2 new tees at Oakmont for the 2010 Open...

[George Pazin]

but it's not what you're thinking. This year the women are coming to Oakmont, so they didn't stretch out the course.

But, according to an article in Friday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, they added new tees on #2 and #17, both shortish par 4s, to allow the option of an enticing drivable par 4.

Kinda interesting to hear, will let you know how it looks when I see it.

[Matt_Ward]

George:

The women should only play a place like Oakmont with rough no more than 2-3 inches in depth and the fairways playing no less than 40 yards across.

Add any more rough or narrow the fairways too much then the reality of low scores will go right out the window.

[George Pazin]

Matt, again according to the PG (one of the nation's finest - whoops - worst papers), they are keeping the setup the same as for the men, except for the length - same fairway width, same rough, same green speed.

I'll believe that when I see it...

Are you coming out?

[Garland Bayley]

...
Are you coming out?

Now that's funny.

[Matt_Ward]

George:

No plans at this time -- but as you know I am a mega fan of Oakmont -- too bad a US Open can't return there sooner.

The women can only successfully play Oakmont if it's set-up as Oakmont-lite.

Curious to know how far they will play the 8th hole for the women -- I see no reason why 245 yards can't be the number there -- at least for one or two of the days.

[Ben Sims]

George,

I'll probably need to check out that tee on 17 after I get my brains bashed in for the previous 16 holes. 

I see no reason why Oakmont can't play the same for the women and just accept what the scores will be.  And from what I hear, they are statistically just as likely to hit a fairway as the men are, so what's the big deal about the rough?

[Bill_McBride]

George, it's been a long time since I last played Oakmont so don't recall, but aren't there forward tees on those holes already for the member ladies?  Or are these tees going in front of those?

[JohnV]

Bill, there are forward tees.  The forward tee on #2 was used by the USGA for the men a couple of days (its actually one large teeing area).  I doubt many women other than Laura Davies or Michelle Wie could even consider going for the green from there.  I think they wanted one that would tempt more of them.  If the put it to the right where it would give them the opening to shoot up it could be interesting.

I'll be there to see it as I'm officiating there in July.

[Mike Nuzzo]

I thought the top women were more accurate than the top men.
They should have no problem hitting fairways.
Getting up & down is the hard part.

[Mark Studer]

Hi John and George- We built the new forward tees in the fall of '08. Front left on #2, maybe 40-50 yards short of the existing shortest tee for the '07 Open. Short of the existing #17 by 20 yards on the same line.  John , the new tee on #2 is far left of the rest of the teeing ground and you do not notice it when you play # 2 from the existing tee.   In 1991 we built 2 new forward tees for the 1992 Women's Open, both #15 and #18 are a par 5 for lady member play so they just moved the competitors up(by about 35 yards each) for the championship week and made them both par 4's(same for  men) and then dug them both up on tuesday after the playoff.  When we built the longer tees for the championship markers in the fall of '01(lenthened the back by ~250 yards) we also built new forward tees on # 3, #4, #5, #7, and #11. These current forward tees give the USGA setup committee many options depending on weather , wind , and desired variety for this year's women's championship. See you in July.  -Mark

[Anthony_Nysse]

George:

The women should only play a place like Oakmont with rough no more than 2-3 inches in depth and the fairways playing no less than 40 yards across.

Add any more rough or narrow the fairways too much then the reality of low scores will go right out the window.

Greens will be softer, but other than that, yes the set up will ver the same.

[Anthony_Nysse]

Here is a link to the course set up

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_681300.html

[Anthony_Nysse]

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