Each month in the ASTMA's enewsletter The Cut we will take a look back through the archives of Australian Turfgrass Management Journal and highlight some of the stories that were making industry headlines at the time. On the back of the recent US Open being held at Oakmont Country Club, in this first look back we revisit the 2015 US Open which that year was held at Chambers Bay Golf Course (pictured). 

The 2015 US Open was a significant, and as it turned out controversial, event. It was the first time in 120 years that a US Open was held on a course in the Pacific Northwest of the US (Chambers Bay is located just south of Seattle) and on a links style golf course which was designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr and opened in 2007. It was also just the third time in the event’s history that it had been held on a municipal golf course, following the likes of Bethpage Black and Torrey Pines. 

A run of unseasonably hot weather in the fortnight leading up to the tournament had created some extra challenges for then superintendent Josh Lewis. As a result the wall-to-wall fescue surfaces that were presented challenged the usual perceptions around course aesthetics, while some greens had significant Poa annua populations. The resulting commentary and social media pile on made headlines around the world with players like Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson slamming them. Stenson proclaimed the greens were like “putting on broccoli”, while Poulter put the USGA squarely in the firing line with their handling of the fallout.

Working at the coalface that week and experiencing the conditions first-hand were five Australian greenkeepers (pictued middle, right) who had journeyed across to volunteer for the week. They included present day superintendents Idris Evans (The Western Australian GC, WA) and Nathan Arnett (Traralgon GC, Vic), and then NSW-based assistants Stephen Mallyon (The Lakes GC) and Dean Lenertz (NSW GC).

Also joining them was former Northern Golf Club (Vic) superintendent Michael Pearce who in the aftermath of the controversial week penned an article for the July-August 2015 edition of Australian Turfgrass Management Journal (Volume 17.4). You can read Michael’s article, which includes input from Evans, Arnett and Mallyon as well, by clicking HERE.