'Long' Is the Key Word at Bethpage Black

FARMINGDALE, N.Y., June 15 -- When Bethpage Black hosted the U.S. Open for the first time in 2002, it played at 7,214 yards, then the longest course in tournament history. That, of course, has been surpassed three times in the six Opens since -- Torrey Pines last year, Winged Foot in 2006 and Oakmont in 2007.

But when the Open tees off Thursday here, Bethpage will take back the title. The total: a par 70 at 7,426 yards, anchored by three of the four longest par 4s in Open history -- the 525-yard seventh (longest par 4 ever), the 508-yard 10th and the 504-yard 12th. Never before have there been three 500-yard par 4s in the Open.

"I would start off by saying that this U.S. Open venue is going to be long," said Mike Davis, the United States Golf Association's senior director of rules and competition, in a media briefing last month. "This is going to be one where a player is absolutely going to be able to have to move the ball out. . . . My guess is that this U.S. Open, you'll see the average player here use his driver a minimum of eight times."

The monstrous seventh, which is a hard dogleg right with a huge carry over a bunker off the tee just to get to the corner, is protected by large oak trees on the right. Kenny Perry, the Masters runner-up, played practice rounds here Saturday and Sunday and said even with a solid drive down the right side, he couldn't see around the corner and had to hit a sliced approach shot of 255 yards.

A drive further left might give a better look at the green but could leave an approach of 280 or 290 yards, Perry said.

"There's going to be a lot of guys [who] have trouble getting it over the bunker there," Perry said.

To give the players something back, the USGA widened the fairways, slightly, to approximately 29 yards on average. The governing body also took away one potential area for embarrassment by cutting the fairway at the 10th hole -- which some players had trouble reaching when it was raining hard -- 35 yards closer to the tee.

When Tiger Woods won by three shots over Phil Mickelson in 2002, he was the only player to break par, finishing in 3-under 277.

Though rain forecast Thursday through Saturday could make the course play longer, Perry, for one, believes the receptiveness of the greens and the rough -- which gets thicker gradually from the fairways, rather than immediately off the fairway -- will make for a lower winning total.

"I think it's going to be better than even par," Perry said. "I may be wrong on that assumption, but to me, I just remember the rough was so severe, it was definitely chip out, whereas this year I think you can actually play out of it a little bit."

Congressional Observers

A contingent from Congressional Country Club, which will host the Woods's AT&T Classic in two weeks and the U.S. Open in 2011, will be on hand later in the week to take a look at how Bethpage officials set up everything from the merchandise tents to the clubhouse to the equipment needed to maintain the grandstands and the grounds.

"We'll take it all in, just so we can start preparing for everything involved," said Mike Giuffre, Congressional's director of golf and grounds maintenance. Michael Leemhuis, the club's general manager, and director of golf John Lyberger will also travel to Bethpage. . . .

The USGA announced the 2014 U.S. Women's Open will follow the men's Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, the first time the two events will be played in consecutive weeks on the same venue. Pinehurst already was slated to host the men's event, as it did in 1999 and 2005. The women's version has been played down the road at Pine Needles but never at Donald Ross's famed No. 2 layout. . . .

Japan's Shingo Katayama withdrew Monday because of back problems. David Erdy, a 19-year-old alternate from Indiana, took Katayama's place. Trevor Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion, pulled out Sunday because of tendinitis.