Published: Oct. 7, 2017
Erin Hills still buzzing from U.S. Open
ndettmann@conleynet.com
262-306-5043
TOWN OF ERIN — There are several reasons why
John Morrissett, Zach Reineking and others on the Erin Hills Golf Course staff
are eagerly awaiting the offseason.
For Morrissett, he has more than 40 hours of
DVR-watching to do of all the coverage of June’s U.S. Open at Erin Hills.
“It’s clogging up my DVR,” he said with a
smile.
Since the USGA packed up and moved out of town
after the final round of the U.S. Open on June 18, operations have slowed at
Erin Hills. But not by much.
The buzz among the staff and golfers who have
come and gone remains high, and the course’s staff is still tightening up some
loose ends, such as prepping the course for the winter before the season ends
later this month.
With a little time to breathe Monday,
Morrissett and Reineking, the course superintendent, reflected on what was a
recordbreaking championship.
On the course, Brooks Koepka won the
championship for his first career major, shooting 16under par to tie Rory McIlroy’s
2012 record for U.S. Open winning score relative to par. Koepka was one of 31
golfers to break par — a record for the U.S. Open.
It was also record-breaking off the course.
Janeen Driscoll, public relations director for
the USGA, said there were a record number of transactions in the merchandise
tent in a single day on the Saturday of championship week.
There 26,600 transactions that day, out of
more than 139,000 for the week.
The USGA said after the championship the
merchandise preview day was the second-best opening day in its history.
Since then, Erin Hills’ staff has focused its
effort on returning to some sense of normalcy. For the most part, that has been
achieved. Gone are all the tents, the grandstands, etc. Taking a look out the
back of the clubhouse, the course looks close to what it did pre-U.S. Open.
“It has been a relief to see after the U.S.
Open, you can look out the window and the course is back to its old self,”
Morrissett said.
There are some reminders of the championship
still hanging around.
The roads built for various reasons, including
the shuttle dropoff area remains in place. Some of the secondary roads built on
the edge of the property for on-site parking lots remain.
Several grass areas that were used for
spectator viewing and walking are still trampled. But that has improved in the
last several weeks.
“We were quite pleased that spectators and
crosswalks in the fairways rebounded well on their own,” Reineking said. “Areas
near rope lines rebounded well.”
As for the course itself, it looks close to
what it did throughout championship week. And that’s been fun for all golfers
that have come to Erin Hills since July 1, the day the course reopened for
public play.
“A lot of the golfers that have come here,
when they go around the course, they ask their caddies, ‘Where was Brooks
Koepka when he did this?’ Or, ‘Where exactly was Justin Thomas in the 18th
fairway when he hit that 295-yard 3-wood on Saturday?’” That shot, which Thomas
eventually made for eagle to finish with a 9-under-par 63 that day, is still
strong in the memory bank.
“So a lot of the guests, when the caddies
point out to them in the 18th fairway where Thomas was, they just ... as 99
percent of the people that come in, they say, ‘I can tee up with a driver and
not come even close,’” Morrissett said. “We have those memories out there. It’s
pretty neat.”
❑❑❑
Superintendent: quality of course was important
The course got some criticism because of the
low scores.
Traditionally, the U.S. Open bills itself as
golf’s ultimate test. In most cases, only a few shots under par are the typical
winning scores at a U.S. Open. Only twice in the previous 116 U.S. Opens had
the winning score been 10-under or better. Tiger Woods accomplished the feat
first in 2000 at Pebble Beach at 12-under and then McIlroy in 2011 at
Congressional.
“I think, first and foremost, it was the first
par-72 U.S. Open in 25 years,” Reineking said. “And I think that played well to
these players.”
Reineking also said a fair amount of rain
early in the week softened the course, allowing another opportunity to go low.
He also heard several rave reviews about the
quality of the greens. Two years ago at Chambers Bay, a first-time host,
several players complained about that course’s rough greens.
“Some of the interesting stats from the U.S.
Open that came out on Saturday, the top 60 players, every player made every
putt under 5 feet,” Reineking said. “I think that goes to prove that, highlight
the purity of our greens.”
Reineking added the quality of the course was
what
was the most important factor to him and his
staff. For that, he believes they delivered.
❑❑❑
USGA reveals numbers from championship week
Eric Steimer, championship director for the
2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, released several numbers from the championship.
■ 5,266: number of
volunteers
■ 120,000-plus:
number of volunteer hours
■ 200,000-plus:
number of fans who attended the championship throughout the week
■ 15,000-plus: number
of grandstand seats used
■ 26.5 million:
number of television viewers around the world
■ 235: number of
buses used to shuttle fans to and from the course
■ 442,403: number of
U.S. Open logo merchandise sold
■ 840: number of
credentialed media
■ 250-plus: number of
individual tents of all sizes
■ 350,000-plus:
amount of square feet of tented space
■ 32,000-plus: number
of perishable and nonperishable food donated to the Hunger Task Force of
Wisconsin.
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