You could call this a U.S. Open hangover.
The third of four majors, held June 13-16 at Pinehurst No. 2, has made two lasting impressions.
Bill Kennedy, Golf Columnist
If we had a PGA Tour event in Maine, and the field included Viktor Hovland, Justin Rose, Tiger Woods, Will Zalatoris, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Phil Mickelson, you would say that some excellent players would be golfing in “Vacationland.”
What those players have in common is that none of them made the cut at the 124th U.S. Open. Pinehurst No. 2 simply ate them up, which is supposed to be how U.S. Open courses are set up. In the Northeast, Open courses have deep, thick roughs. Pinehurst roughs had “native areas” with “wire grass” and domed greens, which were the nemesis of many players.
Having had the privilege of playing some Open courses, it can be said without exaggeration that they are much more challenging than the regular PGA Tour courses.
More proof of Pinehurst No. 2’s degree of difficulty is that the hottest player on the 2024 PGA Tour, Scottie Scheffler, barely made the cut, and finished 8-over-par for a 41st-place tie.
The second part of this Open hangover is the history of Pinehurst.
When James Walker Tufts purchased 5,800 acres of land which became the Pinehurst Village and Golf Complex in 1895, people thought he was crazy, because the property was in the Sandhills Region of North Carolina where very few people lived. Even today, Pinehurst is well off the beaten path.
Yes, there is a railroad train line into Pinehurst, but to get there by car means detouring off I-95 and driving through some desolate country.
The vision of Tufts was remarkable, considering his property was mostly wasteland with one pasture. What he wanted was the creation of a New England-type village in “nowhere, North Carolina.” Guess what? He succeeded in constructing that, and with the guidance of famed golf course architect Donald Ross, Tufts had golfers coming to play and staying in the Pinehurst Hotel by the early 1900s.
Is Pinehurst the most famous golf resort in the United States? It is, for sure, in the conversation with The Alabama Trail, Hilton Head, Kiawah Island, etc. And in terms of what has taken place there for more than a century, it has to be the most historic golf resort in this great nation.
A little more commentary on the Open competition:
Saying that Rory McIlroy choked on June 16 would be unfair, if he had stayed around to answer questions from the media. It was reported that he left the course immediately with tears in his eyes. By failing to face the press questioning, he made himself deserving of any criticism. Simply said, he blew it. And the written statement he released to “X” on June 17 does not get him off the hook.
Bryson DeChambeau was the beneficiary of the McIlroy fade/collapse, which earned him the coveted Open championship and first-place money ($4.3 million). Rory’s runner-up consolation prize was $2.322 million, and the third-place, two-way tie cash was $1.223 million each. Make no mistake about it, all of this big money being paid out is the product of the PGA/USGA competition — the LIV Tour.
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Charlie’s Maine Open makes its return Monday through Wednesday at Augusta Country Club. One of the state’s longest running events, the Maine Open has been on hiatus since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
The event is open to professionals from in and out of the state, as well as Maine amateurs. This year’s field includes two recent college stars who recently turn pro, Topsham’s Caleb Manuel (University of Georgia) and Camden’s Cole Anderson (Florida State University).
Registered area players include Taylor Morang, Adam Hachey and Ben Roberts of Winthrop; Jack Quinn (Litchfield); Roger Williams (Hartford); Aaron Perkins (Lewiston); Alex Grimaldi (Jay); Trevor Flanagan and Abby Flanagan of Monmouth; Zackary Pelletier and James Frost of Poland; Aaron Rivard and Alexis McCormick of Hebron; and Finnegan Sharpe of Durham.
A pair of Falmouth golfers with area ties also will be competing: longtime Martindale member Andrew Slattery and Bates College coach Shawn Warren.
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Maine Golf play days are: June 25 for the men at Wilson Lake, and June 28 for the women at Fairlawn and Old Marsh.
The following week, there are no playdays scheduled because of Fourth of July.
Bill Kennedy, a retired New Jersey golf writer and editor now residing on Thompson Lake in Otisfield, is in his 12th season as Sun Journal golf columnist.
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