olympic club is getting a new fairway bunker just
52 days before the start of the u.s. open. it’s a
startling change so close to the event, but the feeling here is that usga executive director mike davis
has earned the right to inject the occasional design
touch given that his reasoning—ensuring the strategic merits on the 522-yard, par- 5 17th hole—is
based on a desire to create a better test and an exciting finish. davis has already bucked tradition by
playing the 17th as a par 5, a huge upgrade over the
dreary and at-times-goofy par 4 the penultimate
hole presented during olympic club’s previous four
u.s. opens. davis hopes 17 is “a swing hole for the
whole championship,” but because he has introduced a widened fairway area and devilish short-grass run-off next to the severely sloped putting
surface, he felt it would have been a “monumental
mistake” not to add the bunker in the lay-up area to
force more players to go at the green in two. over
the years the usga has quietly recommended the
addition of many bunkers to u.s. open courses, but
two things about this one are unprecedented: the
timing and the tab. davis assured the club that the
cost to install and remove the impromptu hazard
will come out of the u.s. open budget.
—Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac)
08olympic’s new bunker
matthe w mollica/ golfclubatlas.com
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