The head of the United States Golf Association said on Monday that the superintendent at Shinnecock Hills has the course "right where it needs to be" for the U.S. Open in three weeks, adding that the USGA is happy the club has given it a Mulligan, or do-over, for the 2004 Open.
"It was certainly a bogey last time, maybe a double bogey," Mike Davis, the USGA's chief executive officer, said at media day on the course in Southampton. "Anyway, it is great to be back at one of the great courses on planet Earth."
Davis repeatedly called Shinnecock "a national treasure." But the vintage layout had been almost unrecognizable with the way the USGA left it in 2004, when the greens were thoroughly dried out and just about unplayable. "We're happy to have a Mulligan this time," he said.
He walked the course Sunday with superintendent Jon Jennings, who was not on staff 14 years ago, and liked what he saw. There had been concerns over the greens after the cold, snowy March. But Davis said, "By and large, he's got it right where it needs to be. When you're setting it up, it starts years ahead of time, saying, 'OK, is there anything architecturally that we need to change?' As you get to this point it's all trying to get it as close to what you think you're going to need."
