The official celebration will be held Saturday, June 7, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the South Range at Chambers Bay. The special event conducted by Pierce County and Kemper Sports will honor the volunteers who helped to make the event in 2015 possible and let everyone enjoy the memories from 10 years ago with golf skills games and championship memorabilia. Attendees also can take a photo with the iconic U.S. Open Trophy. The event is free to the public, but everyone is asked to register beforehand. More information is available at www.chambersbaygolf.com
 
After successfully gathering one aspect of the entire world together in an old gravel pit overlooking the Puget Sound, it’s warranted to look back 10 years later with a sense of satisfaction.
John Ladenburg was the county executive for Pierce County when he envisioned what would become Chambers Bay, a championship layout where the golf universe gathered to enjoy the 2015 U.S. Open.
When that glorious June week concluded in sunshine a decade ago, 21-year-old Jordan Spieth was crowned the national champion in front of a sold-out crowd that barely left any shirts in the merchandise tent and not even a hot dog in some of the concession stands.
After successfully gathering one aspect of the entire world together in an old gravel pit overlooking the Puget Sound, it’s warranted to look back 10 years later with a sense of satisfaction.
John Ladenburg was the county executive for Pierce County when he envisioned what would become Chambers Bay, a championship layout where the golf universe gathered to enjoy the 2015 U.S. Open.
When that glorious June week concluded in sunshine a decade ago, 21-year-old Jordan Spieth was crowned the national champion in front of a sold-out crowd that barely left any shirts in the merchandise tent and not even a hot dog in some of the concession stands.
“That was very satisfying because that is what I wanted in terms of putting the Northwest on the map in terms of golf and golf tourism,” Ladenburg said recently when asked to reminisce.
“It was such a spectacular success,” he said. “The golf course was playing very hard, but the criticism of it was really kind of a joke, because who wins? Jordan Spieth, the best player in the world at the time.”
Yes, there was praise. Yes, there was criticism. In fact, there was a little bit of everything in the event that unfolded into an emotional roller-coaster ride in a way virtually no one could have predicted.
For example, who would have guessed that the first U.S. Open in the Northwest would have been played on a golf course where there’s just one tree, and it’s not really in play.
In the decade and a half before the Open hit the town of University Place in Pierce County, Ladenburg had hoped to make the most out of the old gravel pit along Puget Sound. The property became part of the county sewer division because it laid alongside the sewage treatment plant, and the potential was certainly sweet smelling.
Destination golf was starting to boom at the time, and Robert Trent Jones, Jr., with his $21 million idea of an 18-hole layout instead of the requested 27 holes, offered strategies to get the United States Golf Association to take notice as a potential site for some of its championships.
The course opened in June of 2007, and it was common knowledge in the golf community that the USGA was impressed enough that it was going to announce in February of 2008 that the 2010 U.S. Amateur was going to be held at Chambers Bay, marking the first time it would be held on a public course.
What was not readily known was that Winged Foot in New York wanted out of its commitment to hold the 2015 U.S. Open, so that announcement on Feb. 8, 2008, included not just the 2010 U.S. Amateur, but the 2015 U.S. Open coming to Chambers Bay as well. Initial reaction by some reading the local newspaper the next day was that the headline writer didn’t know the difference and got the Open and the Amateur confused. Once reality set in, preparations began for the golfing world to take over the town of University Place.
Besides the successful U.S. Amateur, two major developments occurred in the years leading up to the U.S. Open in 2015.
One was the 2013 announcement that the 2015 U.S. Open would mark the first event in a new 12-year, $1.1 billion television contract between the USGA and Fox Sports.
The other didn’t come with an announcement, but rather the slow migration of the native poa annua grass into the fine fescue greens at Chambers Bay.
Both developments had their embarrassing moments.
With much fanfare and plenty of hype from the USGA, the first Fox Sports golf broadcast was wobbly at best, only to get worse as the years rolled on. By 2020, the contract was voided with seven years remaining. Some of the Fox Sports marquee talent went onto to other, less honorable endeavors in the eyes of some – lead analyst Greg Norman to organize LIV Golf and lead interviewer Holly Sonders to a leading role in the sex industry in Las Vegas.
The issues with the greens at Chambers Bay, though, had an opposite conclusion. During the Open, the issue hit its zenith as the weather leading up to the event made the encroachment of the poa annua even more severe, leaving the players to compare the greens to broccoli, and then cauliflower because of the lack of any color as the championship week carried on.
It gave the players who missed the cut an excuse, but those who stuck around endured just fine. It certainly would have been difficult for Louis Oosthuizen to shoot a 29 on the back nine Sunday as he did if the greens were too bumpy.
And some critics even went as far as to say the greens determined the final outcome, which was decided when Spieth and Dustin Johnson each had eagle putts on the 72nd hole. Spieth, though, left his approach shot below the hole and had an easy uphill two-putt for birdie, and a closing 69 for a 5-under 275 total for the week. Johnson, on the other hand, was above the hole, and his downhill eagle putt slide well past, leading to a three-putt and a runner-up finish.
All the concern about the greens at Chambers Bay is well in the past, as the greens were re-sodded entirely with poa in 2019 and are back to championship quality.
In Ladenburg’s mind, Spieth wasn’t the only big winner that week.
“Local businesses benefitted hugely, the motels, the car-rental agencies, and the taxpayers did,” he said.
A study was commissioned after the event and it showed a $124 million impact on the local economy.
“The general taxpayer got a good deal because the people from out of town paid a lot of taxes,” Ladenburg said.
Paying the most, of course, was the USGA, which paid millions and millions in various state and local sales taxes and fees. Plus, many more millions were paid in constructing all the temporary structures needed to conduct such a championship, and then tear it all down and return the grounds surrounding the golf course to what it was like before the intrusion.
After the quick sellout of tickets for 2015, and the massive success in terms of selling merchandise, some wonder why the USGA hasn’t planned a speedy return of the U.S. Open to Chambers Bay. Well, costs and expenses have a lot to do with that. Besides the tax burden faced by the USGA, it would again have to construct a posh locker room for the players and some sort of elegant enclave for its mega donors. When the USGA goes to Oakmont Country Club for the U.S. Open in 2025, for example, all that is already waiting for them in the massive member clubhouse.
Still, the USGA enjoys bringing its smaller championships to Chambers Bay, with two successful ones since 2015 and the scheduled U.S. Junior Amateur in 2027, the U.S. Four-Ball in 2028 and the U.S. Amateur in 2033.
“We’ve already hosted more USGA championships at Chambers Bay than any course its age,” Ladenburg said.
“I think we’re a natural for the Women’s Open given our close connection to Asia,” he added.
Before all that, and before any announcements of any other championships coming to Chambers Bay, it’s time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2015 U.S. Open.
The official celebration will be held Saturday, June 7, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the South Range at Chambers Bay. The special event conducted by Pierce County and Kemper Sports will honor the volunteers who helped to make the event in 2015 possible and let everyone enjoy the memories from 10 years ago with golf skills games and championship memorabilia. Attendees also can take a photo with the iconic U.S. Open Trophy. The event is free to the public, but everyone is asked to register beforehand. More information is available at www.chambersbaygolf.com