Just $365 Gets You In The Chalet!

Apparently trying to make a Yankee game look like a bargain, AmEx is getting a little more desperate reminding us of their U.S. Open tournament day passes for cardholders...at $365 a pass.

UNIQUE TICKET PACKAGES NOW AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY FOR AMERICAN EXPRESS® CARDMEMBERS TO 2009 U.S OPEN® AT BETHPAGE STATE PARK (BLACK COURSE)

American Express is offering unique access exclusively for Cardmembers to one of golf’s most prestigious championships. Cardmembers have the opportunity to purchase daily passes to attend the 2009 U.S. Open Championship at Bethpage Black on June 18-21 and enjoy access to a private, fully-catered Cardmember-only Chalet.

This special ticket package grants entry to the scenic grounds of Bethpage State Park’s Black Course and the Chalet in the USGA Partner Village that American Express has reserved exclusively for Cardmembers. The Cardmember-only Chalet is located off the 15th fairway and will feature a climate-controlled atmosphere, televisions for viewing championship coverage and complimentary food and beverage.

Tickets* are available for purchase with the American Express Card at http://tinyurl.com/pl5ro2. Cardmembers can also take advantage of a Father’s Day weekend offer, saving $100 when pairs or multiple tickets are purchased.

Thank God Brokaw's Not Announcing: Digest/NBC Selects Larry Giebelhausen

The police officer won the contest to be named the whitest man in America the final contestant in the break 100 confab.

"In fairness, over the last couple of years we have started to see that the USGA, R&A and Augusta are starting to see the picture."

Interviewed by Robin Barwick using questions questions from Mark Reason, there was an entertaining round table to promote the Ballantine’s Championship. The participants were Paul McGinley, Ernie Els, Henrik Stenson and Fred Couples. Plenty of highlights, including talk of Bethpage, golf in the Olympics, Stanford Financial (awkward!) and this technology exchange:

In the arena of equipment technology, is the golf ball flying too far now?

McGinley: I think the horse has bolted. The problem should have been addressed 10 years ago, when the scientists that the USGA and R&A had were not as good as the ones the manufacturers had. The manufacturers basically broke through the gates and went too far with the ball.

Els: I am against stopping technology, but people also need to be careful how they set-up golf courses. Look at Oakland Hills last year [in the US PGA Championship]. Some of those fairways were un-hittable. Look at Shinnecock Hills. A great golf course, but they were scared of the technology and scared of a low score winning, and they screwed up the golf course.

Stenson: Longer is not always better.

Els: Exactly. They need to be careful not to take a great, classic golf course, and just for the sake of stopping someone going low, screwing up the golf course.

McGinley: In fairness, over the last couple of years we have started to see that the USGA, R&A and Augusta are starting to see the picture. Augusta was great this year, Torrey Pines was great last year and Birkdale was great last year, so they are starting to get it now. Mistakes have been made in the past though, no doubt about it.

Stenson does point out that not everyone thought Birkdale was so great last year. But more importantly, it is interesting that when this topic comes up, almost no one suggests that improved athleticism was the cause. Even better, you have folks like Els openly making the connection between over-the-top setups and poor regulatory practices. Just a few years ago only select players like McGinley understood the connection. 

"Damn, I found Anthony Kim obnoxious."

Jack McCallum, bought-out SI NBA beat legend, novelist and occasional golf scribe fresh off covering the Barkley-Haney show, joins this week's SI/AOL/Golf.com/ page-turner to kick around the state of golf. There's an interesting discussion about Rory McIlroy's decision to pass on a PGA Tour hall pass and comments about slow USGA sales in New York at the end, but McCallum's take on Anthony Kim didn't come as a total shock.

Jack McCallum: I hate to swing at the first pitch in such an august group of golf scribes, but since you asked ... Damn, I found Anthony Kim obnoxious. He came out to one of the Barkley-Hank Haney sessions I was covering for the SI story a few weeks back and acted like a 13-year-old. Then again, Charles acts like a 17-year-old, so it was kind of a draw.

Bethpage Changes

Brad Klein of Golfweek details changes in progress at Bethpage Black in advance of the 2009 U.S. Open.

The work at Bethpage-Black is being designed by architect Rees Jones, with construction work carried out in-house and overseen by superintendent Craig Currier. The work, paid for by Bethpage (unlike earlier renovation work there, which was funded by the USGA) is already well underway, with new tees and at least one major bunker in place, and more slated in the next few months.

What a great use of state funds!

The par-70 course, which played 7,214 yards in 2002, is being stretched by 250 yards to 7,464 yards. Not coincidentally, the 3.5 percent additional length correlates closely to the 3.2 percent gain in average driving distance on the PGA Tour from 2002 (280 yards) to 2007 (289.2 yards).

Does that mean in 2018 they will...ah forget it.

The two biggest changes to Bethpage-Black are taking place on the only two holes that played to an average score of under par during the 2002 U.S. Open. The par-5 13th hole (avg. score in 2002 was 4.941) is being stretched from 554 yards to 605, with a new tee currently under construction adjacent to a new pump station that is being installed. The hole is also slated to get a new fairway bunker that will pinch the driving area from the left.

Glad we're correcting those defects!

This was interesting: 

During a site inspection by USGA officials to Bethpage on Tuesday, plans were also discussed by which Bethpage-Black would be develop a density of rough that was not quite as thick, lush and punitive as was the case during recent U.S. opens such as at Winged Foot in 2006 or Oakmont in 2007. Mike Davis, USGA senior director of rules and competitions, who was among those at Bethpage-Black this week, said “the goal would be to have rough that’s penal, but playable – not just chopping out, but would leave players with the chance to advance the ball, even if the spin were taken off and it would be difficult to control.”

That model of rough was first developed at Pinehurst No. 2 in 1999 and represents a refinement of the idea that primary rough ought to be simply a punishment. It remains to be seen how such a rough can be achieved on Bethpage’s notoriously dense, heavily fertilized ryegrass, with some Poa annua, bluegrass and fescue. But course officials have plenty of time to figure that out, as well as to complete installation of those new back tees.

Maybe Phil's wrist injury actually did hit home with the USGA and just maybe someone (well, Mike Davis) has the sense to start telling these courses to throttle back with the rough-on-steroids harvesting? 

Maybe Phil doesn't need to write that letter of apology to Oakmont, as Tim Rosaforte suggested?