Erin, Wisconsin - I was honored to serve on the Rules Committee at the 80th U.S. Women’s Open Championship at Erin Hills in Wisconsin last week. I have officiated ten USGA Championships, including the Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club (2021), but this was my first major championship “inside the ropes.” Erin Hills stands in its own category when it comes to championship venues. There’s nothing quite like it… Driving to the course for the first time, players and patrons were probably, like me, monitoring the Apple Maps / GPS in their vehicles and looking around at the country roads with cows and deer dotting the landscape around the Wisconsin farm land and wondering “where in the world” is this place. By the way, the Committee stayed 35 minutes away from the golf course, and in five days traveling to and from Erin Hills, I arrived via seven different routes. The entrance road to the facility is a fairly lengthy one as well (perfect for parking large crowds on site). However, once you pull in and park and begin the trek up the hill to the clubhouse, you immediately begin to see that this place is special. USGA CEO Mike Whan described it as “Golf’s Field of Dreams” and I agree.
A U.S. Open buildout is grandiose and as prestigious as they come. Signage, grandstands, and USGA flags whipping in the wind, all provide an excellent presentation and the staging of this championship was truly impressive. I’ll touch on that again later in this story because Erin Hills provides a viewing experience that would be perfect for any major golf tournament. No offense to another Wisconsin gem, Whistling Straights, but I cannot imagine a more fitting place to host the Ryder Cup in the future. The flyovers you see online and the aerial shots from the broadcast are epic, but even those don’t do it justice.
Tuesday was a travel day, and we arrived around 4 PM in Milwaukee. My wife and two young daughters accompanied me on this trip, and we checked into our hotel around 5:30. There were no Committee obligations on Tuesday, so we decided to go to the Milwaukee Brewers game and were treated to 10th inning walk off grand slam from Christian Yelich as the Brewers defeated the Boston Red Sox 5-1. We were glad we stayed the entire game to witness that! American Family Field is a great ball park, and the Spotted Cow brews and bratwurst were delicious. Needless to say, we leaned into the Wisconsin lifestyle upon arrival.
On Wednesday morning we drove out to Erin Hills for the first time. It was a chilly day (upper 50s) and rainy. It felt like we were in the UK with the thick fescue and dismal weather hovering the golf course. I checked into the Rules Office and received my credentials, assignments, and other pertinent information. I’m proud to have been a part of such an elite Rules Committee led by Chief Referee Thomas Pagel and the brightest rules minds on the USGA staff. There were Committee members from The R & A, LPGA Tour, LET, and Asia amongst others. It was an honor for the Louisiana Golf Association to be represented on this stage. It’s a different vibe and approach when you are conducting a championship at the highest level of golf, one that makes you take your responsibility seriously. You don’t want to be the one to make an error! The conversations you have with the other experts about the Rules of Golf, the proper vernacular, the professionalism, the understanding that we are all there for one goal, to help conduct the biggest women’s golf tournament in the world, was something I really enjoyed.
Referees were each assigned an AM or PM shift each day. My assignments were as follows: 1st Round – Hole 18 (PM), 2nd Round – Hole 5 (AM), 3rd Round – Hole 6 (AM), Final Round – Hole 14 (PM).
On Wednesday morning Kathryn Belanger conducted a TIO review on the 18th hole. I do not get many TIO rulings in amateur golf, but it’s something I am comfortable and confident doing. Having the tutorial on # 18 was great because it was where I would be stationed the next day, so if a player did have TIO interference there, I was prepared to provide a quick ruling and keep it moving. Afterward, I walked a few holes to check out the golf course, but the weather didn’t cooperate, so I made my back to the hotel to do some work.
Wednesday evening, we had our Rules Committee meeting at Blue Mound Golf & Country Club. It’s an amazing club with an awesome clubhouse and a Seth Raynor course. Rob Jansen, the Wisconsin State Golf Association Executive Director, is a member there and we connected before the Rules meeting and I learned more about Blue Mound. The Rules meeting lasted approximately one hour. Even though Erin Hills is a clean golf course from a Rules of Golf perspective, there was a ton of information to digest. The USGA prepares you for everything! The Committee had dinner following the meeting and I sat next to David Wilson from the R & A and Jay Roberts from the USGA. Jay manages the Rules of Golf education and we had great conversations about rules content and how he leads the charge online with rules videos. David and I talked about St Andrews (it’s on my bucket list), and we were all excited for the days ahead at Erin Hills.
