Woods’ Advantage Is an Open Secret

What is 7,214 yards long and eats golfers? Yes, it’s Bethpage Black at Farmingdale, N.Y., where the 101st U.S. Open will be played beginning June 13. It’s a public course, which means that depending on the conditions, there may be some players publicly embarrassed out there.

“They’re going to be hitting more than wedges in there,” said Rees Jones, who restored the course and beefed it up to normal USGA specifications. That would be narrow fairways, rock-hard greens and very long par fours.

With Tiger Woods going for the second leg of a potential Grand Slam, Jones says Bethpage Black might play right into Tiger’s paws.

“Well, he hasn’t been there, but I know he’s aware of the course,” Jones said. “It sets up very well for him, I think. It’s got lots of par fours and he can hit driver when he wants to, not like last year at Southern Hills.

“Let me just say this: It won’t be a course where he has to fall back a lot. So I think it favors the long hitters, Tiger chief among them.”

Two of Bethpage Black’s par-four holes will be the two longest in the history of the U.S. Open: the 499-yard 12th is No. 1 and the 492-yard 10th is No. 2. There’s also the 489-yard par-four seventh, which used to be a par five, but is now the fifth-longest par four the Open has ever seen.

The fairways will be only 26 to 28 yards wide, said Jones, who also said the greens don’t have a lot of contour and that may actually make them play tougher.

“The pros can read the severe contours easy, but these greens are going to be so fast, I think they’re going to have to try to hit it through the hole. But if you miss, you’re going to have a lot of three- or four-footers coming back.”

All right, that’s the bad news. The good news, according to Jones, is that long hitters are probably going to be able to hit driver on 10 of the 14 holes where driver is an option. The exceptions are the 430-yard first, the 389-yard second, the 408-yard sixth and the 411-yard 18th.

Jones is an expert in remodeling courses to stage the U.S. Open and Bethpage Black is his sixth. The others are Brookline, Baltusrol, Congressional, Pinehurst No. 2 and Hazeltine.

“Bethpage is definitely a long golf course, so the modern equipment will not overwhelm it,” he said. “The back nine has four really quite difficult par fours.”

The 10th has bunkers on both sides of the fairways and a small, elevated green with a swale in front and bunkers protecting entry.

The 12th is a sharp dogleg left with a 235-yard carry over a huge cross bunker and a two-tiered green.

The 15th is a 459-yard par four and it may be the toughest hole, with a second shot to a small green on a hillside 50 feet above the fairway that slopes from the back left to the front right and protected by bunkers in front.

The 16th is a 479-yard par four with an elevated tee and a narrow fairway that angles to the right, although the best entrance to the green is on the left. The green has deep bunkers in front and beside it, and it slopes right to left.

Unless it rains and the course gets softened, Jones says the scores may be high.

“Something like five over,” he said. “But eight or nine under if it’s wet.”

David Fay, the USGA’s executive director, believes it would be wise for the players to see the course before they tackle it at the Open.

“They’re going to have to decide to come in a little early or prove to be quick studies,” Fay said. “For the most part, it’s unknown to all these players. No one is going in there with a home-court advantage.”

Open, 2008 Style

The USGA is expected to announce the 2008 U.S. Open site June 12 at Bethpage Black, and Riviera Country Club and Torrey Pines at La Jolla are regarded in most circles as the prime candidates, although Pumpkin Ridge near Portland, Ore., also is mentioned.

Right now, the USGA has fallen in love with the idea of staging the Open on a public course, which it is doing at Bethpage, so Torrey Pines would fit into its new of-the-people philosophy. If Riviera is chosen, it would make sense, at least historically, because 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of Ben Hogan’s victory in the 1948 Open--the only time it was staged at Riviera.

However, weighting the significance of such a factor, Fay isn’t impressed by the merits of the occasion.

“I don’t buy into the importance of anniversaries,” he said. “It’s like you say, ‘That’s nice,’ then you move on. It doesn’t have any lasting effect. Now, if it’s the 100th anniversary of something, then you try to do something special.”

In any event, the Riviera people are hopeful. Michael Yamaki, corporate officer in the office of the president at Riviera, says he is relaxed and confident after a series of visits by USGA championship committee officials.

“Logistics issues have been resolved and I have not heard any questions about the condition of the course,” he said. “One of the real issues is whether L.A. is too laid back for a championship. Well, we’ve hosted the Olympics, Super Bowls, NBA championships. When we’re hosting the Big Show, L.A. is really the place. But it has to be the main event.”

Fay emphasized that there is no front-runner and said the loser in 2008 could end up a winner eventually.

“Whatever club doesn’t get it, it doesn’t mean we won’t go there in the future,” he said.

