The U.S. Open Issue

Feature Photograph: USGA/Fred Vuich

It’s golf’s most demanding test; it’s most exhausting week.

A U.S. Open examines every aspect of a player’s game and seeks to reveal every attribute a golfer can possess — awesome power, an angelic touch, a gladiator’s heart. Our tribute to this year’s National Open begins with a nod to history, portrayed by some of Pinehurst Resort’s own professionals assuming the poses of champions past. Tom Stewart, owner of Old Sport & Gallery provided the vintage clubs with costuming help from Showboat Costumes. Of course, it’s been 25 years since the late Payne Stewart made his stunning par on the 72nd hole to finish off one of the most exciting U.S. Opens ever played. In honor of Stewart, we’re running an excerpt about him, “A Country Boy from Springfield,” from the 2016 book Playing Through. Sandhills native Bill Fields is a researcher on NBC’s golf telecasts and he invites us inside the compound for a behind the scenes look at what it takes to broadcast the U.S. Open across the globe. Lee Pace, whose golf knowledge of Pinehurst is unparalleled, tells us all about the USGA’s new Golf House Pinehurst and the return of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Jim Dodson plays a round of golf with Bob Dedman Jr., the most laid-back, down-to- earth guy who ever owned his own U.S. Open venue. Last, but far from least, Charlotte native Ron Green Jr. — for our money the best golf writer in America — answers the question “Where have all our champions gone?” And, just think, we get to do this all over again in five short years.