USGA Officials concerned with the course condition before the start of 111th US Open
The officials at the USGA are caught unawares of the below-standard condition of the Blue Course at the Congressional Country Club, the venue of this week’s US Open. The sweltering temperatures and the endless drought has rendered severe blows to the course
and despite hectic efforts by the club management, the course has not achieved the level-par status which is often required for the US Open.
“To be honest, we’re behind,” said Stan Zontek, the USGA’s agronomist. “I’m not sure we can make up for lost time.”
Zontek has been working in close association with the Director of Course Management at the Congressional, Mike Giuffre, for the preparations of the second major of the season.
“We were pushing the envelope on holding a U.S. Open on greens less than 21 months old anyway,” Zontek said, “and then the weather set us back a week or a week and a half. We just don’t have enough time.”
The Blue Course has been the venue of several high profile events on the PGA Tour in the past and is also the permanent venue of AT&T National hosted by Tiger Woods. The management decided to make few alterations in the layout in 2007 following the decision
of US Open returning to Congressional in 2011.
The Par-three-18th was removed with par-four, 17th to take its place and a new Par-three, 10th was added to the course, lying opposite to the previous 18th. On top of it, the Poa Annua grass which was suggested
by the designer Rees Jones was replaced by the more heat resistant Bent grass but the decision seems to have back fired for the management.
The venue of the US open has been selected in a way that the greens are the fastest while the roughs are thick as hay, providing the most difficult venues for the correct assessment of the shot. Greens at the Congressional are hardly fast enough and fall
well below the standard of 14-14.5 on Stimpmeter, an instrument used to detect the speed of greens.
Although the officials have shifted to close mowing and subsequent rolling of the greens, the attempt has badly affected the turf and small brown patches were visible following Tuesday’s troll on the course.
The roughs, on the other hand, have not been mowed for almost a week but because of severe rain shortage, the grass has refused to grow, though the staff at the course have continuously been watering and nourishing the roughs with specialized fertilizers.
“You can never replace natural rainfall,” Zontek said, describing it as “semi-dormant.”
The event is scheduled to tee off on Thursday, June 16 where top golfers from around the world will be hoping to win the second major of the season. This is the third time that the event is returning to Congressional.
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