2015 US Open at Chambers Bay Field Report

[Brent Carlson]

4 hours 10 round.  Impressive pace of play for pros.

[Terry Lavin]

A fair amount of gagging on the final two holes. He who puked last lost.

[Jim Nugent]

With all the complaints about bad greens, what would have happened if the greens conditions were unanimously applauded as good to excellent?  Lower scores?  More birdies? 

As it is, the scores look more like from the Masters than most U.S. Opens.  A 64.  Some 65s.  A ton of 66s, 67s, and other scores under 70.  There were 37 eagles -- and 64 others (worse than double). 

The leaderboard was world-class.  The hottest player on the planet won by birdieing the last hole.  Lots of players put charges up on the leaders.  Seems like the course delivered an exciting tournament -- and for what I think is only the sixth time, someone has a shot at the slam after the first two majors. 

Richard, your efforts were not wasted, and are greatly appreciated by many.  It's a shame for Rory that he didn't see or pay attention to your guide.  He might have walked away with the title. 

[Garland Bayley]

...
Garlan, Torrey beats CB every time and twice on Sunday.

So you've walked and played Chambers Bay so that you can make that comparison?
I find that highly unlikely.

[RJ_Daley]

I just feel like my time writing up the guide was a colossal waste of time.

I was hoping that my articles would foster interesting discussions about wide variety of strategy and options available at Chambers Bay and talk about why certain players chose one route while others chose another. Out of all my guides, putting was probably the least amount of info about the place.

The tournament has delivered on what I promised. I hope you would agree that the variety of shots played by the players are greater than anything you have seen outside of The Open.

Hell, almost every hole at Chambers played at yardage differences of close to 100 yards, including par 3's!!!

But instead of talking about those shots, all we are talking about is poa and shitty greens.

I could have just posted a couple of pictures of the greens at CB and tag it #usopenLOL and it would have been as informative and intellectual as the discussions have been.

What a waste. I was mistaken.

Nonesense.  You did a great job, and it was greatly appreciated. Your desire for more intelligent discussion may be asking many to comment on a subject of how to masterfully and cleverly play various holes based on your presentations and graphics, whereby most of us don't play at a masterful and clever level...     Many are on this forum as they state; "to learn".  You did your bit by giving great commentary and descriptions along with grapics depictions.  I'll bet anyone following your efforts learned plenty.  So like JK says.... quit whining! 

[Bill Brightly]

I just want to add my name to the long list of people who thanked Richard for his amazing effort in describing Chambers Bay to us all. Due to an afternoon commitment, I recorded the golf on Sunday, then returned home to watch it on TV with my laptop open to Richard's hole-by-hole descriptions. It made for great viewing and greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the event.

Thanks again for a job well done!

[John McCarthy]

Richard:  I very much appreciated your insight.  I have never played CB and frankly was prepared to dismiss the course entirely primarily because of the length and my perception that it was penal. 

I drove my car for 1.5 hours this morning.  The US Open was the majority of talk on two sports radio stations.  The tournament was compelling.  The finish was shocking.  People are talking about the course and the necessity of playing off slopes. 

The usga had control of this course for a long time and any complaints about the greens are on them. 

I am all for prime time US Opens so if the greens get fixed then I would vote to rwturn to CB. 

[Howard Riefs]

A postmortem on Chambers Bay by Alan Shipnuck:

http://www.golf.com/golf-plus/chambers-bay-one-year-later-lessons-learned-its-2015-debut-big-stage



Of note:

"The courtship of the USGA is ongoing. Before the end of 2016, Chambers Bay leadership is confident it will be able to announce that the course is hosting a U.S. Women's Open, with '22 being the first available year. By then a boutique hotel could be on the property; Pierce County is in negotiations with a couple of developers. Any new structure will include locker rooms and clubhouse components that are now lacking."

Mike Davis declined comment for this story, but Chambers Bay general manager Matt Allen says, 'We believe the USGA when they say it's a matter of when, not if, we'll get another U.S. Open...' "

[William_G]

thank you Howard

[JLahrman]

I thought Chambers Bay looked and played fantastic. A fairly high percentage of the posters here probably did as well.

The average golf fan watching on television did not. Same as the average golf fan watching the 2014 US Open at Pinehurst didn't either.

That's good. If firm and fast with wider corridors and less rough is ever going to get more widely accepted, it's going to have to get showcased. Just too bad that the bumpy green talk is overshadowing the discussion too much.

[David_Tepper]

There is a big article on Chambers Bay ("One Year Later") in the current Sports Illustrated golf supplement issue previewing the US Open at Oakmont.

http://www.golf.com/golf-plus/chambers-bay-one-year-later-lessons-learned-its-2015-debut-big-stage

[Matthew Essig]

A postmortem on Chambers Bay by Alan Shipnuck:

http://www.golf.com/golf-plus/chambers-bay-one-year-later-lessons-learned-its-2015-debut-big-stage



Of note:

"The courtship of the USGA is ongoing. Before the end of 2016, Chambers Bay leadership is confident it will be able to announce that the course is hosting a U.S. Women's Open, with '22 being the first available year. By then a boutique hotel could be on the property; Pierce County is in negotiations with a couple of developers. Any new structure will include locker rooms and clubhouse components that are now lacking."

Mike Davis declined comment for this story, but Chambers Bay general manager Matt Allen says, 'We believe the USGA when they say it's a matter of when, not if, we'll get another U.S. Open...' "

Great article. Longer read than I thought it was going to be. Thanks Howard.

[Howard Riefs]

USGA awards Chambers Bay with.... the 2019 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship


mailto:http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2016/7/20/four-ball-the-usga-is-headed-back-to-chambers-bay.html

[Matt_Cohn]

Also the 2017 Pacific Coast Amateur, a very significant amateur event.