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GOLF RESOURCE GUIDE:
2008 U.S. Open
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If good things come to those who wait, this month’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines should be a thing of beauty. While the ball got rolling on the possibility of the La Jolla venue playing host to the event about nine years ago, residents of Southern California have been waiting 60 years for the tournament to return to our corner of the country. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into the planning of the event and, as the following dates point out, a lot had to fall into place before Torrey Pines got the call for action. 1952: San Diego’s first PGA Tour-sanctioned event, the San Diego Open, is played at San Diego Country Club. 1957: Torrey Pines Golf Course opens with two William F. Bell-designed layouts, the North and the South. July 1961: The Century Club of San Diego is formed to administer and promote San Diego’s PGA Tour event. 1968: Torrey Pines holds its first PGA Tour event, the Andy Williams-San Diego Open Invitational. August 1996: USGA announces that in 2002, Bethpage Black will become the first publicly owned course to host a U.S. Open. 1998: Rees Jones oversees renovations at Bethpage Black, making it the longest U.S. Open course to date. June 1999: Century Club president Jay Rains and executive director Tom Wilson travel to New York and initiate the idea of Torrey Pines possibly playing host to a U.S. Open. June 2000: After meeting Rains at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, Rees Jones visits Torrey Pines and begins developing a course renovation proposal. February 2001: Jones gives his plans to Rains with an estimated price tag of $3 million. May 2001: Friends of Torrey Pines is formed to raise the money needed to implement Jones’ plan. It raises the money in four months. June 2001: The city of San Diego authorizes the Century Club to fund, design and construct improvements to the South Course at Torrey Pines. June 2001: Members of the Friends of Torrey Pines pitch their idea to USGA officials at the U.S. Open in Tulsa, Okla. July 2001: Renovations begin on South Course. October 2001: Renovations completed. December 2001: Members of USGA’s Championship Committee visit Torrey Pines. February 2002: After having played the renovated course for the first time, Tiger Woods proclaims at the Buick Invitational that Torrey Pines could definitely host a “wonderful” U.S. Open. February 2002: Two-time Masters winner Jose Maria Olazabal (pictured) wins the first Buick Invitational on the redesigned South Course. His 275 is the highest winning score in nine years. June 2002: The U.S. Open is held at Bethpage Black in New York. The event breaks attendance and revenue records. October 2002: The USGA awards Torrey Pines the U.S. Open for 2008. October 2002: The city of San Diego authorizes the Friends of Torrey Pines to operate and organize the 2008 U.S. Open. November 2002: Rains is nominated to the USGA’s executive committee. January 2005: After a seven-month search, the City of San Diego hires Mark Woodward (pictured) as its golf operations manager. It will take more than a year for Woodward, hired in large part due to his expertise in golf agronomy, to focus his energy on improving course conditions. March 2006: Additional renovations take place on the South course, including leveling the 18th green to potentially make it a par 4 for the Open, along with altering the sixth hole to make it a par 4. August 2007: USGA business executive Pete Bevacqua tells a group gathered for a USGA and host committee meet-and-greet that the 2008 U.S. Open has set a record for corporate hospitality sales and likely will break attendance and revenue records. September 2007: The Friends of Torrey Pines says it will donate the $535,000 it plans to make during the U.S. Open on replacing the irrigation system at Balboa Park Golf Course. January 2008: Tiger Woods wins his fourth straight and sixth overall Buick Invitational title, winning by eight strokes during what was one of his most dominant efforts as a professional. May 2008: The USGA makes its final preliminary site visits to Torrey Pines, deciding on elements like rough length and which tees could be used on certain days of the Open. |
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