Ross Design Will Test Players


July 3, 2008

By Art Stricklin

Colorado Springs, Colo. - Players arriving at the historic Broadmoor East Course for this year's U.S. Senior Open will find a traditional Donald Ross design that has confounded golfers for decades.

While Ross designed more than 400 courses in the U.S. after emigrating from Scotland, highlighted by Pinehurst No. 2, he only did a handful of courses west of the Mississippi River.

The Senior Open, held July 31-Aug. 3, will be the first time the championship will be played on this Ross classic. It will also feature a traditional, challenging design with crowned poa annua greens that will actually be slowed down for the championship.

"We've had a lot of senior players come out here to see the course and get in some practice rounds, and almost every one has commented on how much they enjoy playing a true traditional course with nothing tricked up," said Broadmoor Director of Golf, Russ Miller.

"From 100 yards off the tee box, you can see almost everything that is out there on the holes."

Just because almost all the Ross hazards are present and accounted for, it doesn't mean they will be easy to overcome. At 7,253 yards, it will be the longest layout in Senior Open history.

Two of the par 5s at The Broadmoor, No. 7 and 11, have been converted to par 4s. No par 5s are on the back nine. But there are five par 4s measuring more than 450 yards along with the par-3 12 ^th (240 yards) from the back tees.

Will Tom Watson finally realize a Senior Open title this year on the Ross design? (John Mummert/USGA)

Because conditions can vary during the championship, USGA officials have the opportunity to change the hole length between rounds, offering a 100-yard overall difference depending on tee placement.

Thanks to Ross' challenging greens and the USGA's graduated rough, which begins at 1 1/2 inches just off the fairways and rises up to 4 1/2 inches for those seriously off line, the big hitters won't have a huge advantage at the East Course.

"If I was picking a winner, I'd look at somebody who is a straight driver of the ball and somebody who putts well," said Miller. "Length isn't the huge advantage you would think it would be."

Because the Broadmoor sits at 6,000 feet elevation above sea level, the ball flies typically 8 percent farther than normal.

While Colorado Springs offers prime wintertime skiing, the summer time can be very dry. It's ripe for sudden storms and lightning, fostering firm and fast conditions.

"I think the firmer it is, the more difficult it will play," said Miller. 'When it's moister, it becomes much easier."

While Ross designed the course in 1917 and opened it a year later as the grandest resort in the Rocky Mountain Region, it has seen changes over the last 90 years due to tens of thousands of rounds played and changes in ownership and course care.

To bring the East Course back to prime Ross condition, the Broadmoor owners hired restoration expert Ron Forse, a member of the Donald Ross Society, to return the course to original Ross form.

"We had some bunkers which had been covered over and we moved them back to where they were a real challenge for the players," said Miller. "We also had green encroachment and we moved the greens back to their original size.

"It was really a matter of getting back to the tradition of great golf at the Broadmoor."

This will be the sixth USGA championship held at the Broadmoor.

The East Course has the reputation of bringing out some of the greatest champions. Jack Nicklaus won the first U.S. Amateur held here in 1959, and Annika Sorenstam notched her first major in the 1995 Women's Open.

Miller feels the formula could hold true for this year's Senior Open, selecting champions Fred Funk, Jay Haas, Bernhard Langer and Loren Roberts as players to watch.

While none of the aforementioned has won a Senior Open, each has multi Champions Tour victories. Haas and Roberts grabbed season-ending Champions Tour awards.

That doesn't discount defending champion Brad Bryant, who staged the second-largest rally in Senior Open history to win last year at Whistling Straits. Other players to watch are two-time Open champion Allen Doyle and three-time runner up Tom Watson.

There isn't much of a home-course advantage in only the second Senior Open ever played in Colorado.

Two-time Open Champion Hale Irwin was an All-Conference defensive back at the of , but lives out of state and doesn't play or practice here. Both Mark Weibe and Dale Douglass live in the Denver area, an hour away, and have already made multiple scouting trips to check out the public resort that annually hosts 30,000-40,000 rounds.

While the West and Mountain courses will still accommodate public play, the East Course closes to the public July 14.

That's where history, tradition and a restored Ross layout should combine to produce a memorable magic mountainside championship.

ArtStricklin is a freelance writer whose work as previously appeared on www.usga.org .