Pinehurst delegates take notes

As 35,000 golf fans swarmed over Shinnecock Hills Golf Club each day this week, chasing Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson or just finding a spot to watch all the players pass, Reg Jones watched all of them. He watched what they did and watched how they reacted, in hopes of finding a few details to better their experience next summer.

Jones is the championship director of the 2005 U.S. Open, which will be played in Pinehurst next June, and he knows that once the next Open champion is crowned Sunday night, the focus will turn quickly to Pinehurst and there will be less than a year to finalize all of the details for the second U.S. Open at famed No. 2.

"We feel we already have a good plan in place," Jones said. "We knew coming here would be our final tuneup."

So Jones and about 20 members of Pinehurst's brain trust came to Shinnecock with open minds, empty notebooks and long checklists of people to see and details to check. Some went through the same routine in 1998 at San Francisco's Olympic Club in preparation for the '99 Open.

The entourage, which included Pinehurst executive vice president Beth Kocher and the new president of the resort, Don Padgett, spent time with U.S. Golf Association officials, discussing logistics and operations for the '05 Open. What they didn't discuss, though, is a possible third Open at Pinehurst.

"It's way too early to discuss any of that," USGA Executive Director David Fay said. "There are a lot of gaps to fill in before we would even get back to Pinehurst."

Over the course of the week, members of the group spent time examining and evaluating just about every part of the Shinnecock grounds and the 104th U.S. Open. Officials looked at the width of the corporate hospitality tents, walked through the merchandise tent, checked on Port-O-Lets, parking lots and disabled access.

Security measures caught much of their attention, and they will be significantly more stringent than in 1999, including the use of metal detectors at all entrances.

Lee Bowman, director of operations for the Open, guided three members of the N.C. State Bureau of Investigations, including Assistant Director of Field Operations Melanie Thomas, across the grounds this week.

"We want to make sure everything is as efficient as possible," Bowman said. "We don't want it to take four hours for people to get to onto the course."

Stephen Cryan, Pinehurst's director of retail, spent much of his time in the merchandise tent, which he said will be 60 feet longer than the one at Shinnecock Hills and a total of 36,000 square feet - an increase of 33 percent from the '99 tent.

Paul Jett, the superintendent at No. 2, and Brad Kocher, director of grounds and golf course management, met with USGA officials to talk about the setup and the conditions of

No. 2. Fay confirmed this week that the USGA plans to use all six new tees at No. 2, which will make the course the longest in Open history and perhaps as long as 7,300 yards.

"That sounds about right," said Tom Meeks, senior director of rules and competitions. "The club asked to put in some new tees, and we think they've come in very nicely."

Jones, meanwhile, pulled his rental car into the public parking lots and rode the bus to Shinnecock Hills to get a feel for its efficiency and the reaction of those using the transit system. Pinehurst has often been praised for the way it handled spectators in 1999, which included spending more than $500,000 on buses that included air conditioning and videos.

"Just because '99 went well," Jones said, "doesn't mean that '05 is going to go well. We're always trying to come up with something new."

When the group left late this week, pen marks accompanied most of the items on checklists and notebooks were filled with potential ideas.

Back at Pinehurst they plan to exchange notes and begin implementing any of the necessary changes or additions to the original plan.

"We want to make sure we have everything covered," Jones said. "Our goal is to make the 2005 U.S. Open the best yet."

Source: News & Record (Greensboro, NC)