The newly renovated Blue Course at Congressional set to draw sweat at this week’s US Open
The US open will return to the Congressional Country Club near Washington for the third time this weekend after a break of 14 years when it was last held in 1997. The Blue Course of the club has been given a new life by Rees Jones who had the opportunity
to redesign the course on no less than two more occasions previously. Jones renovated the course in 1989 and again in 2006.
Blue Course has hosted some of the most notable PGA Tour events and is ranked among the top 100 courses in the world. Golf Digest, in 2006 ranked the Blue Course as 89th in the list 100 Greatest Golf Courses. The field of the 111th
US Open this year will be confronted with a slight change in the yardage and arrangement of holes. The Par-three, 18th, which was often regarded by the USGA officials as “anticlimactic”, has been relocated with a slight change in the yardage and
by the addition of a new hole by Jones.
A new par-three was created by Jones opposite in direction to the 18th. After AT&T National was permanently scheduled on the Blue Course and with the US Open returning to Congressional in 2011, the USGA Officials, in 2007, unanimously voted to
reverse the 18th hole on the course.
The new hole has been nominated as the 10th and the rest of the holes are moved one step forward, making the 17th the new 18th. This 523-yard, Par-four, 18th, is the longest par-four hole in the history of US open
after seventh hole at Bethpage Black in 2009. The green is a peninsula surrounded by water hazard on the three sides, making it one of the deadliest of holes on the course.
636-yard par-5 ninth hole is another of the longest holes of the US open and the sprawling fairway seems endless from the tee box. The newly added 10th is made difficult by a huge water hazard between the green and the fairway while the green
itself is narrowed down in width and strengthened by two bunkers on the other side. The course is the second longest in the US Open history after Torrey Pines in 2008 (7,643 yards), and the third longest major ever after 2009 PGA Championship (7,674).
The Congressional hosted its first major the US open in 1964 when Ken Venturi won the title with two-under. The Blue Course hosted the PGA Championship in 1976 which was won by Dave Stockton. US Open returned to Congressional in 1997 when South African Ernie
Els took the better of the field to lift another of his major title. The course also has hosted several of the USGA Amateur events as well as the US Women’s Amateur.
Congressional is a private golf course and the current membership fee for the club is around $150,000 and the new members have to wait for several years before they become eligible to use the facilities at the club.
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