Erin Hills awaits U.S. Open

Published: June 18, 2013

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor

TOWN OF ERIN — While it’s another four years before Erin Hills Golf Course hosts the U.S. Open, that doesn’t mean steps aren’t being made to keep the course in top shape.
A day after Justin Rose won the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania, Erin Hills hosted a Media Day on Monday to re-introduce the media to the course that hosted the 2011 USGA Men’s Amateur Championship and go over preliminary details about the U.S. Open, which will be in Wisconsin for the first time in 2017.
"One of the intriguing aspects of our national championship is the fact it moves around the country," said John Morrissett, Erin Hills’ competitions director. "You can go from Merion Golf Club, which is nine miles outside of Philadelphia to, in a few years, the farmland of Wisconsin."
The U.S. Open is the second-oldest golf tournament in the world, behind only the Amateur.
"This is a site the USGA is really excited about," 2017 U.S. Open general chairman Jim Reinhart said.
Even with the tournament four year away, workers are not relaxing.
This time of the year is important for Erin Hills. This is the time the course will host the U.S. Open, so the biggest thing they’re looking for is how the course responds to the weather.
The U.S. Men’s Amateur was in late August, which course superintendent Zach Reineking said is far drier than the middle of June.
"We’re in the time where we want to be at the peak," he added.
Morrissett went over potential ticket availability, course information and volunteer opportunities.
For the Amateur, the course measured at close to 7,800 yards, the longest USGA event in history. And there is room for more. The course can stretch to more than 8,300 yards. It’s that flexibility in the course that has the USGA excited about having the U.S. Open at Erin Hills in 2017.
In contrast, Merion measured to less than 7,000 yards, but Rose finished the tournament 1-over par.
"The course more than held its own against the world’s best players," Morrissett said.
In May, Erin Hills hosted a U.S. Open qualifier and was set up differently than two years ago for the Amateur.
In October, Marquette University will host a college tournament, and in 2015, the course will host the 2015 Wisconsin State Golf Association’s Amateur Championship.
The course opened in 2006; it hosted the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links in 2008, which was won by Tiffany Joh, who turned pro in 2009. The course was awarded that event based solely on pictures and speculation about the course, which is rare. And it didn’t take long for the USGA to award Erin Hills the Men’s Amateur, which Kelly Kraft won.
In February 2010, the USGA announced the 2017 U.S. Open will go to Erin Hills, which will be, at that time, the first time a U.S. Open will be played in the Midwest in 14 years (Olympia Fields Country Club in suburban Chicago).
Tickets won’t go on sale for the U.S. Open at Erin Hills until 2016, which will be a crucial year in terms of course prep, according to Reineking.
The course must be ready by fall 2016.
"The problem sometimes is where you have superintendents at courses where you try to push it and peak it a little bit too early," Reineking said. "And then they’re scrambling for the remainder of the tournament just to hold even."
The Amateur was a crash course for Reineking and his staff to see what limitations they may or may not have with the course maintenance.
Morrissett said ticket prices likely won’t be determined until 2015. A U.S. Open usually costs $50 per day for the practice rounds and $75 per day during the championship rounds. Fans will be able to buy a week-long pass.
Morrissett said the USGA will likely cap ticket sales per day at 40,000 for 2017, where it was set at 25,000 at Merion.
"Knowing the enthusiasm of golfers and residents of Wisconsin and the Midwest, we’re sure that whatever the ticket limit is it’ll be a sellout," Morrissett said. "Wisconsin and the Midwest certainly doesn’t lack enthusiasm for sporting events.
"We’re very much looking forward to that."
In addition, more than 4,000 volunteers will be needed for the Open, compared to just about 400 for the Amateur combined between Erin Hills and Bluemound Country Club, which helped host two rounds of the stroke-play format.
"It’s coming soon," Reinhart said.