Everything but the signed contract leads all involved to believe that the U.S. Open will return to Pinehurst No. 2 Course before we all are a decade older.

Nearly everyone wants this to happen. There’s the local pride. We can produce the best U.S. Opens ever. Just give us the chance every eight or 10 years.

But can that happen?

Beginning in 2001, the United States Golf Association will prepare for and run all future U.S. Opens with its own staff. The USGA has some thick volumes on how to prepare and conduct a U.S. Open.

But so do Jon Wagner and Pinehurst Championship Management, who have done a superb job in preparing for the 99th U.S. Open.

The USGA has learned from PCM. The folks from Pebble Beach, where the 100th U.S. Open goes, have learned from PCM. Are the Pinehurst folks willing to sacrifice a PCM-run Open to get another one real soon? Or will the USGA, impressed by the effort and results created by PCM, defer its own control to Pinehurst?

This should not be a problem.

"We have had a wonderful time here, and we would not have brought an Open to Pinehurst in the first place if we had planned to do just one here," said USGA Executive Director David Fay. "But we are not far enough along in talking about a next Open in Pinehurst to get to that point. That would be a few weeks down the road.

"I am sure we can come to a resolution if Pinehurst’s involvement in planning another U.S. Open becomes an issue," Fay contined. "Look at this year and next (at Pebble Beach Golf Links in 2000). We have something of a ‘resort contract’ with both."

Fay’s implication is that there is flexibility in future Open contracts. "There wouldn’t be future contracts unless we were versatile," he summed.

Pat Corso, Pinehurst’s president, also was positive about working with the USGA.

"If we have an opportunity to discuss a future U.S. Open, we will listen to what the USGA has to say," he said. "This is their Open. They establish the rules."

Corso noted that one reason Pinehurst could be an attractive site for an event "is our many assets. We have good people and are able to do some additional things for a golf championship. Pinehurst Championship Management already is working on two future USGA championships (the 2000 Women’s Open at Pine Needles and the 2002 Senior Open in Owings Mills, Md.). The USGA knows our people and what they can do.

"Pebble Beach is in a similar position, a resort with a lot of flexibility. I think the USGA recognizes these as valuable."

Before 2009? Let’s believe so.