Making history again: Rhode Island's Newport Country Club set to host the 2024 U.S. Senior Open

NEWPORT, R.I. - Making history will always be woven into the fabric of the Newport Country Club.

It all started way back in 1895 when Newport - one of the five founding members of the United States Golf Association - hosted the first U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open on back-to-back days in October.

Exactly 1,000 championships later, the USGA is returning to its roots Thursday through Sunday for the 2024 U.S. Senior Open held on Rhode Island's most feared and revered course. This will be the fifth USGA championship for the historic venue, which was supposed to host the 2020 Senior Open before a pandemic cancellation. USGA Championships held in Newport tend to be historically significant - Tiger Woods won the 1995 U.S. Amateur and Annika Sorenstam captured the 2006 U.S. Women’s Open. It takes a great champion to conquer a great course.

Newport becomes the sixth course to host a U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Amateur and U.S. Senior Open, joining illustrious company with Colorado's Cherry Hills Country Club; Minnesota's Hazeltine National Golf Club; Pennsulvania's Oakmont Country Club; North Carolina's Pinehurst No. 2 and New York's Winged Foot Golf Club.

If you're a fan of golf architecture and truly unique tournament venues, watching the 2024 U.S. Senior Open should be one of the best golf viewing opportunities of the summer. The panoramic scenes of the Atlantic Ocean and the mansion-like clubhouse on the hill will be inspiring, not to mention the cast of legends from Ernie Els to defending champion Bernhard Langer trying to cement their place in history. Plus, there's no telling when the USGA might return again to the Ocean State.

"It's such a classic venue," said Billy Andrade, one of two native Rhode Islanders teeing it up. "It's been there since the first U.S. Open in 1895. It's old style and it all depends on the weather. If you get some dicey weather coming off the Atlantic Ocean, the golf course will play very difficult."

What makes this championship so unique is Newport's reliance upon Mother Nature for how the course will look and play. The course doesn't have an irrigation system in the fairways or rough. A wet spring has nurtured thick rough, although the USGA hopes the fairways and greens run as firm and fast as possible to challenge the players.

The USGA has flipped the nines and transformed two par 5s (holes 3 and 10) into long par 4s to create a 7,070-yard par-70 layout. Tournament officials wanted the ocean views to become a prominent feature on the back nine because it's the windier, more exposed and most difficult part of the course.

"Overall it's got a great collection of holes short and long that will change throughout the day as the ocean breezes rise and fall. It will truly give a links feel," said Ben Kimball, the USGA's senior director of championships.

Players should get off to a quick start with the potential for opening birdies at the 568-yard first followed by Newport's shortest par 4, the 321-yard second.

The par 3s could have the biggest impact on who wins. They're all compelling and dangerous. The par 3s at no. 4 and 5 come back-to-back early in the round. The fourth, which requires an uphill shot to a blind green, will play anywhere from 140 to 184 yards to a green surrounded by six bunkers.

The 203-yard fifth can't be missed left or the ball will end up some 20 feet below the green. The 13th, which can stretch from 220 to 241 yards, runs along the Atlantic with a prevailing crosswind that might force the players to aim over the out-of-bounds line near a coastal road to get their ball to land on the green.

Newport Country Club oozes history, from the course to its distinctive Beaux Arts-style clubhouse overlooking Brenton Point.

William F. Davis designed Newport Country Club as a nine-hole layout in 1894. Architect C.B. Macdonald won the first U.S. Amateur, 12 and 11, on this short loop, a record that still stands. The following day, the first U.S. Open comprised only 11 players. Horace Rawlins, an assistant golf pro at the club, won $150 and a gold medal after prevailing over Willie Dunn.

Newport Country Club eventually expanded to 18 holes at the turn of the century. In 1923, A.W. Tillinghast remodeled the routing, which Ron Forse helped preserve during a 2004 restoration.

Despite its USGA ties, the club held some of the first senior professional tournaments beginning in the 1970s. Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Chi Chi Rodriguez and Gary Player are among those who competed.

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the club and the USGA rekindled their relationship. Another future legend - Tiger - won on a drought-stricken Newport Country Club in 1995, beating Buddy Marucci, 2-up, for the second of his three straight U.S. Am titles. In 2006, Sorenstam outlasted Pat Hurst in an 18-hole playoff to win the U.S. Women's Open.

If the U.S. Senior Open follows the script, Langer could be the next legend in line to win at Newport CC, cementing his legacy as the greatest senior golfer of all time. Having ruptured his left Achilles tendon Feb. 1, Langer shocked golf fans by returning to compete at the Insperity Invitational in May.

Another feel-good story would be Andrade or local legend Brett Quigley winning in front of what's expected to be big home crowds. "Newport had an aura of a special place of just championship golf. Growing up it held a special place in my heart," Quigley said.

Whoever hoists the trophy will revel in the fact they prevailed on some of golf's most hallowed ground.

Newport Country Club

Newport, Rhode Island

Private

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