2015 U.S. Open | Chambers Bay strikes green

Pierce County's gamble of $20.7 million to build one of the nation's most expensive municipal golf courses has paid off.

The United States Golf Association announced Friday that Chambers Bay Golf Course will be the site of the 2015 U.S. Open. The USGA also named the course as the site for the 2010 U.S. Amateur.

"We hit a home run!" said Pierce County executive John Ladenburg.

Chambers Bay, a Scottish links-style course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and Bruce Charlton, opened in June to rave reviews. The course is in University Place along Puget Sound, about five miles south of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

The course is awarded the Open after being open only eight months. The biggest tournament to date on the course was a college event, the Big Ten/Pac-10 Challenge.

Ladenburg's dream was to build a world-class golf course capable of hosting a U.S. Open and serving as a tourist magnet for wealthy golfers. He got the idea from reading John Feinstein's book "Open" about the 2002 U.S. Open at the municipal course Bethpage Black outside New York City.

"I thought, 'Why can't we be Bethpage of the West Coast?' " he said.

Ladenburg's critics complained that the course was too expensive to build and to play.

"I kept saying, 'It's not a local muny,' " he said. "This is a different animal."

Throughout design and construction, Ladenburg said the USGA was consulted to make sure nothing was done that would hurt the course's chances of someday hosting an Open.

The 230-acre course is the centerpiece of a 930-acre park that once was a sand and gravel quarry. The course has stunning views of the Sound and doesn't have cart paths. There is only one tree on the course.

Ladenburg said Chambers Bay has so much room that record crowds of 75,000 a day are possible for the Open. He said the economic impact of the tournament could be as much as $200 million.

"This is like having five all-star baseball games back-to-back, if you include the practice day," he said.

He said he wants the 2015 tournament to be such a success that the USGA "puts us in the rotation" so the course hosts an Open in every decade.

Friday's announcement guarantees popularity for the course.

"It becomes a must-play, not just a regional must-play, but a national and international must-play," said Steve Skinner, president of Kemper Sports, the Illinois-based company that manages Chambers Bay.

"I give Pierce County and John Ladenburg a lot of credit. This is what he set out to do from the beginning — bring major golf event to Pierce County."

The course had 19,000 rounds played on it last year, and Ladenburg said 40 percent of the golfers who played it were from at least 200 miles away. Each golfer must walk, unless he or she has a certified medical disability.

Weekend greens fees during summer months are $171, including tax, for nonresidents of Pierce County ($114 for Pierce County residents). Winter greens fees are $75 (nonresidents) and $55 (residents).

The 2015 U.S. Open tentatively was booked for Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., but members voted 340-162 in December against it.

Winged Foot hosted the U.S. Open for the fifth time in 2006. News reports of the December vote said members wanted to wait longer before hosting the event that disrupts their use of the course and facilities.

Ladenburg said Pierce County had focused on trying to get the Open in 2016 or 2017, then got the call from a USGA official.

It will be the first U.S. Open to be played in Washington. Two other majors have been held here: the 1944 PGA Championship at Manito Golf and Country Club in Spokane and the 1998 PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club on the Sammamish Plateau. The 1952 U.S. Amateur was played at the Seattle Golf Club.

Chambers Bay will be the third municipal course to host the Open, after Bethpage Black in 2002 and 2009 and Torrey Pines outside San Diego this June. Playing the Open on public courses has been a goal of USGA executive director David B. Fay.

When the course was being built, Ladenburg was fond of saying: "The danger is not to aim high and fail. The danger is to aim low and succeed."

He was smiling Friday.

Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com