Open venue? Washington National makes its case - Washington National Golf Club hopes to host the U.S. Open - Brief Article

In the Pacific Northwest it seems as if every new course is measured against Pumpkin Ridge, the 36-hole complex near Portland, Ore., where Tiger Woods won his last U.S. Amateur. A clear darling of the U.S. Golf Association, Pumpkin Ridge will conduct its second U.S. Women's Open and a U.S. Senior Open in the next five years.

So the goal at the year-old Washington National Golf Club near Seattle is to outshine the Great Pumpkin by landing the ultimate prize, a U.S. Open. To that end, architect John Fought (who helped design Pumpkin Ridge as an associate of Bob Cupp) drew on some of the greatest courses for inspiration.

Fought gave it vast Pine Valley-style waste areas of coarse, tan sand, a contrast to his bold, bright-white, Riviera-style bunkers. He employed some of the strategies of Augusta National (the par-5 17th is a longer, wetter version of Augusta's 13th) and the crowned greens of Pinehurst No. 2. At 7,304 yards, par 72, with two par 5s of more than 635 yards and a closing par 4 of 475 yards, it has Open length.

With a second 18 planned, there is plenty of elbow room. Will Washington National be an Open contender? Not yet--it needs time to establish a reputation. That might start next year when, as the home course for the University of Washington, it will be the site of the NCAA Division I Women's Championship.

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