Tense negotiations over the new professional golf calendar announced Monday were so fluid that as late as Sunday the USGA was still making contingency plans to contest the U.S. Open in December at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, Golfweek has learned.
That plan was abandoned when the R&A confirmed that the 149th Open Championship at Royal St. George’s in England would be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby freeing a slot from Sept. 17-20 that was tentatively being held in case the Open was rescheduled. Those dates then went to the U.S. Open, which will still be contested at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York as originally planned. The championship was to be held June 18-21.
Playing the U.S. Open in the Northeast three months later than planned has forced the USGA to reduce the field from the usual 156 competitors. “We will be decreasing the playing field to 144 players in order to mitigate daylight challenges,” said Craig Annis, the USGA’s chief brand officer.
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Annis also confirmed to Golfweek that the organization began planning to contest its flagship event on the West coast when it became increasingly clear that its June dates would have to be postponed. Winged Foot is just four miles from the town of New Rochelle, which was one of the first hot spots of the coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 4,000 New Yorkers.
“When it became clear that we would need to postpone the June dates, we began exploring a Plan B option in conjunction with the industry and our broadcast partner Fox Sports that had us potentially moving the U.S. Open to December, among other dates,” he said. “Any move later into autumn would have required us to play out west.”
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The USGA had initial conversations with both Torrey Pines — which is slated to host the ’21 Open — and Pebble Beach, last year’s venue. Asked to confirm those talks, Annis replied, “We were in touch with several and some were simply top of mind as we considered scenarios.”
The USGA’s focus eventually narrowed to Riviera Country Club, site of the PGA Tour’s annual Genesis Invitational. The storied club has previously hosted the 1948 U.S. Open and two PGA Championships (1983 and 1995), but the property has long been considered too small to support the huge infrastructure required for a modern day major championship. But a U.S. Open being staged without a huge corporate hospitality build out — and potentially fewer fans on site — made Riviera a viable option again.
“We were honored that Riviera stepped up to offer their wonderful course to host the U.S. Open Championship this year if need be. They have been a wonderful partner and we have been intrigued by the possibility of going back for many years, but couldn’t quite figure out how to do it on a smaller footprint,” Annis said. “This situation could have been ideal given the circumstances. We continued to develop potential plans in line with this concept until a date in September became available. In the end, we believe the opportunity to try and continue to play the U.S. Open at Winged Foot this year would be better for golf and was one that we should pursue if given the chance.”
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