Photo: Chris Fama / WBZ NewsRadio
BROOKLINE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The United States Golf Association's U.S. Open practice rounds are well underway at The Country Club in Brookline, ahead of the 122nd open championship's official start later in the week.
WBZ's Chris Fama swung over to the fairway to check out the composite golf course players will be hitting drives from on Thursday. According to the Vice Chair of U.S. Open Planning at The Country Club Stephen Pellegrino, only certain holes are making the cut for 18 played during the championship.
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"The Club has had a history of using a composite golf course for USGA championships, it began with the 1957 U.S Amateur— prior to that, when Francis Ouimet was here in 1913, he played what we call 'the main course,' that our members play 90 percent of the time because that's what we have set up on a day-to-day basis," Pellegrino said.
The Country Club has 27 holes in total, with 18 on the main course and nine from the Primrose Course. From that pool, course designers cherry-picked to create the composite course that golfers will compete on. Because of that selection process, Pellegrino says that one of his favorite holes has been cut from the Open's lineup.
"I really love main course four, it was the hole during the Ryder Cup— that was the one I really wanted to see. We got rid of it because of the long walk for players," Pellegrino said.
Four holes in all are being dropped from The Country Club's main course, to be supplemented by four from the Primrose Course.
"One and two get combined into what spectators will see as the thirteenth hole. The fourteenth hole is the eighth hole of the Primrose, and the ninth of the Primrose is functioning as the ninth hole of the Open course for this week," Pellegrino said.
WBZ's Chris Fama (@CFamaWBZ) reports.
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