“I hope the course really does stand up,” Kris Tschetter said Monday, “and show us who is the real champion, which would be the golf course in a U.S. Open.”
Right she was about the Donald Ross layout at Pine Needles, and right Karrie Webb proved to be.
Webb ran away with the championship with her 7-under 273. Ross’ course covered the rest of the field, refusing to yield another under-par total to any of the 60 players who made the cut.
Sorenstam went south after an even-par 70 to open the championship, shooting seven-over the rest of the week in finishing at 287 and in 16th position.
Dottie Pepper opened with a 4-over 74, but came back to shoot 69-70-69 in her final three rounds to finish at two-over for the championship. With her third-place finish ,she claimed low American honors.
“I wasn’t happy after Thursday,” she said. “But I kept grinding it around. I figured around par would be good. I passed 18 people (on the leaderboard) shooting par Saturday.”
Pepper said the Ross-designed course lived up to its reputation as an Open venue. She said the 3 inches of rain dumped on the course Friday just made it play harder.
“The course played pretty much the way we expected,” Pepper said. “The weather aided that. With the soft fairways the course played longer. Thank God the greens didn’t get any harder. There would have been carnage.”
As promised before Championship week, the final six-hole stretch collected its share of victims. Pepper was one of the lucky ones on the way to her final-round 69.
“The last five, six holes are pretty bloody,” Pepper said. “If you can play in at even par, you can pick off people.”
One person Pepper picked off on her way to low American status was Juli Inkster. Inkster left a little blood on the final stretch at Pine Needles, with double-bogeys on the final two holes Sunday. Inkster, the low American at two-over as she walked to the 17th teeing ground, ended in a tie for 12th.
Christie Kerr, another American who bolted past Inkster on the final six holes, was happy to see the course play tough. Kerr, who finished as low amateur when the tournament was held here in 1996, bogeyed the 15th hole, but parred the final four holes on her way to a 70 and 283 total, good enough for a tie for fourth.
“The course played tougher today than it has all week,” she said. “This is a classic Open course. I like more difficult conditions. This is my favorite tournament. I’m proud to be an American and playing for a national championship.”
Beth Daniel, who has played in 24 Opens, knows the dangers posed by the last six holes crafted by Ross out of the sand and hills of Southern Pines.
“This course is scary from 12 in,” she said. “I was three-over going into 12 today and I said ‘Oh, my God, I’m going to have to play really well just to stay here.’ That’s the Open, though.”
Daniel ended with a 75, and her 289 total was good for a tie for 24th. Having played here in 1996, she said the course was set up even harder than in that Open when only two players broke par.
“They set it up as tough as they could,” she said. “But it’s a U.S. Open, and they’re never fun to play. It’s a good test. It played different than in ’96. They manicured the course different and made it tougher.”
A little tougher — instead of two players breaking par like in 1996 there was only Webb knocking down the red line this year.
How do you play an Open course, and how do you play Pine Needles? Probably playing it like Webb did, doesn’t hurt, Kerr said.
“Webb hasn’t missed too many fairways or greens,” she said. “It’s unfortunate for us, she’s at the top of her game.”
Old Donald Ross and Pine Needles stood up quite nicely, thank you, lurking quietly at the top of their game.
