The buzz has already started.

A mere 16 months from now, one of golf’s greatest jewels–Pebble Beach Golf Links– will again be in the spotlight when it hosts the 2010 U.S. Open.

It will mark the fifth time that Pebble Beach has hosted the Open championship, but this time around it will be a different Pebble Beach. A longer and meaner Pebble Beach.

In anticipation of the occasion, Pebble Beach and United States Golf Association officials have already begun making changes to the historic venue.

This past year, changes that have occurred include expanding the greenside bunker on No.1 so that it wraps around from front-to-back, moving the tee box on No.5 to the left to make for a tougher tee shot and adding new championship tee boxes at holes No.9 and No.11. No.9 can now play at 505 yards (was 462 yards), while the new tee at No.11 adds 15 yards to what is already an uphill drive. Another recent big change came at the par-5 6th. There, a new, deeper fairway bunker on the left has replaced what was a series of church pew bunkers. Thick rough that used to exist beyond the right of the fairway is also gone, increasing the danger of balls going into the Pacific Ocean.

Previous changes to the course since the 2000 Open have included the addition of new championship tees and new fairway bunkers to No.3 (2007), the addition of new bunkers on No.14 to pinch the landing area (2003) and the addition of a new fairway bunker 75 yards short of the green on No.6 (2004).

For 2009, changes that are planned include “flipping” an existing pothole bunker on No.4 to move it closer to the coastline and the addition of a challenging new championship tee on No.13.

On all of the holes that border the coast—No.4, 6,8,9,10 and 18–it’s also expected that the USGA will limit the rough, furthering the chances of wayward balls finding their way over the cliffs.

With the changes in tow, Pebble Beach will play from 7,014 yards, making the 2010 Open the first Open in which the course, originally designed by Jack Neville in 1919, will play at over 7,000 yards.

Heading up the changes was Arnold Palmer, one of the owners of the course. In making the changes, Pebble Beach officials also scoured through archives detailing Neville’s original layout.

“The golf course was originally designed to bring the ocean into play. At Pebble Beach, the biggest obstacle is the ocean. We feel these changes will bring it back into play,” said RJ Harper, Senior Vice-President of Golf for the Pebble Beach Company. “As for the new bunkers, they’ve been designed to complement the new championship tees. The USGA‘s desire is to reward the player for a quality shot and penalize you for a bad shot.”

Looking back, U.S. Open championships at Pebble Beach have produced some of golf’s greatest moments by some of golf‘s greatest players.

In the final round of the first Open held at Pebble in 1972, Jack Nicklaus came to the 17th tee holding a three-shot lead over the field. With the wind blowing, Nicklaus opts to hit a one-iron. The resulting shot hits the flagstick and drops straight down, five inches from the cup. Nicklaus goes on to tap in for birdie and claims a three-stroke win over Bruce Crampton. Ten years later, No.17 again plays a huge role in determining the outcome. After starting the final round three shots off the lead, Nicklaus goes on a run that includes five straight birdies. The legend would head to the clubhouse tied for the lead with Tom Watson, but Watson wasn’t done.

On No.17, Watson’s two-iron off the tee ends up landing 16 feet away from the pin in the rough. After surveying his options, Watson opts to play a sand wedge. His pitch shot drops onto the green and heads straight for the hole, falling in for birdie. On 18, Watson cards another birdie to seal the victory.

In 1992, the final round see winds up to 40 mph. Already finished, Colin Montgomerie appears to have the win at hand, but Tom Kite defies the blustery conditions, making a charge that includes a pitch-in for birdie on No.7. Kite’s run eventually overtakes Montgomerie, and he holds on to defeat Jeff Sluman by two strokes for his first major. In 2000, eight years after Kite’s heroics, Pebble hosts the 100th Open championship. Nicklaus says goodbye, and Tiger Woods solidifies his ascendancy to the throne. In an unbelievable display, Woods opens with a 65, the best 18-hole total in any of the three previous Opens held at Pebble. On Friday, he shoots a 69 to take a three-stroke lead. After Saturday’s third round, he’s ahead by nine strokes. On Sunday, in front of the largest U.S. Open television audience in two decades, Woods caps the rout with a 67 to win by a record 15 shots. His four-day total of 272 ties the record for the lowest 72-hole score ever in the championship. “There’s a lot of pride amongst all of us at Pebble Beach to host a U.S. Open,” Harper said. “The memories of 2000 are as vivid as if it happened yesterday. We want to make sure the magic happens again.”

***Stories will continue here***

Trackback URI | Comments RSS