Rory Spears

Spears on Golf

Golf Talk: USGA Executive Director Mike Davison U.S. Opens, Olympia Fieldsand the City of Chicago

Mike Davis is the executive director of the United States Golf Association (USGA). Prior to 2011, he was director of competitions, but now he is in charge of everything.

In the past, he ran USGA tournaments, checking out venues and setting them up for championships. Davis is still in charge of the U.S. Open—that’s one tournament he wouldn’t give up no matter how full his plate is with his new job.

Ten years ago, Davis got a call from Ron Whitten, a golf architect writer. Whitten suggested Davis see a property in Wisconsin. Davis was told a course would be built on this site that had the potential to hold any kind of golf event. Davis walked the property, and it didn’t take him long to realize the potential was indeed unlimited.

Erin Hills opened on that site in 2006. By 2008, the course hosted the Women’s Publinks Championship. This past August Erin Hills hosted the U.S. Amateur, and last year the USGA announced Erin Hills had beaten out Cog Hill for the 2017 U.S. Open.

When Erin Hills opened, many people didn’t like it, but two renovations later, those views have changed. Davis, for one, loves it, and you can bet the 2017 open won’t be the last USGA event Erin Hills hosts.

I spoke with Davis and asked his opinions about Erin Hills, Chicago-area clubs such as Olympia Fields and Cog Hill, and the city as a host of USGA events.

Davis says he loves the inland-links style of Erin Hills, which is often found on courses by water. He mentions the natural terrain of the property and applauds its size. “To hold as many fans as a University of Michigan football game does for each day of a U.S. Open,” he says. “The Big House [held 114,000 for a recent game].”

This is why a Chicago course wanting a U.S. Open will always have tough competition in Erin Hills. But this doesn’t mean Chicago will never garner another U.S. Open, as some have falsely speculated.
The U.S. Open is already assigned through 2019, and 2020 and 2021 aren’t likely to be in the Midwest. Therefore, 2022 is the earliest a Chicago course can hope to host the tournament. With a 14-year gap between Midwest-based U.S. Opens, I asked Davis about the USGA abandoning the area.

“I think that is a fair point,” Davis says. “With any of our events, we like to move them around. But in respect to the Midwest, we have had a hiatus.

“Since the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields, things have gone dry on us. I can tell you it gets talked about a lot at our board meetings that we need to get back in the Midwest. Getting back to Chicago would be a great thing—it’s such a wonderful golf town.”
In 2012, the USGA will bring its Mid-Amateur Championship to Conway Farms and Knollwood in Lake Forest. But where would it put a U.S. Open?

The first choice as of now seems to be Olympia Fields, especially since Medinah is aligned with the PGA and Butler National does not meet USGA membership guidelines.

“Olympia Fields is a wonderful club to work with,” Davis says. “I had the pleasure of working with them in 1997 for our Senior Open and in 2003 with the U.S. Open. The club has a storied past. When they redid the South Course, a lot of us looked at it and went, ‘Wow,’ and it is part of a dynamic duo with the North Course. When we got the invite from the club to host the 2015 U.S. Amateur, it didn’t take us long to jump on it.”

If the USGA had one concern in 2003, it was about the number of hotels near Olympia Fields. That was overcome, however, by having a train stop only yards from the first tee, and many more hotels have been built in the area in the years since 2003.

The USGA is using the Amateur more as a test to see if a club can host the Open. You can bet that if 2015 goes well, Olympia Fields will be a strong candidate for the next Open here. Davis wasn’t here this summer when Olympia held the USGA Junior Girls Championship, but he was very pleased about the glowing reports he got from players and USGA officials on site.
Cog Hill will be trying for the U.S. Open in 2022, says owner Frank Jemsek. I, for one, wouldn’t count out Cog Hill. The PGA is likely pulling out of Cog Hill, which might help the club land the U.S. Open. Davis visited Cog Hill during the Rees Jones renovations and then after they were completed.

“In 1997, we had the U.S. Amateur at Cog Hill,” Davis said. “Since the renovations, the course is now far superior to what it was from an agronomy standpoint. Then after walking the course, I said, ‘Wow, that is one heck of a test of golf.’ For the world’s best players, it is all the test of golf they would ever want. The invitation from the Jemseks, one of the great families in golf, is in. So I think the committee will look very seriously at Cog Hill.”
Davis admits that there is “some truth” to the notion that the USGA wants to stay away from courses hosting PGA Tour events, and that the U.S. Open this summer at Congressional “was hurt” by he PGA Tour being there in recent years. So it could be Cog Hill’s gain to trade the Tour for an Open.

Since Chicago is a major market and women’s and senior opens can get lost in big cities, Davis says those events are more likely to be scheduled away from the Windy City.

In closing, Davis and I talked about a new golf course that’s preparing to host its first USGA qualifier: the Chicago Highlands Club in Westchester. Davis has already heard good things from USGA people who have been there. I feel Davis thinks Chicago Highlands is a club he wants to see for himself.

Memo to John Baxter, managing partner of Chicago Highlands Club: How fast can you get that clubhouse built? Maybe a third potential Open site is emerging, which might be what the USGA needs to return to Chicago. A few options are also what the PGA Tour needs right now in Chicago. CG