Locals weigh in on Torrey Pines South

Chris Williams is just 16 years old, but he’s already an accomplished golfer. The Moscow High School junior has won three State 4A titles in Idaho, the most recent by 16 shots.

He’s played numerous courses on the junior golf circuit, but one sticks out: Torrey Pines South in La Jolla, Calif., site of the U.S. Open from June 12-15. Williams said the scenic public course near San Diego doubles as his favorite track and the toughest he’s played.

“It’s one of those courses where you could easily bogey every single hole,” said Williams, who shot 74-77-75-76 at Torrey Pines in the Callaway Junior World Championship last summer. “You really have to play well to shoot well. The 74, I didn’t make a lot of mistakes and usually when you play courses for junior golf you’d shoot a 69 or 70. This course, it’s 74-75, just like that.”

Williams, who will attend the U.S. Open as a spectator, is well aware that the course he played last July wasn’t set up nearly as tough as the demanding test that awaits the Open field of 156. The course will be a par-71 and range between 7,400-7,600 yards. The fairways have been narrowed and the rough is so thick and deep that starters were warning every player in a group’s foursome to monitor each shot that strays off the fairway. The undulating greens are difficult to read and could run 14 or 15 on the Stimpmeter. (Translation: Fast.)

A number of area residents have played or have ties to Torrey Pines South, which closed to the public May 21 for final tournament preparations.

Spokane’s Bill Kirkman, who will work at the Open as one of 6,000 volunteers, attended a meeting a few weeks ago at Torrey Pines. Afterward, he toured the course on a cart with several others and they came across a couple of caddies.

“I don’t know if it was them or if it was something they’d heard from other caddies, but Phil Mickelson played with three scratch golfers and the best scores of those three was 85,” Kirkman said. “They didn’t say what Mickelson shot – he was kind of practicing.”

Torrey Pines South and North courses are home to the Buick Invitational, an annual PGA tour stop. In January, Tiger Woods shot 19-under and won the event for the sixth time. Woods, returning from knee surgery, will be the favorite at the U.S. Open, but the winning score figures to be around, if not over, par.

“Look up the top 10 in driving accuracy and fairways hit – the longer, straighter hitters – and they’re going to have an advantage,” said Spokane’s Randy Ramey, who has played in every Buick Pro-Am since 1998. “And then it comes down to putting.”

And that could get very interesting, Ramey said. “There is no such thing as a gimmie putt. The general rule is the ball breaks to the ocean, but there’s variance because the ocean borders you on the south and west, so which is the predominant pull? You’ll have 18-24 inch putts playing outside the cup.”

Ramey, who has a close friend on the U.S. Open committee and will attend the tournament, has played the South perhaps 30 times. His handicap has ranged from 6-12 through the years. His best score was 79, his worst 88.

If he played it today? “I’d be really, really happy to be in the 90s,” he said.

Darin Wright, a San Diego resident whose parents live in Coeur d’Alene, managed a 94 in mid-May. He estimated his handicap at 12.

“It was unreal,” said Wright, who paid $68 for green fees. “I’ve played that course probably 50 times, but if your ball went off the fairway it didn’t roll an inch. It just dives. Everybody tried to hit it toward the green on the first few holes, but after that you just pitched out onto the fairway. I lost two balls that normally would have been easy to find.”

Joel Dahmen, a two-time State 3A champion from Clarkston who won the Washington State Amateur last year, played Torrey Pines South in the junior world tournament in 2003 and 2004. Scores of his eight rounds were between 73 and 79.

“It’s just such a long course, especially when you’re a junior,” said Dahmen, who played at the University of Washington as a freshman but was academically ineligible this season. “In the morning the fog is unbelievable off the ocean and I remember hitting a 7-iron 145 yards. In the (Lewiston-Clarkston) valley or Spokane, I would hit it 170 yards.”

Dahmen won a local qualifier May 18 and he’ll attempt to qualify for the U.S. Open at a sectional event near Eugene, Ore.

“I absolutely love the course,” he said of Torrey Pines. “I think all good golfers love being challenged like that. There are some holes where you just can’t miss shots. You’ll have 200 in (to the green) and you can’t miss it or you make a 6.”

Ramey is eager to see how the pros fare on No. 3, a long par 3 that usually plays into the wind; No. 16, another long par 3; and No. 18, a par 5 with a pond in front of the green.

“No. 3 is toward the ocean and it’s one of the signature holes. It’s downhill and there’s tremendous break on the green,” he said. “You’re going to see some big scores on 16. There’s a new tee box, a huge ravine and it’s into the teeth of the wind from the ocean. Guys that don’t hit that green will make bogey, double, triple. No. 18 is going to be really big risk-reward. It’s all carry to the green and it’ll be interesting to see how many pros go for it in two.”

Moscow’s Williams can’t wait to watch the tournament unfold.

“I just want to see that guy out-drive me by 50 yards,” he said with no hint of resentment, “and he’s teeing off 50 yards behind where I did.”