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On the surface, this summer will be similar to all the others at Torrey Pines Golf Course. The regulars will gather for early tee times, the Junior World tournament will return in July, and the breathtaking ocean views will remain unobstructed. But once this month’s U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club on the other side of the country is completed, the United States Golf Association will begin devoting much of its energy and resources to the La Jolla facility in preparation for the 2008 national championship. Get ready. The buzz is about to get louder. Eyebrows were raised in October 2002 when the USGA announced that the South Course at Torrey Pines would become just the second public course to host a U.S. Open. A significant factor in the decision was architect Rees Jones’s overhaul of the layout, an undertaking that began in July 2001. “The decisive factor in selecting Torrey Pines, as it is for all U.S. Open sites, is the quality of the golf course,” said Marty Parkes, the senior director of communications for the USGA. “It must be able to provide a severe challenge to the world’s best players. We felt that the work undertaken in the redesign of Torrey Pines has provided that type of challenge.” In addition to new bunkers, tees and greens, many of the South’s holes were lengthened. The redesign effort was spearheaded by Jay Rains and Rich Gillette, two men who have served as presidents of The Century Club of San Diego. During his term between 1999 and 2000, Rains generated interest among community philanthropists to raise about $3.5 million for the project. Those who made donations formed an entity known as the Friends of Torrey Pines. The private funding and accompanying City of San Diego contribution of $900,000 were in place when Gillette took over in 2001, and he saw the construction through to completion. “Rees Jones understood that his mission was to renovate the course so that it not only would play host to a major championship and test the best players in the world but also be accessible to those golfers who use the course day in and day out,” said Gillette, who is also the owner and president of Heller, Crouse & Co., a real estate brokerage in Carlsbad. Since the Friends of Torrey Pines successfully made its bid to the USGA, the group has been instrumental in planning the U.S. Open. What started as an organization of about 45 donors and volunteers has blossomed into more than 500 people, with committees designated to handle specific operational matters. One of those committees has been responsible for the marketing of corporate hospitality areas, an aspect that has attracted lots of attention and, like other facets of the 2008 U.S. Open, could be on pace to produce record-breaking outputs. “We’ve had wonderful feedback from the USGA,” Gillette said. The man responsible for priming the South Course and facility as a whole has been San Diego golf operations manager Mark Woodward. The former president of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America was hired for the city post in early 2005, about seven months after predecessor Jim Allen resigned. “They hired me to bring this up to a world-class operation, and that’s what we’ve been doing ever since,” Wood-ward said. “We’ve accomplished a lot and our staff has embraced the change, and they’ve really bought into everything we’re trying to do here. It’s a group effort, there’s no doubt about it.” One of the most notable improvements has been playing conditions. Woodward, superintendent Candace Combs and assistant superintendent Bill Sinclair have effectively dealt with weather issues and requests from the USGA. Since the USGA wanted all of the fairways on the South Course to have kikuyu grass, Woodward had to figure out a way to import enough kikuyu to offset lingering strains of Bermuda and poa annua on certain holes. Since it was difficult to find kikuyu in sod form, he worked with the West Coast Turf Company on a solution. Four venues — Stoneridge Country Club, The Country Club of Rancho Bernardo, Lake San Marcos Resort and Country Club and Pala Mesa Resort — gave Torrey Pines kikuyu grass in exchange for a type of bermuda grass that better fit their layouts. The importation process began in 2005, and the last batch of kikuyu was brought to Torrey Pines in April. “They’re kind of taking pride in the fact that they helped contribute to our success, which we feel great about,” Woodward said. “It was a good exchange.” Because the dominant growing season for kikuyu is in summer, the next few months will be pivotal to see if it can flourish at projected lengths and temperatures for next year’s U.S. Open. While the grass is under close scrutiny, other major alterations have been completed — the most recent being the par-4 fourth hole, which could play longer than 480 yards next June. The fairway was shifted 15 yards to the left, making the ocean-fronting cliffs more of a factor. The trees on the left side were moved to the right rough near the tee, creating a barrier between the fourth and fifth holes. The fourth hole’s championship tee also was raised about two feet. “It’s kind of a risk-reward type of