The Black Course at Bethpage closed for the season this weekend, and the countdown to the 2009 U.S. Open right here in Nassau County in June will soon begin. Tiger Woods cruised to a three-stroke victory at the 2002 Open, a tournament fondly remembered for the spirited New York gallery and its birthday serenade to Phil Mickelson, among other highlights. The world's finest golfer should be delighted that the layout on which only he broke par is slated to undergo just a few minor tweaks.
John Feinstein documented the preparations for the 2002 tournament in "Open: Inside the Ropes at Bethpage Black" the following year, a book that is once again relevant now that golf's national championship is returning to Bethpage.
When the 2009 season tees off, golfers will have a limited opportunity to challenge the Black before preparations for the Open shut the course down through June. Newsday's Mark Herrmann wrote in September that the course will be open to the public for part of the Spring with a reduced number of available tee times:
It will reopen from April 14 through May 31, Tuesdays through Sundays,
with half the usual tee times (so as not to wear out the course). In
those six weeks, six slots for walk-up foursomes will begin at 8 a.m.
The first reservation each day will be for 9:03 with five reservation
foursomes and one walk-up foursome allowed every hour through the last
tee time at 12:57 p.m.
Meanwhile, Bethpage Red will be open for another two weeks before closing for the season on November 30.
In the Spring, as the tournament draws near, adjacent holes on the other four Bethpage courses will start to undergo some short-term modifications of their own. The Red course, which begins and ends next door to the Black's 18th hole, will have its first and 18th holes shortened to par-3s, and the par-5 fifth will become a par-4, according to Herrmann.
The opening hole on the Green course, a downhill par-4 that borders the Black's #1 on the right, will also be converted to a par-3, as will the 18th. The Blue's opening par-4 will be cut down to a par-3, and #1 on the Yellow will be shortened but remain a par-4.