Images From Torrey Pines, Vol 1

Why do the evacuation vehicles need a sign telling us the car specs?

50 Million Reasons We'll Be Back!

Jon Show reports that the USGA's profits this week should help offset David Fay's bloated salary, and more importantly you would hope the financial windfall ensures a return to Torrey Pines (with architectural, uh, tweaks a must, as is a media center within range of the course).

The U.S. Golf Association is expected to generate up to $50 million in profits during this week’s U.S. Open hosted by Torrey Pines Golf Course, making it one of the most successful Opens of all time.

Total revenue for the tournament should be close to $100 million, including estimates of $20 million in ticket sales, $15 million in corporate hospitality, $15 million in merchandise and $5 million in food and beverage.

That also includes approximately $40 million from domestic and international television revenue. Many of those arrangements include rights to air parts of other USGA tournaments, such as the Women’s and Senior Opens, but media industry sources estimated 95 percent of the value of those deals is attributable to the U.S. Open.

Expenses should be about $50 million based on Opens held at comparable courses.

The Torrey Story: Kikuyu and The 13th

More posts are up at GolfDigest.com, including a look at the kikuyu rough and player reaction to the new 13th tee. 

"Below Torrey Pines, a whole different kind of skins game"

Steve Elling tells you more than you ever wanted to know about Black's Beach, the nudist spot below the 13th tee that is actually a much shorter walk to the golf course than the media center.

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

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?

“There’s no crowd that’s going to be following us. Not that they would, anyway.”

Kirk Kenney of the San Diego Union Tribune talks to Bubba Watson about The Pairing and offers this Yogiesque perspective:

“It’s sad that they pick and choose the pairings like that,” said Watson following Monday morning’s practice round at Torrey Pines. “There’s no crowd that’s going to be following us. Not that they would, anyway.”

Torrey Story Blog: Monday Update

I toured Torrey today and have a few notes over at GolfDigest.com.

The Torrey Story: Touring Torrey With Ogilvy

Another post is up at GolfDigest.com, this one looking at my day with Geoff Ogilvy walking around Torrey Pines last week.

You can check all two of the posts here.

U.S. Open Preview Clippings

So much to read, so little time. I'm off to Torrey Pines, so here's just some of the stuff that caught my eye to get you ready for the week. I'll leave it up to you to find the Anthony Kim-is-the-next great-player stories.

Oh and this will likely be my last clippings post this week, as my duties for GolfDigest.com will be the focus, with plenty of posts here as well.

Anyway, here goes:

Tod Leonard covers the lore and essence of the national championship with several entertaining anecdotes.

As always, SI's anonymous pro is entertaining in breaking down the favorites.

Larry Dorman considers the impact Torrey Pines will have and offers this from Mike Davis:

“I’m really pleased with how it has turned out,” he said. “A couple years ago I was thinking, ‘Gosh are we going to be anywhere close?’ Now I’m thinking, ‘What’s out there that we could do any better?’ I’ve done a lot of talking with some of the pros that have been out there, and I have yet to hear anything from anyone that wasn’t right.”

Fred Vuich's Gigapans are back, offering the chance to study that lifeless bunker and crappy catch basin at Torrey's third hole.

Ron Whitten on six things you don't know about Torrey, and the story includes a shot of an old Torrey Pines related old racetrack program

Ron Balicki looks at the strange journey of Rickie Fowler, with a great story about how he learned he was in the field.

Brett Avery and bestapproach.com produce the best map of theirs I've ever seen, capturing the property scale and grandeur of the clips. I mean, they made Torrey Pines look dramatic! In all seriousness, I think the map does capture the feel of the place that we will see this week, with the canyons and ocean more prominent thanks to tree removal (and NBC's production work).

Whitten profiles Rees Jones and says he has the worst come-over comb-over in golf. And you think I'm tough!

Bill Center in the San Diego Union Tribune captures the essence of why Torrey Pines is a great place (and not just because of the golf).

Alan Shipnuck considers the role the Junior World has played in golf.

It shocks him to admit it, but Peter Kostis says the USGA is now the standard bearer for golf course setup and that the PGA Tour is stinking it up with dreadful consequences for the future of the game. Now if we could just get you to say that on the air...

And finally, it's not Torrey Pines related, and yet it is: Sam Weinman looks at the amazing notion that Westchester County is without a golf tournament this year, and the future looks bleak due to any number of reasons, including the emergence of places like Torrey Pines. He also offers a blog post of his own take and a sidebar piece about possible future venues in the Westchester area.

The Torrey Story Blog

My introductory post is now up at GolfDigest.com. Lots more to come this week. Hope you check in regularly here at the link, and I'll be posting reminders as well.

Multiple Choices At Torrey South

My Golf World preview story on Mike Davis' plan to mix things up is now posted.

John Huggan tackled a similar subject in his Sunday column, with a review of the tiered rough's impact after two years, along with this quote from Davis about the tee placement variety concept:

"Before I took over, there was a long-standing policy that, as soon as the location of the tee was established that was where you played from," says Davis. "I want to get away from that. I want us to start mixing up tee markers. I think that offers more of challenge. One day you are at 470-yards, the next day the hole plays 410-yards. Suddenly, the drive zone has changed and the player has to think about it differently.

“I wish the (PGA) tour had the (guts) to do it more.”

Tod Leonard talks to Phil about The Pairing and Torrey Pines, which he has yet to play this week (!?).
“I think it's awesome,” Mickelson said in an interview yesterday with The Union-Tribune. “I wish the (PGA) tour had the (guts) to do it more.”

Leonard's San Diego Union Tribune counterpart Tim Sullivan is not a fan of The Pairing and says you are better off watching on television, though in the USGA's defense he shares some pretty impressive numbers about the proportion of fans and grandstand seats.