The Merion Golf Club in Ardmore,
Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, will host the 2013 U.S. Open Golf Championship
June 13-16. It is the fifth Open to be held at Merion.
The most recent Open here in
1981 was won by Australian, David Graham. The event will mark the Centennial of
the Marion Golf Club and a special exhibit “The Art of
Golf” is being presented at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
in its honor from March 16 to
July 7.
No golf club in the nation has
hosted more USGA championships than Merion. The 2013 Open will be the 18th
national championship at the club.
Previously, the club has also been the site of the 1916, ‘24, ‘30, ‘66,
‘89 and 2005 Amateurs; the 1904, ‘09, ‘26, and 1949 U.S. Women's Amateurs; the
1998 U.S. Girls' Junior and the 1960 World Amateur Team Championships.
Designed by Hugh Wilson, Merion
Golf Club's East Course was opened in 1912. Its perhaps best known as the where
Bobby Jones won the 1930 U.S. Amateur to complete the “Grand Slam.” Hugh Wilson had never designed a golf course,
so he went on a seven-month trip to Scotland and England to study British
courses. Several features of Merion East are derived from famous British
courses, not the least of which are Merion's distinctive Scottish-style
bunkers, which are now known as the "white faces of Merion"
Wilson's layout covers only 126
acres of land, a very small area for a golf course. It was ranked seventh in
Golf Digest's "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses" in 2005, and Jack
Nicklaus has said of Merion East, "Acre for acre, it may be the best test
of golf in the world."
Bill Iredale, Merion's
championship committee chairman stated, "we feel that our East Course is a
very special venue, a classic golf course which, while lengthened some 400
yards to accommodate modern players and equipment, still retains the same shot
angles, bunkering and greens that challenged Bob Jones in 1930, Ben Hogan in
1950, Lee Trevino and Jack Nicklaus in 1971 and David Graham in 1981."
Jim Hyler, chairman of the USGA
championship committee said, "we are pleased to bring a U.S. Open back to
an old friend in Merion. We have no doubt the East Course will provide a
sufficient challenge for the world's best players."
“The Art of Golf,” an exhibition
at the Philadelphia Museum of Art showcases “The Golfers,” a renowned
seven-foot wide 1847 painting by Scottish painter Charles Lees that is admired
by golfers worldwide. The exhibition
will feature portraits of golfers, a historic feather golf ball and antique
Scottish clubs, and highlights the art and sport of golf in Victorian Britain.
An iconic painting, The Golfers (1847), by Scottish painter
Charles Lees (1800–1880), is the centerpiece of The Art of Golf exhibition
celebrating what has been called “a game of considerable passion” Modern golf’s
roots can be traced to the east coast of Scotland, where kings and commoners
have played the game since at least the fifteenth century. Lees’s monumental
painting (7 foot.wide by 4.25 foot. high) shows
fifty-four spectators clustered tightly around a two-ball foursome match
played on the links at St. Andrews.
James Weaver
Senior Travel Writer
GolfWiz Blog
jimweaver35@comcast.net