thing,” Woodward said. “It’s going to be a wonderful, wonderful hole.” Holes 6 and 18, normally par-5s, will both play as par-4s for the U.S. Open. Two bunkers were added along the sixth fairway, and the right side of the hole has been cleared to offer a better view along the canyon. On the 18th, the right-hand fairway bunker was trimmed and the resulting grass was leveled to provide a more receptive landing area for tee shots. The other prominent change is on the par-5 13th hole, where a new tee box will offer an even longer test. Another important renovation is the network of cart paths recently completed on the South Course. With the myriad of physical changes, installing a more intricate system for cart traffic should allow for better preservation of those changes. “We have 60,000 to 72,000 rounds on the South Course [each year], so the traffic and the compaction and the wear and tear on the golf course is pretty severe,” Woodward said. “The main reason we did [the cart path network] now, though, is to get it done so you get the agronomic conditions up to where they need to be for the turf maintenance and keep all those compacted areas to a minimum.” The rest of the grounds at Torrey Pines will be transformed in the months leading up to the U.S. Open. The North Course will be shut down earlier than the South since many of the holes will serve as staging areas for corporate hospitality tents. Also, the ninth and 10th holes will be made into a driving range, and the region around the 18th green will be converted into a short game and putting area. The normal driving range also will be used for corporate hospitality. In addition to those makeshift conversions, plenty of permanent improvements will be evident. Among them are new signage and landscaping around the clubhouse. The only structural modification yet to be completed is the parking lot, which will feature better lighting and more than 60 new spaces. It should be done early in 2008. “Cosmetically and just visually it’s going to look way better, but you’ve got to remember this is long overdue,” Woodward said. Outside the ropes, San Diego officials, the USGA and the Friends of Torrey Pines are collectively working to make sure U.S. Open week will run as efficiently as possible. The city has established a Mayor’s Task Force on Golf, bringing together department heads and deputies from every relevant entity for meetings every other month. “It was a great sign of support knowing that the mayor took the time and initiative to set that up,” said Mike Antolini, the on-site USGA manager for the 2008 U.S. Open. Antolini, who has been working out of a trailer at the north end of the Torrey Pines parking lot for almost a year, has three U.S. Opens under his belt. He acknowledges it is a challenge to plan a championship at a venue that has never hosted a U.S. Open, but also points out other positive factors. “One thing that I quickly realized when I got here is that San Diego as a community, they understand events. They’ve hosted Super Bowls, America Cups, All-Star Games — things like that,” Antolini said. “That’s something that’s unique to a lot of the places we go.” Antolini also has the luxury of utilizing the special events division of the San Diego Police Department for the tournament. Among the first items of business when Antolini arrived was volunteer recruitment. The U.S. Open requires about 5,500 volunteers — about four times as many used for the Buick Invitational. The demand was so substantial that the USGA received more than 6,000 applications in a five-month period, forcing the application window to close two months early. “It’s very telling in the enthusiasm and the excitement that this championship will bring,” Antolini said. Antolini’s office, which will increase in size once the U.S. Open at Oakmont concludes, is also responsible for the layout of the USGA facilities on the property, including corporate hospitality and the 36,000-square-foot merchandise tent. Another prominent operational responsibility is parking and transportation. Qualcomm Stadium, located about 20 minutes southeast of Torrey Pines, will be a main parking hub. The USGA will provide shuttle service from there. But the parking situation is far from resolved. Another hub that has been mentioned is the Del Mar Fairgrounds, but the U.S. Open date conflicts with the opening of the San Diego County Fair, which has been known to attract in excess of 60,000 people during its first three days of operation. Parking aside, the presence of both events would likely create extreme road congestion in the region. The county fair is scheduled to begin on June 13, though that date won’t be finalized until later this year. It would be difficult for the 22nd District Agricultural Association, the entity that organizes the fair, to remove opening weekend, but the group is on record as saying between $800,000 and $900,000 would have to be recouped if it makes that decision. “We are confident there can be a compromise,” said Kina Paegert, information officer for the agricultural association. “San Diego just has so many options. I don’t see why you can’t have two big events at the same time.” SG |
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