The Joneses Keep Up With Pinehurst

They are the Jones brothers -- Rees and Bobby -- sons of the legendary golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr., and they have something in common besides their father and their jobs. They both think Pinehurst No. 2 deserves a special place in discussions about legendary courses.

“It’s always been wonderful, it’s an icon,” said Bobby, known as Robert Trent Jones Jr.

Rees Jones was responsible for keeping the Donald Ross design up to date when he reworked Pinehurst for the 1999 U.S. Open, so he’s a big fan.

“It’s the ultimate Ross design,” Rees said. “He either lived there or worked on it for half his life.”

Like many of their peers, the Jones brothers have keen interest in what happens in June at Pinehurst when the U.S. Open returns to the famous No. 2 course for the first time since Payne Stewart won there six years ago. Their late father was heavily influenced by Ross.

The elder Jones worked on 21 courses that would hold the U.S. Open, a “doctor’s” position that has fallen to Rees. His body of work for the USGA includes five U.S. Open courses -- six if you count Torrey Pines, site of the 2008 U.S. Open.

Pinehurst, a Ross masterpiece, is known primarily for its distinctive, hump-backed, crowned greens.

“Other than Augusta National, I can think of only a few courses like Pinehurst, a jewel of another era,” Robert Trent said. “It’s a difficult, straightforward golf course where placement is rewarded.”

Rees said there are many courses with a crowned green or two, but Pinehurst has 18 of them. It’s the sloping that may cause problems, in addition to the pin placements.

“They all slope back to front and side to side,” Rees said. “The pros have a hard time with greens that pitch side to side.”

The object of the game, Rees said, is to leave the ball below the hole for an uphill shot, and that pin locations are going to be key.

“Players know they’re going to be pitching uphill -- you don’t want to go long.”

Pinehurst is long, all right -- 7,214 yards -- and Robert Trent said no matter what the greens are like, the course still favors a certain type of player.

“A long hitter,” he said. “Also an approach player, like [Chris] DiMarco at Augusta, and a good putter. Put all three together, put them on Pinehurst, and it’s going to be very interesting.”

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The best way to reflect Pinehurst’s place in golf history is with

That’s what the North Carolina Symphony believes, judging by its “Sketches from Pinehurst,” an original composition that celebrates the U.S. Open.

According to the Symphony, the music “traces Pinehurst from its humble beginnings as a desolate town stripped bare by logging companies and through its remarkable transformation into the golf Mecca it is today.”

As for the recurring French horn theme, it “conveys the frustrations of the nation’s best golfers as they tackled the infamous Pinehurst No. 2 course during the 1999 U. S. Open.”

Maybe a better choice would have been the xylophone, played in a cascading fashion to represent the many golf balls that rolled back off the crowned greens.

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Vijay Singh is the newest member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, it was announced Wednesday. Singh, 42, whose 25 victories on the PGA Tour include the 1998 and 2003 PGA Championship and the 2000 Masters, was the only player selected in voting for PGA Tour and Champions Tour players.

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The quote of the week is from Peter Lonard, who earned $936,000 last week at Hilton Head, when asked what the victory meant to him: “I can actually afford my house.”

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Unless Colin Montgomerie lowers his ranking, he’s not going to be at Pinehurst in June for his 13th U.S. Open. Montgomerie, ranked 54th, needs to be in the top 50 or he will miss out on the Open, just as he missed playing in the Masters.

Montgomerie is playing five times before the Open -- the Johnnie Walker Classic this week, the BMW Asian Open, the British Masters, the Nissan Irish Open and the BMW Championship.