LANCASTER, Pa. — The creek in front of the 12th green at Lancaster Country Club now has more than 83 new golf balls, including three that belonged to the world No. 1 player. It’s only Friday.
Welcome to the US Women’s Open: that’s what it’s supposed to feel like.
The cut line of 8 over par at Lancaster is the highest since Pinehurst in 2014. Only four players are under par for the championship through two rounds. There were 1,438 bogeys, 240 double bogeys and 41 “other” uglier scores.
How are the biggest names in women’s football handling this test? Most of them are leaving the state. Nelly Korda, Rose Zhang, Brooke Henderson, Lexi Thompson, Leona Maguire and Lydia Ko were among those who were kicked out of the tournament and missed the cut by several strokes.
The second time Lancaster hosted the US Women’s Open, it was nothing short of a bloodbath. The carnage is far from over. Wichanee Meechai leads at 4 under par, one of only four players not to go over par through 36 holes.
“Pars and birdies seem like gold right now,” said Minjee Lee, a former U.S. Women’s Open champion, who is tied for third. “It’s complicated. The rough is over. The greens are fast. That’s what I expect from a US Open.
The ride is firm, fast and borderline torturous if you lose concentration, even momentarily. Mike Whan, CEO of the USGA, said it well on Tuesday: the US Women’s Open this year welcomed competitors with a complete golf test, both “mental” and “physical”. Some players love it. They accept the challenge. Others shudder at the sight lines from Lancaster’s elevated tees or pins perched on inclined surfaces.
“The pins they had in the practice round, I was like, if they put the pins here, I’m going to start crying,” said Asterisk Talley, a 15-year-old amateur who finds himself in the running for his first major championship.
There’s no denying that this year’s US Women’s Open feels like a US Open. It’s exhausting. It doesn’t bother the players, but yes, it tests their limits. Everyone plays on the same extremely difficult golf course: the challenge is just right. But how did the beastly configuration at Lancaster Country Club come to be, and what can it tell us about another USGA championship coming up on the calendar?
Behind the real setup of the US Open
At the start of the week, no one predicted such a difficult US Open test. But the tournament organizers prioritized one detail in particular when setting up the course, which probably should have given us a clue. According to Shannon Ruillard, senior director of the US Women’s Open at the USGA, the championship team specifically emphasized the need to let the classic architectural elements of William Flynn’s design shine through.
The defense mechanisms built into the golf course – the curvature of greens, disruptive fairway bunkers, winding streams, etc. – have all been used by the USGA to their fullest extent, wherever possible.
This ranking is shocking. I find it sad to see some of the best players with double digit scoring. This course punishes in a strange way that is difficult to explain. I played well yesterday and today wasn’t that far away. I hit too many fairways and greens for my result to be higher than 8…
– Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) June 1, 2024
The smooth green speeds (ranging from mid to high 11s) made severe tilts on the putting surfaces incredibly obvious, and their firmness challenged players to be precise in their approach distances. The total area of the course (6,526, exactly 100 yards more than in 2015) put those treacherous fairway bunkers perfectly within reach. The USGA’s placement of tees, both in terms of length and angle, took into account the penalty areas on each hole. These choices are always intentional and focusing on them may seem obvious, but the USGA executed its job perfectly this week.
“We want to make sure that architectural features come into play for this group of stakeholders,” Rouillard said. “I cannot control how a player chooses to play on the golf course. But we can interpret the architecture to help chart the course for playing the course in the best way possible.
The USGA’s interpretation of the Flynn design was complemented by the innate construction of the course layout itself. Lancaster is built into the side of a hill and frequent elevation changes make it extremely difficult to gauge the wind. Additionally, in Lancaster, no two holes face the same direction. The USGA didn’t have to worry about making things more difficult in this regard: the questions Lancaster CC asks a golfer are omnipresent.
Rouillard insisted that the USGA does not have a winning number in mind or a benchmark for the championship. As a reminder, when the tournament took place in Lancaster in 2015, In Gee Chun won at 8 under par. But when asked if the course played as they expected, the answer was much clearer than any data-driven answer.
“Absolutely,” Rouillard said. “The course shows its teeth.”
Why Lancaster is perfect for a US Women’s Open
We are seeing a first-class test of the US Open unfold before our eyes, but it was made especially possible by the style of play that accompanies a women’s championship.
The LPGA’s longest hitters drive the ball an average of 277 yards. At Lancaster, even when some tees are placed on the far back squares, the architectural features force each player to pause and think about tee shot placement. There is no shelling or gauging in this tournament.
There are three nine-hole courses on the Lancaster property, and the two that make up the original 18-hole layout measure 6,949 yards from the tips. A men’s US Open could not have been played on this course – it simply does not have the length.
Lexi Thompson shot 13 points in what could be her final U.S. Women’s Open. (John Jones/USA Today Sports)
The championship was a real massacre at the US Open, because women can’t dominate the golf course, and there is something beautiful and interesting about that. Bunkers that are supposed to be in play are in play. Both par 5s on the course are true par 5s: No. 7 averages 5.03 and No. 13 averages 4.9. Greens push approach shots off-line because they are often hit by longer, harder-to-spin clubs, especially out of the rough. The Flynn design is in no way made obsolete.
This is exactly why the list of future US Women’s Open venues is nothing short of epic. Next year the women will visit Erin Hills, then Riviera, Inverness and Oakmont. More of America’s great classic golf courses are available for this championship because women, unlike men, cannot simply hit the ball out of trouble and hit a wedge into the green.
What does this mean for Pinehurst?
The men’s and women’s US Open champion teams always maintain an open dialogue. Although Lancaster and Pinehurst No. 2, site of the men’s U.S. Open in two weeks, couldn’t be more different in terms of design and layout, it’s always possible to learn from mistakes and adjustments made by the US Women’s Open team during the tournament.
“We collaborate quite a bit,” Rouillard said. “There’s always an opportunity to share different nuggets of information. If you do it yourself, you only have your own point of view. You learn from dialogue.
Let’s assume that Lancaster is an indication of the USGA’s current mood surrounding its early championships. In this case, the USGA setup at Pinehurst will elicit the groans and sighs from the players we desperately missed last month at Valhalla during the PGA Championship – Xander Schauffele’s winning score broke the low score record of the major championship at 21 under par.
The US Open at Pinehurst has always been pure evil. Martin Kaymer won the previous US Open at Pinehurst in 2014. He finished at 9 under, but was one of three players to finish the tournament under par. In 2005, Michael Campbell won in a tie for the tournament, and in 1999, Payne Stewart emerged victorious at 1 under.
Donald Ross’ design does not lend itself to birdies. The iconic turtleback greens will throw shots even slightly off-line and the native grasses that line the fairways will demand tiny misses. If Lancaster was any indication, the USGA will ensure that scoring opportunities are few and far between, closer to a typical U.S. Open test than Los Angeles Country Club was a year ago.
How it’s supposed to be.
(Top photo of Aine Donegan: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)