SAN MARTIN – How high is the rough and how fast are the greens? They’re the two questions that come to mind first in trying to get a grasp on the challenge players will face at a USGA Championship. This week, the answer to that question isn’t as simple as perhaps some would like, adding yet another dimension to this week’s major championship test.
The combination of a unique venue paired with a challenging setup has become the USGA’s formula for testing the world’s best golfers. Willing to take risks in staging the nation’s largest championships at venues other governing bodies wouldn’t consider has drawn both critique and praise from players and fans alike. The staging of the 71st U.S. Women’s Open is no different. The Bay Area hosts the Championship for the first time this week at CordeValle Golf Club, which is nestled in a valley between the Santa Cruz Mountains and numerous wineries. Beauty is no question, but how exactly the course will play this week has left even the USGA scratching their heads.
The San Jose area has faced higher than average temperatures in recent weeks and those conditions combined with water restrictions in the state of California left the USGA without one of it’s infamous challenges - rough. The Director of the U.S. Women’s Open Championship Ben Kimball and his team were forced to ask themselves some tough questions in hopes of still producing a major caliber test.
“Well the question at the time was what should we do? Or don’t do anything. Let it grow and see what happens. You gotta let it go, because the worst thing to do would heave been to get here and it be nothing,” Kimball told LPGA.com.
What Kimball ended up with was a bit of unpredictability that just adds to the challenge the USGA is already notorious for presenting, with rough ranging in length depending on the lie a player draws off the fairway.
“So they can miss it two feet over the green on one hole and be in five inches in the rough and miss it two feet over the green on the next hole and only be in two inch rough,” said Kimball. “It would drive me crazy. As a player, mentally it would be difficult to figure out. But that’s part of all this. It’s a mental test as much as it is a physical test.”
Kimball says the rough was last cut on Sunday to around three inches, with areas in the shade climbing to four and five inches in length and as of Tuesday the USGA wasn’t planning to cut the rough again for the remainder of the week.
“You know, it’s not growing much as is and what is, is getting weaker and easier for the club to make it through the grass its kind of receding. Just giving up. Quitting the fighting a little bit, but areas in the shade were healthy, but there are also areas the players shouldn’t be in.”
But Mother Nature wasn’t done wreaking havoc just yet, shifting wind directions throughout the day from a prevailing Northwest to Southwest direction that affects primarily the critical closing stretch on the front including the par-four, seventh, par-three eighth, par-five ninth and the par-five 18th hole.
“It’s certainly tricky and I think all of our staff is watching as much golf as we can. The firmness of the place kind of helps with the wind issue a little bit you know If you’re into the wind downhill and it’s firm it’s kind of a wash as far as where they would hit it,” Kimball said. “I don’t know it’s a fine line if we make adjustment or not depending on what’s going on. It might just be players have one wind in the morning and another in the afternoon, but that’s why we send players off one and 10 just like you do in most of you’re events week to week so players get the balance of both weather conditions.”
Kimball describes many of the greens at CordeValle as a potato chip style, with ramps or edges in the rear portion of the greens which create a backstop that players can use to let the ball roll back towards some of the more difficult pin placements which don’t allow them to go directly at the flag. Kimball says greens will be running around 12 to 12 ½ on the Stimpmeter but will likely run faster as the week progresses. Expect the par-four, 14th hole at 429 yards to present one of the most toughest tests for players this week with a difficult green that will challenge players on the approach.
“It’s a long par four, a little dogleg left, the fairway narrows the green complex sits up a little high. It’s not a very deep green, so the ball flight for the women it’s a little bit shallower than the men’s so getting into some of the hole locations will be a little bit more difficult. But right now it’s also the softest green on the golf course. So there’s kind of a little ebb and flow to it all.”
Despite the challenges presented by the rough, changing wind direction and green complexes, Kimball says he expects to see players go low early, with the opening stretch expected to give up the majority of the birdies this week.
“I walked off the sixth tee this morning and said I think this stretch of holes where anybody going off the front nine on Thursday I would envision that you could see somebody that is one, two, three-under par through three, four, five and even six.” Kimball said. “I think that’s’ where the majority of scoring will be on the front nine in the middle areas and that will kind of shift a little bit as they round out the front nine. Seven will be a long hole most of the time playing into the back nine certainly towards the end will get more difficult.”
The course is expected to play at around 6,700 yards for the week at a par 72. Despite always being asked, Kimball says he has no idea what the winning score will be at the end of the week and only hopes after working on the set-up at CordeValle for three years will see a close race on Sunday.
“There are plenty of players here who are capable of you know playing really, really well and running away from the field. We hope that isn’t the case for spectators and friends and you know people watching around the world but if that happens to be the case then that individual certainly deserves the trophy.”
In Gee Chun won in 2015 at Lancaster Country Club with a total of 272.
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