Southern Hills
has had its share of worries over the 101st U.S. Open but officials believe everything
is in order for the start of the first round on Thursday.
Vandalised two years ago, with acid
burning obscenities and the shape of swastikas on the championship course, and
a haunting message of 'Be Back for Open 2001' also burned into the grass, Southern
Hills was given a $3 million makeover during a 10-month shutdown.
Up to $200,000 in added security
costs was also spent to provide around-the-clock patrols of Southern Hills' grounds
once the course reopened a year ago after all 18 greens were reseeded and other
repairs and improvements made.
Those worries have now faded as a former
grounds crew worker at Southern Hills, charged in June 1999 with malicious injury
to the golf course, was taken into custody last weekend in neighbouring Arkansas
awaiting extradition to Oklahoma.
In the 1977 U.S. Open, the last Open
staged at Southern Hills, Hubert Green led by one shot with four holes to play
when he was informed of a death threat against him that was received by the FBI.
Green decided to play on and won the
title by one stroke.
Tournament security will be tight at
Southern Hills and increased, as usual, to handle the huge crowds that are sure
to be following favourite Tiger Woods, the defending champion who is trying to
win his unprecedented fifth straight major title.
The chance of severe heat in Tulsa,
where torrid summers are commonplace, worried many of the players, but the forecast
for the week indicates temperatures well below the scorching levels endured at
Opens in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and New Jersey during the 1990s.
The latest worry sent U.S. Golf Association
officials into frenzied action in the days before the start of the tournament
-- whether the ultra-fast 18th green and its severe sloping at the front would
prove to be unplayable.
Players complained that approach shots
landing in the middle of the 18th green could wind up 40 yards away in the fairway
after rolling back down the two-tiered putting surface.
USGA and Southern Hills officials raced
to rectify the problem, feeding the green fertiliser to spur the growth of more
grass, calling off the mowers and hand watering the green during the day.
They said on the eve of the championship
that worries over the fairness of the 18th green had been laid to rest, but the
proof will come during the rigors of first-round play on Thursday.