Another Open

As long as we’re on the subject of majors, the British Open is coming up in only eight weeks at Muirfield in Scotland. The 131st Open will be the first since 1992 at Muirfield, where only two holes have been lengthened since Nick Faldo’s victory 10 years ago.

The main features of the course, which is expected to play 7,034 yards, is that the fairways and greens may be a shade on the brown side and that the rough is going to be a very bad place to hit a ball.

According to officials, the first cut of rough will be three yards, then three more yards of long grass that hasn’t been cut in two months but you can still see your ball, and then the hay, where you can’t see much of anything below your waist.

Tiger Update

Woods will make about $61.5million from his endorsements this year, including $20million from Nike, according to an estimate by Newsday.

More Tiger

Several weeks ago, a winning bidder on eBay paid $425,000 to play a round of golf with Woods. Last month, Charles Barkley paid $200,000 to play a round with Woods. Now, there are four chances to play with Woods for free.

Two “magic tickets” are hidden in packs of Upper Deck golf trading cards and two more winners will be randomly selected from online entries.

One More Tiger

News item: American Express puts Woods’ image on a credit card in Canada.

Reaction: Fuzzy thinking. People don’t want Woods’ image on a credit card; they want Woods’ credit card.

Monty Update

News item: Golf Digest’s announcement of plans to distribute 25,000 “Be Nice to Monty” buttons comes two days after Colin Montgomerie fired Alastair McLean, his caddie for the last 10 years.

Reaction: There’s probably going to be one extra.

The Daily Daly

News item: John Daly said he was hospitalized briefly last week because of an allergic reaction to diet pills after his left leg went numb for six hours and he lost some feeling in his left hand. Doctors tell him he should quit smoking.

Reaction: Daly is playing the Benson & Hedges International Open this week in England.

Blooming Rose

Remember Justin Rose, who was fourth as a 17-year-old at the 1998 British Open, then turned pro and nearly fell off the map? Rose made 23 cuts in 28 European Tour events last year and was second twice, but after last week’s victory in the Chunichi Crowns tournament at Aichi, Japan, he has already won three times this year--on three tours.

Verplunked

In 1991, the worst driver on the PGA Tour was Scott Verplank when he hit fairways 42.1% of the time. Verplank was injured and diagnosed with diabetes. The most accurate driver on the PGA Tour this year is Verplank, wearing an insulin pump, hitting 81.4% of the fairways, proving that good health is never overrated.

Business News

Delta Airlines says that after Wednesday, it won’t allow passengers to check clubs in soft golf bag travel covers unless it boxes them for a $10 fee. That was interesting news, because Delta is the first airline with such a policy, but for Club Glove of Huntington Beach, there was more. Delta also named the company’s soft-sided cases with reinforced bases as the only exception to the rule.

“It’s definitely been raising a lot of eyebrows,” said Jeff Herold, president of West Coast Trend’s Club Glove, which makes bags for an estimated 95% of the PGA Tour pros.

More Business News

In cost-cutting moves with far-reaching implications, Acushnet Company (with Titleist, FootJoy and Cobra brands) pulled out of the 2003 PGA Merchandise Show and announced it will not renew endorsement deals with Karrie Webb, Kelly Robbins, Dottie Pepper, Jay Sigel and Allen Doyle. Also, Hale Irwin’s deal with Cobra will be dropped.

Birdies, Bogeys, Pars

Eric Dickerson, Ron Mix, Kellen Winslow, George Blanda and John Mackey are among the celebrities scheduled to play in Ron Yary’s Legends of Sports tournament May 20 at Dove Canyon Country Club in Rancho Santa Margarita. The event benefits the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Details: (760) 360-0414.

College of the Desert in Palm Desert, College of the Canyons in Valencia, Saddleback in Rancho Santa Margarita and Moorpark qualified for the California State Community College Championships to be held Monday at the SCGA Members’ Club in Murrieta.

The USGA accepted 971 entries for the U.S. Women’s Open on July 4-7 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan. Sectional qualifying begins Monday.

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*--* Tracking Tiger How far does Tiger Woods hit it? Woods is averaging 296.4 yards off the tee this year, but it’s not only how far he hits the ball--he is second to John Daly in driving distance--he also leads the PGA Tour in greens in regulation. Here’s how far Woods hits his clubs under normal conditions, according to the Golf Channel: Driver* 285 yards Three-wood* 260 yards Two-iron 240 yards Three-iron 220 yards Four-iron 205 yards Five-iron 195 yards Six-iron 180 yards Seven-iron 167 yards Eight-iron 155 yards Nine-iron 145 yards Pitching wedge 128 yards Sand wedge 112 yards 60-degree sand wedge 90 yards *of carry

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