2018 US Open to be held at the controversial Shinnecock Hills, Long Island
United States Golf Association (USGA) finally unveiled the venue for the 2018 installment of the US Open, right at the beginning of the 111th US Open, this week at the Congressional Country Club in Maryland. Shinnecock Hills has been selected
as the destination for the event which hosted the last US Open seven years ago.
For the critics, however, the venue has come out to be a disappointment as it created a huge controversy when the seventh green almost became unplayable during the final round in 2004.
USGA president Jim Hyler said, "We are thrilled that our national championship will return to one of our country's most-storied venues. We are confident that Shinnecock Hills will provide a true challenge for the world's premier players, as it has for more
than a century."
Located at the scenic Southampton in Long Island, New York, Shinnecock Hills is considered as one of the oldest and most revered golf courses in the US. Opened in 1891, the club claims to have the oldest clubhouse in the country and also the first golf club
to have allowed women as its members since the very beginning.
The controversial seventh green became the burial ground for many of the players who tried to sink the ball despite several efforts. No less than three out of the four opening players fell for triple bogeys on Par-three, seventh, 189 yards, that the officials
finally moved to halt the round. Ground staff worked to water the greens to soften it but many considered it a late move as the opening players had already suffered irreparable damage.
Tiger Woods, after completion of his round with 10-over said, "It's terrible in our national championship that they lost control of the course. They just lost it - it got away from them." South African Retief Goosen went over to win the US open.
This is the fifth time the championship will return to Long Island. The legendary course hosted the second US Open of the history in 1896 for being the only golf course on the eastern seaboard. The club, at the time, was the only clubhouse with built-in
locker rooms, showers and grill rooms designed by Stanford White.
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