Why Pinehurst No 2 is the perfect U.S. Open test

Pinehurst No. 2 was designed with a U.S. Open in mind, even though it took nearly a century before it played host to its first national championship in 1999.

Scottie Scheffler hits his tee shot on the 10th hole during a practice round for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. Picture: AP Photo/Mike Stewart

Pinehurst No. 2 is Donald Ross’ magnum opus. The man from Dornoch, Scotland – who learned the course design craft from Old Tom Morris himself – lived out his final days in Pinehurst, North Carolina, in a house adjacent the third green. Having been snubbed by Bobby Jones, who favored Alister MacKenzie to design Augusta National, Ross was determined to keep tinkering with the No. 2 course to make it the No. 1 championship test in America. The ruthlessness of his quest can be seen in several holes, four of which reside within an iron away from his back porch.

Ironically, Pinehurst No. 2 (like Augusta National) was designed with a U.S. Open in mind, even though it took nearly a century before it played host to its first national championship in 1999. Like Augusta, the weather in the American South made it impossible to maintain championship-quality grasses in the summer when the U.S. Open finally settled into its June date on the calendar. Jones went his own route and got the April date for the Masters, which meant Pinehurst had to wait until modern agronomy caught up and heat-tolerant grasses were invented to make it possible to host a major.