A toughway to end the major season
Players forced to learn two courses in unusual Open
HOUSTON — Inbee Park tries to stick to a routine at theU.S. Women’s Opentomake sure she’s not worn out before the tournament begins. A two-time champion, she prefers to play no more than nine holeseachof the three practice rounds.
This year didn’t allowfor that.
The USGA for the first timeis using twocourses for the first 36 holes, the only way it couldkeep a full field atChampionsGolfClubin a pandemic year that already has eliminated qualifying stages.
For the players, that means getting to know the Jackrabbit and Cypress Creekcourses, crammingin as much as they can before Texas native Angela Stanford hits the opening tee shotThursday.
“U.S. Women’s Open golf courses are tough to learn one, but trying to learn two tough courses is definitely a big task for everyone this week,” Park saidWednesday. “It’s just a busy three days that we have to spend before the tournament starts.
“I rarely play 18-hole practice rounds before the tournament starts because we play 18 holes Thursday through Sunday, and I usually do nine. But I had to play 18 yesterday. I was going to play 18 twice, but my bodywas just too tired,” she said. “I decided nine, 18, nine. That will be enough.”
Theseare not complaints. The 156 players at Champions arehappy to be playing, no matter how different everything feels, from the two golf courses to the time of the year. Park returned to South Korea for seven weeks and said it felt like the offseason, and now the women have the $5.5 millionU.S. Women’s Open and the $5 million Tour Championship in consecutiveweeks.
TheWomen’s Open was supposed to be the first week in June until the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the LPGA Tour for more thanfivemonths. The best option was two weeks before Christmas, making this the final major of the year.
TheUSGA came upwith anall-exemptfieldtomirror what it typically would get with qualifying, just as it did for the men’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot in September. Given the limited daylight hours, it was fortunate to be at prestigious Champions Golf Club, which was established by Jack Burke Jr. andJimmyDemaretand previously hosted a Ryder Cup, U.S. OpenandtheTour Championship.
Cypress Creek, which will be used for the weekend, is notable for its big greens, the largest Park has seen since St. Andrews. It plays at 6,731 yards for apar 71, a strong test. Jackrabbit is at 6,558 yards with a pair of par 5s longer than 520 yards. It’s not exactly a pitch-and-putt.
The timing is big for women’s golf, which has rolled out a social media campaign called, “Women WorthWatching.” It’s the biggest eventonthe American golf calendar thisweek, with network TV coverage on theweekend.
There’s a fight for No. 1 between Jin Young Ko and Sei Young Kim, who won theWomen’s PGA Championship in October at Aronimink while Ko was still home in South Korea riding out the pandemic.
“Since I was young, I dreamt of being No. 1 in the world one day,” Kim said. “I’m glad that I have a chance to do that.”
Ko has dreamed of winning the U.S. Women’s Open. She won two majors last year during her rise to No. 1 and a sweep of all the bigLPGATour awards. But this is the major shewants.
Like somany otherSouth Koreans, she has memories of Se Ri Pak winning the Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run, the start of South Korean dominance in women’s golf. Jeongeun Lee6wonlast year atCountry Club of Charleston, the eighth time in the last 12 years a South Korean has won what long has been considered the biggest event inwomen’s golf.
“When Iwas 3 years old, I watched the TV on my father’s knee about Se Ri’s winin this tournament,” Ko said. “And when I sawthat, I wanted to play golf. So I started. So yeah, I want to get theU.S. Open trophy.”