Next majors will play out on varied stages
Web posted 04/14/02
Golfers will face a mixed bag of courses for the year's remaining three major championships.
The U.S. Open will be at Bethpage State Park's Black Course for the first time, the British Open will be contested at venerable Muirfield, and the PGA Championship is set for Hazeltine this summer.
Bethpage State Park, a public course in Farmingdale, N.Y., will host its first major championship. The U.S. Open will be held June 13-16, and Retief Goosen will defend the title he won in an 18-hole playoff last year at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla.
David Duval will be looking to get his game back on track when he goes overseas to defend his title at the British Open on July 18-21. Duval missed the cut at this year's Masters.
Muirfield already has been the site of 14 British Opens, including that of 1992, when Nick Faldo won golf's oldest championship for the third time. A list of previous winners at Muirfield, located in Scotland, reads like a who's who of golf: Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson all won the Claret Jug there.
The year's final major championship will head north after being held in Louisville, Ky., in 2000 and Atlanta last year. Hazeltine, in Chaska, Minn., will be the site where David Toms looks to defend the title he won at Atlanta Athletic Club.
Hazeltine has been the site of two previous U.S. Opens, but this will be the first time it has played host to the PGA. Tony Jacklin won the 1970 U.S. Open there, and Payne Stewart won a playoff to claim the 1991 U.S. Open at the Minnesota course.
The PGA Championship will be held Aug. 15-18.