The 111th edition of the United States Open Golf Championship tees it up this coming Thursday at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington D.C. The second oldest of the four major championships, the U.S. Open historically features golf”s most difficult course setup with narrow fairways, gnarly rough and lightning-fast greens. In other words, the eventual winner must be able to hit the ball long and accurate, show his strength as an iron master, and putt like Bobby Jones.
Congressional is one of those classically traditional courses that have hosted two previous U.S. Opens, a PGA Championship as well as a U.S. Senior Open. First opened in 1924, the course was built by Devereux Emmet. Emmet designed close to 100 golf courses along the Eastern seaboard and the Caribbean. His other designs of note include Garden City, the site of the 1902 U.S. Open, Bethpage Green, Cape Cod, Cherry Valley and a handful of privately built courses for captains of industry, including DuPont, Vanderbilt and Schwab. Emmet was a close friend of C.B. Macdonald (one of the godfathers of American golf architecture), was a founding member of the National Golf Links on Long Island, and was an amateur golfer of note who won the Bahamas Amateur as well as a British Amateur quarterfinalist.
Congressional hosted the 1949 U.S. Junior and the 1959 U.S. Women”s Amateur. Its initial center stage moment was at the 1964 United States Open although that championship is better recalled for the weather than it is for golf. With the temperature topping 100 degrees and the humidity almost as high, San Francisco”s Ken Venturi stumbled through his final round, all the while suffering from heat prostration. Venturi finished at 2-under-par and won by four over Tommy Jacobs. It marked the final time that the U.S. Open concluded with a 36-hole Saturday finish, ending a 64-year tradition.
It was another 33 years before the National Open returned to Congressional. By then, Congressional had been lengthened to 7,250 yards, still playing to a par of 70. Ernie Els played tough down the stretch on Sunday afternoon and beat out Colin Montgomerie and Tom Lehman for his second U.S. Open title. Els was 4-under-par and won by one shot.
Congressional also hosted the 1976 PGA Championship, which was won by Dave Stockton with a 1-over-par aggregate. He beat Don January and Raymond Floyd by one and took home his second PGA title. Tom Weiskopf ran away with the 1995 U.S. Senior Open at Congressional, coming in at 13-under-par to beat Jack Nicklaus by four strokes. Obviously, they set up Congressional differently for the seniors and it also played to a par of 72.
Although the U.S. Open hasn”t been contested at Congressional for 14 years, it is a classic course that is familiar to today”s top professionals. From 2007 through 2009, it served as the host site for the PGA Tour”s AT&T National hosted by Tiger Woods. K.J. Choi, Anthony Kim and Woods won those three events. When the Booz Allen Classic was held at Congressional in 2005, Sergio Garcia won.
Congressional has a history of rewarding power players who are great iron shot makers. One of the keys to Congressional is the ability to hit a lot of greens. This year”s U.S. Open yardage has been lengthened to 7,574 yards although the par has also been boosted to 71. Seven of the par-4 holes will play to 460 yards or longer. While it does play downhill, the 18th hole is a par-4 that has been stretched out to 523 yards with water protecting three sides of the putting surface.
Regardless of how difficult a test of golf Congressional can be, it seems to have no problem attracting members. The course is very private, has an eight-year waiting list for membership, and once you get in, there”s a $150,000 initiation fee. It is a 36-hole complex with an indoor bowling alley, tennis courts, a grand ballroom, two indoor swimming pools and one outdoor pool. It is the private country club of note for the Washington D.C. area.
Yet next week at Congressional will be all about Open golf. The top two Americans in the field are not named Tiger and Phil. Instead, they are Steve Stricker and Matt Kuchar. The best golfer in the world, Luke Donald, should be a factor as should former No. 1-ranked golfers Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer. Phil Mickelson, a five-time U.S. Open runner-up, has the game for Congressional. Tiger Woods has withdrawn from the Open because of continuing left leg injuries. Young bombers such as Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson will probably struggle at Congressional because of the narrow driving holes.
However, in the era of Oosthuizen, McDowell and Schwartzel, maybe there is no real favorite. The U.S. Open doesn”t necessarily identify the game”s best players. It simply identifies the best-controlled power player who just so happens to make the most par-saving putts for the week. While the U.S. Open”s perpetual trophy does have names of note on it such as Jones, Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus, Watson and Woods, it is also the championship of note for Orville Moody, Lou Graham, Scott Simpson and Steve Jones. Andy North and Lee Janzen have won two U.S. Opens while Mickelson and Sam Snead never found the winner”s circle.
Tiger Woods has won three U.S. Opens since it was last played at Congressional, but during that time Michael Campbell and Lucas Glover also won it. Defending champion Graeme McDowell as well as Angel Cabrera fit that category, too. It”s all about who is the best player that weekend.
The 111th United States Open Golf Championship commences this Thursday at Congressional. This time around, it has the makings of a truly open championship with no real favorite, no hot-as-can-be golfer coming into the tournament, and a site that has historically rewarded a full range of golfing talents.
