This U.S. Women’s Open Appears Just That: Truly Wide Open
By Dave Shedloski
Bethlehem, Pa. – It’s a cliché and a bad pun and a tired observation to note that any “Open” golf championship that lacks a clear favorite is truly “wide open.”
So instead it is noted here that with the 64th U.S. Women’s Open commencing Thursday at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Old Course there appears to be no clear favorite.
A straightforward assertion, we know, but that is how a USGA Open championship tends to be. There are no tricks, no secrets to decipher. You can ask Lucas Glover about the quality of his play (it was quite high) when he won the most recent U.S. Open at soggy Bethpage Black in New York. Cool hand Lucas admitted he hit the ball about as well as he could for three rounds and then managed his game altogether nicely down the stretch when a bit of shakiness set in.
This week’s U.S. Women’s Open could easily produce more drama than what occurred at Bethpage last month. One big reason: The weather is better, providing a golf course whose condition is “perfect,” according to Mike Davis, the USGA’s senior director of Rules and Competitions and the individual charged with the course setup.
“For those of us that do set up the golf courses, you dream of getting these kinds of conditions along with this kind of weather,” said Davis. “I've never seen a better-conditioned golf course in my tenure at a Women's Open. This thing is truly perfect.”
While Davis doesn’t like to predict final scores, he figured anything around even par for 72 holes was going to top the leaderboard. “It is going to be a very hard test for the players, and scoring opportunities are going to be tough to come by,” he allowed.
The Old Course at Saucon Valley, designed by Herbert Strong in 1922 and since revised twice, by Perry Maxwell in 1940 and again recently by Tom Marzolf, measures 6,740 yards, making it the third-longest Women’s Open layout. Interestingly, the par-71 configuration is only nine yards shorter than what the competitors encountered at Saucon Valley during the 2000 U.S. Senior Open.
Fairways and greens are always crucial at an Open. Fairway metals are going to be plenty important, even though the USGA will set up the course shorter at least two of the four days to offer some drivable par-4s (at 10 and 15) and present other risk-reward situations to make players think.
“My fairway woods, I have confidence in my driver and in my fairway woods, and that is important. Second shot I’m hitting fairway wood, no irons,” said Jiyai Shin, who has posted five LGPA wins, including the 2008 Women’s British Open, since last year’s U.S. Women’s Open at Interlachen Country Club. “This golf course is very long for me; for other players, too. Yeah, but this golf course, fairways so narrow, and then rough is so thick.”
Saucon Valley, Cherry Hills in ’05 and Interlachen in '08 rank among the top three in length in Women’s Open history. And, to be sure, there is some penal rough lining fairways that range in width from 25-35 yards. Naturally, the greens are also a factor. They are slick and possess subtle breaks, and are running at 13 on the Stimpmeter, slightly faster than the initial setup speed of 12-12½.
“The golf course is playing very long, and it’s a tough golf course,” said Lorena Ochoa, the No. 1 player in the women’s game. “…the greens are so hilly, they have so many different slopes. You need to make sure you keep the ball in the right position of the green.”
Paula Creamer, who finished sixth last year at Interlachen after a disappointing final-round 78, summed up the approaching examination best: “When I think of U.S. Open, definitely this golf course defines that. It's tight. There's not many birdie opportunities that you can make out there. The greens are everything … a lot of mounds and undulations. I think Sunday afternoon after everything is done, there's going to be a lot of mentally tired people.”
The mental grind is one more part of the Open test.
The field of 156 players includes 28 amateurs, and they should not be viewed as anything but apprentices this week, given the difficulty of the course and the fact that only one amateur has ever won the U.S. Women’s Open (Catherine Lacoste in 1967).
But American women seem to find their stride in their own national championship. U.S. women have won only eight of the last 38 majors dating to the start of the 21st century, but half have come at the Women’s Open, the last in 2007 when Cristie Kerr won at Pine Needles.
“It just makes the butterflies in my stomach go. I love it,” said Kerr. “It's always the toughest course, toughest course setup, variety of setup, the field, the prestige, biggest purse. It's the jewel in the crown of what you want to win as a professional.
“Even as a European or Asian player, they want to win the U.S. Open. It's the biggest tournament.”
Indeed, it is a favorite among the players, even though there’s no real favorite in the field. But we already knew that a true Open usually is truly open.
Dave Shedloski is a freelance writer whose work has previously appeared on www.uswomensopen.com
