State Park on Long Island, N.Y. More is coming. In 2008, the Open will move to the city-owned Torrey Pines South course near San Diego. The following year it returns to Bethpage Black and in 2010 to Pebble Beach. In all, seven Opens will have been run at publicly accessible courses over a dozen years. You can play each of them, with some planning and feeding of your piggy bank.
The four public-access tracks that have hosted--or will host--the Open vary in scenery and course style, but they are all rich in history. And they have another thing in common: "All four of these courses are golf examinations. You have to work every shot on every hole," says Rees Jones, the golf-course architect who has been called the "Open doctor" for his renovations of U.S. Open sites, including Torrey Pines South, Bethpage Black, and Pinehurst No. 2.
Ocean views. They certainly challenge the average player. At Pebble Beach Golf Links, the weather and the scenery provide plenty of distractions. Opened in 1919 along Carmel Bay on the Monterey Peninsula, Pebble is situated so that the Pacific is visible on 17 of 18 holes and comes into play on nine.
More than other championship venues, Pebble has injected a dose of glamour into its golf, even before Bing Crosby brought his National Pro-Am here after World War II. Bill Murray, Kevin Costner, and other Hollywood golfers make their way to the annual "clambake," as the wintertime tournament and party are still known. Scenes from National Velvet and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir were filmed here.
But it is the serendipitous combination of golf and natural beauty that ensures Pebble's vaunted place in the sport. The soul of the course emerges in holes six, seven, and eight. With ocean on the right, the sixth forces golfers to launch their second shot up a large hill into position for one more swing into the green. Slices take a swim. The seventh, the signature hole, is a downhill par 3 with water on the right and behind the green. The winds can be treacherous. No. 8 requires an uphill drive, then a shot over an ocean chasm into a narrow, well-bunkered green. Jack Nicklaus, who scored an Open win here in 1972, calls it the greatest approach shot in golf.
Farther down the California coast, the Open will arrive two years from now at Torrey Pines South, a municipal course that meanders around chaparral-lined canyons above the Pacific. Torrey was refurbished--and toughened--by Jones in 2001. Despite the upgrade, the place retains a laid-back San Diego feel. Paragliders float near--and over--the course, catching updrafts from the Pacific.
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