The following article originally appeared in The Pilot in June 1998.

One year from today, the 1999 Open will begin at Pinehurst Country Club.

Are we ready?

If you’re Pat Corso, the president and chief operating officer of Pinehurst Resorts, the answer is a resounding, "Yes!"

"It’s a fairly calm time for us," Corso, who is visiting his ailing father in Indiana, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "That’s because we did the right thing a long time ago. We started preparing early, feeling that we needed a full four years so that we wouldn’t have to scramble at the end. That’s the best decision we ever made. We hired the right people, such as Jon Wagner from the PGA Tour in 1992, and they’ve done their jobs well."

There were obstacles to overcome, not the least of which was the perception of USGA officials that an area as remote as Pinehurst might not be able to handle the magnitude of requirements a major tournament demands.

"Practically everyone in golf had concerns about an Open being held here," Corso said. "They felt Pinehurst was too far away from a large city to accommodate all the needs. Marketing an event in North Carolina is different from marketing one in Pittsburgh, for instance. Take Oakmont, a very prestigious club where the members know the people downtown that they can go to and say we need this or that and it’s done. Here, we have to market it all across the state.

"But we’ve spent the last two years working on logistics, and everything is falling into place. There is no sense of paranoia here."

Corso will be at the Olympic Club in San Francisco next week, but not in a learning capacity so much as an observing one.

"Don Padgett (Pinehurst director of golf) and I have gone to every Open since 1987," Corso said. "We’ll have teams there, looking at how they handle last-minute changes and studying the scope of the event. But mostly what we’ll be doing is renewing relationships, not only with the USGA, but with people in general.

"Everybody in golf can be seen around the practice areas, and being with Padge is like having a magnet. He knows everyone, and everyone knows him. We’ll see everyone in organized golf."

Both Corso and Padgett are great ambassadors for Pinehurst, and their enthusiasm is contagious.

"This is the second golden age of Pinehurst," Corso said. "Going back to 1991, the Tour Championships, the U.S. Senior Open, the Women’s Open at Pine Needles, the Men’s Open here in 1999, the possibility of a Ryder Cup and perhaps another U.S. Open has just made this a special time.

"There’s never been this much focus on Pinehurst. In 10 or 20 years we’ll look back and realize what a great time it was. It’s a very unique period, and we should all enjoy it."

Corso sees the impact of the worldwide publicity spilling over into all aspects of the Pinehurst area.

"This just reinforces the high regard that the world holds for Pinehurst," he said. "With the hosting of the U.S. Open, the restoration of the Pinehurst reputation is complete.

"That reputation is something that the Tufts family created, but the other owners of the resort sat on it. Now it’s as it was 40-50 years ago."

Corso points out a recent incident involving Scotland’s St. Andrews as proof of that renewed respectability for Pinehurst.

"Our friends at St. Andrews asked for permission to run a story on Pinehurst in their magazine," he said. "Stephen Boyd (Pinehurst director of public relations) sent them information and pictures, and they did the article. In it, they wrote that Pinehurst was the only other golf complex that was committed to the same principles as St. Andrews. That’s high praise.

"They, in essence, were saying the same thing that Bobby Jones did when he said, ‘Pinehurst is the American St. Andrews.’

"We all should pinch ourselves to make sure that we’re really living in this era."