Looking Back: It’s been 10 years since the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay

by Paul Ramsdell

Generally, in the midst of most anniversary celebrations, there comes a comment from someone in the crowd about “many more to come.” 

For golf fans in the Pacific Northwest, and anyone with a vested interest in Chambers Bay, there’s hope that the 10-year anniversary this summer of the 2015 U.S. Open will spark talk of a return of the world’s best golfers for a second go-round at the layout along the Puget Sound near Tacoma. 

But, in the meantime, plenty of other USGA championships are coming. The U.S. Junior is coming in 2027, and the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball in 2028; and then the U.S. Amateur in 2033, which will be 23 years after that national championship was first held at Chambers Bay in 2010, when more than 5,000 spectators watched Peter Uihlein grab the match-play title on a warm August afternoon. 

“We’re very proud of our relationship with Chambers Bay,” said John Bodenhamer, the chief championships officer for the USGA. 

The feeling is reciprocal. 

“We have big stuff ahead of us and a really, really positive relationship with the USGA,” said Matt Cohen, the general manager at Chambers Bay, which is owned by Pierce County. “We’re hopeful that eventually, even if it’s 25 years from now, it will lead to another U.S. Open, whether it’s for the women, senior men or any type.” 

In looking back 10 years, while the negatives (namely bumpy greens and crowd-movement issues) at the 2015 U.S. Open grabbed a lot of the attention, there were plenty of positives, especially for Jordan Spieth, who won the title with final-round birdies on Nos. 16 and 18 to survive a double-bogey at No. 17 to finish at 5 under. 

“From my standpoint, personally, it was a thrilling U.S. Open,” said Bodenhamer, who grew up in Lakewood not far from where Chambers Bay eventually was built. “I don’t know if we could have had more excitement, a better leaderboard and a greater champion.” 

From the players’ standpoint, the greens seemed to be the only issue, even though Chambers Bay was relatively untested as a championship course, having opened just eight years earlier. 

“There was nothing negative said about the layout, nothing negative about hole locations, and really, candidly, nothing negative as far as how firm and fast it was,” Bodenhamer said. 

What the USGA saw from the Pacific Northwest was jaw-dropping. 

“The enthusiasm around the fan base at Chambers Bay coming into it was off the charts,” Bodenhamer said. “We sold out tickets very quickly. Volunteers filled up in a little bit more than 24 hours. We sold more merchandise that week than we had at any other Open previously.” 

Cohen, at the time, was watching it all on television, as he was the general manager of a club in Colorado. 

“I remember vividly watching during the week,” said Cohen, who took over at Chambers Bay on June 1, 2024. “What really struck me, first of all, was the grandeur of the golf course, the beauty, just the stark kind of setting against Puget Sound, and the uniqueness of the golf course, and how unique it was for the U.S. Open to be conducted on that type of golf course. I thought that was cool.” 

The course replaced all their greens with Poa annua in 2018. 

“Since then, the greens are truly as pure a Poa surface as you’ll see anywhere,” Cohen said of the pride and joy of Eric Johnson, the course’s director of agronomy. “Our greens are fantastic now, so that’s in the rearview mirror.” 

As far as the other major criticism from 2015 – fan experience walking the golf course – engineers and experts are smart enough to figure out ways to correct that problem.  

Bodenhamer admitted the USGA was too worried about a recurrence of the multiple slips and falls suffered by fans during the 2010 U.S. Amateur. 

“If we ever return, we would be less conservative,” he said. “We would let more people in more areas to watch.” 

It’s all the negatives from 2015 that didn’t make the headlines that will have a larger bearing on whether a U.S. Open returns to Chambers Bay. In a nutshell, that means money. 

“I would say we had a good financial U.S. Open,” Bodenhamer said about 2015. “It was better than average, but not what it could have been.” 

Sales of corporate tents didn’t match the enthusiasm of the individual ticket-buyer. 

“We think it was mainly because the Seattle market didn’t really come down to Tacoma,” Bodenhamer said. “That was a bit of a surprise and a disappointment.” 

Also, putting on a U.S. Open involves a lot of goods and services, and the tax bills can add up quickly. 

And when the USGA takes its U.S. Open to some place like Oakmont, as it will this summer, there’s already a majestic clubhouse in place, with a plush locker room and plenty of ornate side rooms to entertain various distinguished guests. 

The bottom line, though, is Chambers Bay still is remarkable for its setting and vistas along Puget Sound.