U.S.C., Backed by Its Big Name, Makes Case for National Title Run by Two
It may seem like the world’s oldest race, but that’s no longer the story on the Men’s Golf Tour.
The men’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst, N.C. will be played July 8-10, 2014.
(Bret Schaber)
The men’s game has never been about the oldest tournament in the world, which is why we have so many people at ESPN talking about the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, N.C., this summer, where the oldest event on the men’s tour will be played.
The thing is, even though the U.S. Open course is over 100 years old, it’s not the oldest tournament on the tour, which is why you’ll see a lot of people talking about it, even though it’s been run by the U.S. Golf Association for decades.
I’m talking about the U.S. Open at Pinehurst.
In fact, the U.S. Open is only the 24th oldest tournament on the men’s tour, and it’s played at the U.S. Open, which is the oldest United States professional golf championship. (The U.S. Open doesn’t exist anymore, but is now called the U.S. Women’s Open.)
“I think you are a lot more likely to win a U.S. Open than to win a WGC,” says Jeff Bell, CEO of the men’s tour. “It doesn’t have the prestige of an WGC, but it has the history of an WGC. So it’s really not for the faint of heart.”
The point is that you’re talking about a tournament that could have been run by NBC and made its name on the Men’s Golf Tour at Oakmont, N.C., in 1978. The tournament was won by Jack Nicklaus, the best player of all time, in 1975 and ’76. But it wasn’t run by NBC. It was run by the U.S. Golf Association. And it was run by Jack Nicklaus, who