The Hindu : Sport / Golf : A quaint place, a tough test

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Friday, Jul 02, 2004

Sport

Sport - Golf

A quaint place, a tough test

SOUTH HADLEY (MASSACHUSETTS), JULY 1. There is a quiet charm to this U.S. Women's Open, starting with small roads winding through tiny New England towns that lead to Orchards Golf Club, a course built for a woman and owned by female-only Mount Holyoke College.

The clubhouse is an understated, three-story Colonial. The practice green is no bigger than a two-car garage.

It feels like a cozy reunion of 156 players on a classic course.

Only when they set foot on the Donald Ross design do they get a rude reminder what is at stake. The U.S. Women's Open, beginning Thursday, is the toughest test they face all year, and this is no exception.

``It closes down the opportunity for people to win,'' Beth Daniel said Wednesday. ``There are very few players who can win this tournament on this golf course.''

That wasn't the case last year at Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon, where the longest Women's Open course in history at 6,550 yards played like one of the shortest because of crusty, dry conditions that made fairways as firm as greens.

That opened up the tournament to just about every variety of game, and the winner — Hilary Lunke — emerged from a three-way playoff despite having to use metal woods to reach the greens at some of the par 4s.

Now, even the long hitters have their work cut out for them. Orchards is 6,473 yards and plays even longer because of the heavy New England air, moist grass, gentle bends in the tree-lined fairways and elevated greens that must be carried to certain spots. — AP

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