When the USGA announced in 1996 that it would bring the U.S. Women’s Open back to Pine Needles in 2001, it seemed like an eternity away.

Eternity is now down to a year, and the countdown has officially begun.

This time next year, the Sandhills will be decked out in all its spring finery to welcome the women of the LPGA, plus a few gifted amateurs who have qualified through outstanding play.

The week of May 28-June 3 will find Karrie Webb, Annika Sorenstam, Juli Inkster, Laura Davies and Donna Andrews seeking fame and glory — not to mention fortune — as they traverse the fairways of Pine Needles Golf Club.

There will be more than 100 others in the field, too, all of them in search of the USGA trophy that validates their national championship.

The U.S. Women’s Open is the big one. The one that Annika Sorenstam won in 1995 and 1996. The one that Karrie Webb hasn’t won yet.

All kinds of records were set at Pine Needles in 1996. It was acclaimed as the most successful Women’s Open in history, and the USGA announced on the final day of the championship that it was coming back.

But take it from Kelly Miller, general manager of Pine Needles. This one is going to make the 1996 event look like just another golf tournament.

Well, maybe that’s stretching things. After all, the golf course is still a Donald Ross masterpiece. And Peggy Kirk Bell, Pine Needles matriarch, is still the first lady of golf.

But the 2001 Open is going to be special.

“We’re in great shape,” Miller said. “Corporate sales have already exceeded 1996, and the entire state is behind us. We have a wonderful steering committee made up of some of the most influential people in North Carolina, and they’re doing a great job.”

This year’s Open is being held July 20-23 at the Merit Club in Libertyville, Ill., and Miller said things will really start humming at Pine Needles once that date has been passed.

“Right now, everything is pretty much corporate dealing,” he said, “developing strategy and continuing to work on corporate sales. We have a promotion with the Harris-Teeter grocery chain and they’re going to have displays in their stores within the next couple of weeks. So people will say, ‘Hey! It’s coming.!’ From that point on, you’ll start seeing more promotions.

“When this year’s championship is over, then we’ll start getting attention. The focus will move to us. Then it will be our turn.”

Pine Needles hired Pinehurst Championship Management, with the gifted Reg Jones calling the shots, to work the magic he and Jon Wagner used to make the 1999 Men’s Open at Pinehurst such a huge success. That work is evidenced by an already record sale of corporate tents.

Many of the concerns that were raised before the 1996 and 1999 championships have been addressed, leaving time for other fine-tuning operations.

Housing is not a problem. The traffic circle that used to be a nightmare is now a model of efficiency. Traffic flow? Not a problem. Parking? Take a shuttle bus from one of the nearby lots and skip the fuss.

As for the Pine Needles course, there is little to be done, according to Miller.

“There are no real structural changes to be made,” he said. “We’ll change the mowing patterns, and we’re building a new tee on the 13th hole to make it a longer par-3.”

Miller and his staff, plus a corps of volunteers already on the job, are ready, too.

“It was our first major in 1996,” he said. “We were facing a lot of unknowns. But now, we’ve raised the expectations and we feel the expectations have been raised for us.