"`Gosh, if we added 500 yards to our course, or if we did this or did that, we could host the Open, too.'"

Monday, June 9, 2008 at 09:34 PM
Geoff in 2008 US Open, USGA

In Brent Schrotenboer's look at the perception of a USGA-East Coast bias, he offers this interesting quote from USGA Executive Committee member Jay Rains:

Torrey Pines needed a $3.5 million renovation and redesign before it was deemed worthy by the USGA. A new course that opened in 2007, Chambers Bay in Washington state, will host the Open in 2015. Rains hopes these events will whet Western appetites for more.

"Because there haven't been as many championships out here, you don't stir the imagination of people to think, `Gosh, if we added 500 yards to our course, or if we did this or did that, we could host the Open, too,'" Rains said.

Ah remember the good ole days when you didn't have to add 500 yards to make a course Open ready?

 

Article originally appeared on A blog devoted to the state of golf. (http://geoffdshackelford.squarespace.com/).