Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 16, 1993 TAG: 9306160042
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REID HANLEY CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: SPRINGFIELD, N.J. LENGTH: Long
Baltusrol Golf Club is:
a) The only U.S. Open course named after a murder victim.
b) The only U.S. Open course to finish with a pair of par-fives.
c) The longest U.S. Open course at par-70.
d) Designed by A.W. Tillinghast, reworked by Robert Trent Jones, re-reworked by Rees Jones.
e) A great golf course.
f) All of the above.
The site of the 1993 U.S. Open is all of these things. It also is the site of the first U.S. Open telecast, the first electronic scoreboards at an Open, and the first Open corporate-tented village.
The United State Golf Association has brought its Open championship to the New Jersey club for a record seventh time, and there is a chance, however slight, that it might set a record for fewest complaints.
"This is the fairest Open course I've ever played on," said Greg Norman, who played two practice rounds on the course last week. "You have to hit it long, but you have to hit it straight. I can see 3- to 4-woods [into the greens] for a lot of guys. I think the USGA has been extremely fair in setting up this Open."
That should mean that players like Norman, defending champion Tom Kite, 1991 champion Payne Stewart, Paul Azinger, Masters champion Bernhard Langer, and British Open champion Nick Faldo will contend. However, while Jack Nicklaus won the past two U.S. Opens here on the Lower Course, long shots Tony Manero (1934) and Ed Furgol (1954) also won Opens here and little else.
Baltusrol is located 20 miles west of New York City, and you can even see of the skyline of the city from Baltusrol's Upper Course. In 1831, you couldn't see much but trees and what passes for mountains. Baltus Roll was a modestly prosperous farmer rumored to have a large stash of money in his farmhouse. The ill-fated Roll's success was overestimated by Peter B. Davus and Lycidias Baldwin who took Roll from his bed and killed him.
The murder and trial caught the attention of the New York newspapers and the entire incident helped immortalize Roll. When Roll's land was sold to build a golf club 60 years later, his names were joined and the final "l" dropped.
Since being founded by Louis Keller, the man who also founded the Social Register, Baltusrol has been a gracious host to USGA championships. The 1936 Open and 1985 U.S. Women's Opens on the Upper Course are among the 13 national titles decided here.
The 7,152-yard Lower Course plays to a par of 70. The first and seventh holes, both 470 yards long, play as par-5s for the members, but have been made 4s for the best players in the world. They were the two toughest holes on the golf course in the 1980 U.S. Open.
"Tillinghast liked to start with a par-5 as a warmup," said Rees Jones, who has done three fine-tuning jobs for U.S. Opens, with another to come. "These guys don't need a warmup. The green has been enlarged to accommodate a long shot, the same as the seventh."
As a result, the only par-5s on the course come on the last two holes. Today's pros think of par-5s as birdie opportunities, a chance to make up for a mistake or two. By the time they get to the penultimate hole, it might not matter.
The 17th is the longest hole in U.S. Open history, at 630 yards. It never has been hit in two shots, although John Daly probably will challenge it this week. With a 227-yard carry to the fairway off the tee, it is a rare three-shot hole for all but Daly. It will take a good drive, fairway wood and maybe a nine-iron.
The 18th is possibly the easiest hole on the course, at 542 yards.
"It's just so different playing only two par-5s - 17 and 18," said Jeff Sluman, who finished second to Kite at Pebble Beach last year. "You tend to get lulled to sleep. It's one of those things they would never do today, like back-to-back par-3s at Cypress Point. We'll play the hand we're dealt. Regardless of the par-5s, it's still a par-70, and still the U.S. Open."
The last two holes have had a big hand in deciding the U.S. Open champion the past three times at Baltusrol.
In 1954, Furgol hooked his drive on the 18th into the Upper Course, which was not out of bounds. He scrambled for par and won by a shot over Gene Littler.
In 1980, Jack Nicklaus birdied the 17th three times on his way to a tournament record 272. In 1967, he made a crucial birdie on No. 17 on Saturday in his battle with Arnold Palmer. Nicklaus was forced to hit a 1-iron on his third shot and stuck it 22 feet from the hole where he made the putt for a 67 and a tournament record 275.
"Actually there's only one par-5 that you can reach, and that's the 18th," Nicklaus said. "You may reach it and you may not, depending on how you want to play it. Of course, 17 might be reached by Daly or somebody like that, but nobody else. I don't remember the Open at Baltusrol for the golf course, I remembered it for what happened."
That is the knock on the golf course - that there is a sameness. There are 10 par-4s of more than 400 yards, four of them more than 450 yards. Golf Digest called it "The Longest Yawn." The USGA disagrees.
"It got a bad rap," said Dave Eger, USGA senior director of rules and competition. "It doesn't have the spectacular characteristics of Pebble Beach or The Country Club, but it has 18 very solid holes, some of them very difficult. The fact that it does play on the same topography leaves some people to believe it's not as interesting. If you fall asleep, you're going to make a bogey out there."
Jones won acclaim for his work at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., the site of the 1988 U.S. Open. He also worked on Hazeltine National near Minneapolis for the 1991 Open and did redesign work at Congressional Country Club near Washington for the 1997 U.S. Open.
Jones, 51, is a Tillinghast fan and didn't want to change the course, just make it an acceptable challenge. He built some new tees, repositioned some fairway bunkers, restored some hole positions and tightened some fairways. He wanted the course to be Tillinghast, not Rees Jones, and he's pleased with the results. He thinks the players will be, too.
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