The Met Open Returns to Bethpage Black in 2010
ELMSFORD, N.Y. (January 19, 2010) – The 2009 Met Open at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., provided all the excitement that local golf fans have come to expect from the area’s premier event. This year promises more of the same, as the Met Open sponsored by MetLife returns to another world-renowned golf course – Bethpage Black. It’s been nine years and two U.S. Open Championships since the last Met Open was held at the Black course and much has happened since Johnson Wagner defeated Rick Hartmann by three strokes to claim his first of two Met Open titles.
The Black course was likely the last course created by A.W. Tillinghast. Designing the Black course meant a trip back to his roots as a young architect, for there is a striking resemblance between Bethpage Black and Pine Valley, designed by Tillinghast’s close friend of many years, George Crump. While the Black is less severe than Pine Valley, it is every bit as foreboding and seldom allows an errant shot to go unpunished.
The seeds for golf at Bethpage were planted in 1912 when Benjamin Yoakum, a wealthy railroad magnate, purchased 1,368 acres of rolling woodland and farmland. In 1923, the Lenox Hills Country Club opened on land leased from Yoakum. It was organized as an inexpensive club offering high-class golf to its members at a nominal seasonal fee, and featured a semi-private, 18-hole Devereux Emmet layout that would become the basis for Bethpage’s Green Course.
Yoakum died in 1930, and four years later the Bethpage Park Authority was created by New York State Parks Commissioner Robert Moses. During 1934, in the depths of the Depression, construction of a new clubhouse and three public courses began as a Work Relief project. The Blue and Red courses opened in 1935, as did the revised Green course, all the work of Tillinghast. But Tillinghast took his time refining the Black Course, waiting another year before the public got its first look at what was to become a Met Area legend.
For years, the name Al Brosch was synonymous with Bethpage golf. Brosch was Benjamin Yoakum’s private caddie at Lenox Hills and later became the Bethpage professional. Brosch won 10 Long Island Opens, eight Long Island PGA titles and six Met PGA championships. In 1951, he became the first player to shoot 60 on the PGA Tour. The Black hosted many important matches, the most famous being an exhibition on September 29, 1940 between Sam Snead and Byron Nelson. Snead won with a superb 68, but he had his problems with the course. Snead is said to have once walked off the Black in disgust, calling it an “unfair test of golf” after his second shot sailed over the fourth green. The Black Course hosted the first Ike Championship in 1953, and the championship returned there in 1994. It remains the only public course to have hosted this event.
In 1982, the Black underwent a six-month refurbishing. Bunkers were restored to their original shape and filled with new sand. The Black Course hosted the 1984 MGA/MetLife Public Links to rave reviews, and the Publinx returned in 2005, when Mark Farrell won the first of his two consecutive MGA/MetLife Public Links titles.
From its championship markers, the Black stretches to more than 7,300 yards, but the course plays tougher because its greens are relatively small and tightly bunkered. Consequently, the Black is a test of long-iron play and demands accuracy from the tee. But if one feature gives the course its character, it is the bunkering. At least eight greens are so tightly protected that the golfer has virtually no unobstructed entrance and almost no chance to roll a shot onto the green.
In 1989, the Black became the first public course to host the Met Open. Defending champ Bobby Heins edged amateur George Zahringer III in a three-hole aggregate playoff after the pair had tied at 210. Zahringer called the Black “The best layout I ever saw, public or private. There is uniqueness to every hole, and it’s gorgeous. You could certainly play any national event here, without question.” The Met Open returned to the Black in 2001 when amateur Johnson Wagner, now a winner on the PGA Tour, beat Atlantic Golf Club head pro Rick Hartmann by three strokes.
By this time, the USGA had taken notice and employed Rees Jones to renovate the Black course in preparation for the 2002 U.S. Open. Bethpage Black received rave reviews by both players and fans alike that year and set the stage for 2009, when the U.S. Open returned to the Black. Despite heavy rains and multiple delays, the course once again was the star of the week. Golf fans around the world now know what Met Area golfers have known for years – the Black course is one of the top golf courses in the country.
The area’s top local professional and amateur players will return to Bethpage Black on August 24-26 for the 95th Met Open Championship sponsored by MetLife. As in years past, the combination of a great field and a demanding layout will produce a worthy champion who will add his name to the illustrious list of people to win a championship at Bethpage Black.
