Joe Jemsek, owner of Cog Hill Golf and Country Club, would give anything to have a U.S. Open at his golf course.
Anything, including his golf course.
“I’ll give them the same deal we give the Western Open,” said Jemsek. “They can have it free. No charge.”
This is no small gesture by Jemsek, who has done a lot for the sport in Chicago and throughout the country. He did not, however, invent the rain check.
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For the 95th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills last month, the United States Golf Association paid the club $1 million. The members at Shinnecock Hills don’t need it. Fine.
But David Fay, executive director for the USGA, wants to stage this national championship on a course where the common folk roam.
“Pebble Beach is a wonderful venue for us,” said Fay. “But at $200 per round, it’s more of a resort than a daily fee course. We could make no greater statement about our commitment to public golf than to bring the Open to a course that is truly public.”
Fay recently played the Black Course at the Bethpage park facility on Long Island and was mightily impressed. The USGA will stage the U.S. Amateur, no small event, at Cog Hill’s revered No. 4 Dubsdread course in August 1997. That could mean something. The USGA visited Medinah in pairs a few years ago–U.S. Senior Open in 1988, U.S. Open in 1990.
“We wouldn’t be having the Amateur at Cog Hill if we didn’t think a lot of it,” Fay said. “I haven’t actually seen Dubsdread, but players like Nick Price rave about it, and I plan to get there and play there. In Chicago, like the New York area, you’re talking huge market potential for a U.S. Open.”
The U.S. Open goes where tradition grows. Cog Hill could fit that description. When the Western moved from plush Butler National in Oak Brook, there was a certain amount of fear and trepidation about staging a professional golf tournament at a public facility. The apprehensions didn’t last long.
As Joey Sindelar said in behalf of his lodge brothers, we don’t play the clubhouse. Why, exclusive as Shinnecock Hills is, there are no television sets on the grounds. The USGA had to bring them in for the U.S. Open and take them out when it was over.
“But did you hear any complaints about how basic the locker room was?” asked Mark McCumber. “I mean, we go some places with marble counters and shag carpeting. Beautiful. The clubhouse is beautiful, so beautiful you want to stay there and not play the course, which isn’t so beautiful.
“Cog Hill? It’s great, and you’re talking to somebody who won the Western twice at Butler. But Cog Hill could definitely stage a U.S. Open. We’ve talked about it before among us. They wouldn’t have to do much to the course, that’s for sure. Bring the fairways in a little, let the rough grow, and let’s play. It’s a natural.”
McCumber’s reviews are endorsed with near unanimity. Payne Stewart is one of few card-carrying members of the PGA Tour who doesn’t like Dubsdread. Tee to green, it’s OK. But he doesn’t care for the texture or shape of the greens, and that’s his privilege. Stewart, however, does seem like a voice in the wilderness.
“All I hear are wonderful things,” said Jemsek. “They’ve seen how we handle a Western, with crowds of 30,000 and more. We have parking, hotels, access.”
Cog Hill also has the Western.
“No problem,” said Jemsek. “There’s one stipulation in our contract with the Western. If we get a U.S. Open, the Western moves for one year. They understand.”
The next available U.S. Open slot is 2001. Joe Jemsek figures that would be a nice way to begin another century.