The original contract with the USGA had this years Buick finishing on the North to reduce the familiarity with this years Open venue. Of course the powers that be thought they would have a "Reestored" North course; but that was soundly voted down by the local golfers, not wishing a repeat of what happened on the South, i.e., a course too tough for the local muni golfers. Since the redo didn't take place the USGA allowed the South to host the final 2 rounds this year.
As to the difference between Jan and June, here's my take:
During Jan. there is sure to be some rain, so even if they totally withheld water from the course it would get wet at one point. Add this to the normal watering and the course is not going to be as dry and fast as the USGA would like. The rough lines at both Torrey courses are burned in by the tournament; they do not change once the TOUR leaves town. Some holes are ridiculously tight year round: the 9th on the North is 18 yards wide and the 15th on the South is 17 yards wide from my memory of pacing them off. The paper said Sun. that the fairways would average 24-25 feet, that was retracted yesterday as a misprint, they will average 24-25 yards. To me they would need to be expanded to get that wide. Botton line, very little difference between the Buick and the Open.
The greens are finally coming around since they let the Poa Anna invade. They will be around a 9 for the Buick and they are predicting between 11 to 12 for the Open. All 18 greens are all seperated into 3 sections by various ridges. The pinnable areas are all dead flat, so they can put the pins anywhere they want. The difficulty will be in putting from section to section during the Open. The greens with the most slope are 2, 3 and 5; you might see someone back one off the front section of 2. That is really the only seriously sloped pinnable portion of any green.
The only changes contemplated for the Open are the new tee on the par 5 13th, which will require a 250 yard carry over the barranca, with no bail out area. There is a also a tee on the par 3 16th to the left of the normal one that will require a carry of sabout 185 yards over the barranca. To my knowledge neither of these tess have ever been used during the Buick. The one on 13 is new and the one on 16 would cause a disconnect since it is about 60 yards to the left of the normal tee.
The City tried a "monostand" project to get the course 100% Kikuyu. They didn't sclap or overseed for the last 2 years in hopes of having the Kikuyu come out of dormancy quicker. Don't forget that every morning in June is overcast, the marine layer burns off around noon. This makes for cooler soil temps, not condusive to a warm season grass kicking into full growth. We used to play the City Amateur in June and the rough was usually very sparce because the annual rye overseed was about dead and the Kikuyu had not yet kicked in. The fairways were starved for water this summer in an attempt to drive out the cool season grasses. Limiting all carts to the cart path has greatly improved fairway conditions.
The USGA visited right after Oakmont and declared that the roughs would need to be overseeded; they will not be 100% Kikuyu. The City also spent a lot of money installing Kikuyu sod around the fringes; not quite sure how that project is progressing.
I'lm hoping to go Friday, looks like rain tomorrow and will file a full report.