This year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 was special for so many reasons. First, it was the 1,000th USGA championship and the first since Golf House Pinehurst and the World Golf Hall of Fame opened. It was also the first U.S. Open played on ultradwarf bermudagrass greens. One of a few subtle but significant changes to Course No. 2 over the last decade was converting the greens from bentgrass to bermudagrass. Ultradwarf bermudagrass was the culmination of decades of breeding efforts and an important advancement in putting green management for warmer regions of the country. Beginning in the mid-2000s, USGA agronomists Patrick O’Brien and Chris Hartwiger helped many golf courses in the Southeast convert to ultradwarf putting greens, and Pinehurst No. 2 converted shortly after the 2014 U.S. Open. This year, the ‘Champion’ bermudagrass greens provided excellent playing quality for the best golfers in the world, as well as the 50,000-plus golfers that get to play this world-class course each year.
Personally, the excitement has been building for me since my family and I moved to town three years ago and only grew as my Green Section colleagues began arriving. On the Sunday prior to advance week, our team partnered with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) and the First Tee – Sandhills to host a First Green event at Pinehurst No. 2. Among so many great memories with my family and friends on that day, Greenkeeper Apprenticeship Program graduate Andrew Gurney hit me with a wonderful quote that would be used frequently over the following two weeks: “The U.S. Open is the only golf tournament where you get to root for the golf course.” Mr. Donald Ross long ago left his mark on these hallowed grounds and while the masses were divided between Rory and Bryson, Andrew and I were rooting for Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw’s restoration of Pinehurst No. 2.
Countless people have contributed to this golf course and U.S. Open. I think about the people that preceded and mentored me at the USGA and those who have cared for No. 2 during my lifetime. As the late, great USGA agronomist Stan Zontek used to say, “Golf is a game of people.” So while I was certainly rooting for the course, I was rooting harder for those that prepared it. People from around the world traveled to Pinehurst to volunteer and support John Jeffreys, Bob Farren and Kevin Robinson. These men and women shed blood, sweat and tears of joy with the team at Pinehurst and prepared No. 2 for the best players in the world. They worked in lockstep with Darin Bevard, USGA senior director of championship agronomy, and our Green Section team to host one of the most memorable U.S. Opens in recent years. So many special moments happened that I can’t recount all of them here, but what summed the week up to me were three things:
- The local turf community came out in droves to support Pinehurst and their maintenance team. Torrey Boman of SiteOne, Ben Peters of Syngenta and Cam Smith of Envu led teams that cooked for the volunteers each night. Tremendous support came from Revels Turf and Tractor, and GCSAA leadership was on-site as well.
- Twenty-four of our Greenkeeper Apprenticeship Program (GAP) graduates and students worked this championship. A few had never been on a golf course until 18 months ago and some moved to Pinehurst just to take part in GAP. All of them received a world-class experience and the program got a "major" boost in the process.
- Superintendent John Jeffreys and his team received the highest honor awarded by the USGA, the E.J. Marshall Platter, on the 18th green before being recognized by DeChambeau for their efforts. These championships are emotionally and physically exhausting but watching John’s family accompany him on the 18th green made it all worthwhile.