Thursday was game day. I hitched a ride to the golf course with my friend Grover Walker who was also working the PM shift that day. We checked into the Rules office and grabbed our radios, Raguzzi (pace of play sheet), pairings sheet, hole location sheet, notice to players, hole by hole notes, and an umbrella. We were fortunate not to suspend play at all on Thursday. The first group to tee off #10 in the afternoon did not arrive to the par 5 18th hole until 2:40 PM. My chair was positioned on a hill to the right of a fairway bunker so I could easily see players’ second and third shots on that hole. The hole location was 10 paces on and 7 from the right edge. There isn’t a benign hole location on this green but relatively speaking this was one of the less troublesome spots. If you missed the broadcast of the final round, Maja Stark closed out the championship with a bogey on 18. Go back and watch where she had to aim with her putter from short and left of the green with her third shot! But the front right hole location on Thursday did not cause players much trouble at all and the 18th played as the second easiest hole of the day with a scoring average of 4.91. I only saw one player hit the green in two and that was world number one Nelly Korda! You could always tell where Nelly’s group was on the golf course because of the large gallery following her. A day without any rulings is a success in my book, and that’s exactly what happened on Thursday. We left the golf course around 8:45 PM on Thursday after the sunset, and we were back in less than ten hours.
On Friday I had a ruling with Ilhee Lee behind the 5th green. Model Local Rule F-5.2 was in effect for this championship (Immovable Obstructions Close to Putting Green). When a ball lies anywhere other than on the putting green, an immovable obstruction on the player’s line of play is not, of itself, interference under Rule 16.1. Free relief is normally not allowed. But if the aprons or fringes of putting greens are cut short enough that putting from off the green is likely to be a common choice of stroke, immovable obstructions that are close to the putting green may interfere with such strokes. In that case, the Committee can choose to give an extra relief option under Rule 16.1 when a player’s ball lies in the general area and an immovable obstruction close to the putting green is on the player’s line of play. Some people refer to this as the “2+2” local rule because the obstruction must be on the line of play and within two club lengths of the green and the ball must be within two club lengths of the obstruction for this to apply. The LGA has implemented this on our hard card so we don’t have to remember to add it to the notice each time we conduct a championship at a facility where this is prevalent!
This provides relief only when both the ball and the immovable obstruction lie in the general area in areas cut to fairway height or less. We found Ilhee’s nearest point of relief from the sprinkler head and she dropped the ball in the relief area. However, the relief area was on a slope and the ball rolled outside the relief area warranting a re-drop. Her second drop also rolled outside the relief area so she placed the ball on the spot where it first touched the ground on her second drop to get it in play. Seven groups later I received a call on the radio from Kelsey Solan that I might be needed again behind 5 green. I realized that she was watching the broadcast and was thankful for the heads up with this “feature group.” The player that needed the ruling was Mao Saigo who was leading the championship and 5-under par on the day. She started her second round on # 10 so this was her 14th hole of the day. Mao’s golf ball was resting against the rough line but most of the golf ball was touching the closely mown area, so she was entitled to free relief exactly as I did with Ilhee Lee earlier. Mao also had to drop-drop-place when taking relief and I noticed she was very calculated on where she wanted to drop the ball. She two-putted from there to make par and stay at 7-under par for the championship. Other than pace of play, the rest of my shift was uneventful. Unfortunately, due to a weather delay, the second round was not able to be completed on Friday.
Play resumed at 8:30 AM on Saturday and Round 3 saw a split tee start off # 1 and # 10 from 9:50 – 11:40 AM in threesomes. I was on the AM shift at the par 3 6th hole on Saturday. It was a great spot to watch golf, with a hospitality tent and viewing deck directly behind me. The patrons were really engaged here. I had another MLR F-5.2 ruling with Hailee Cooper in the first group of the day and once again a drop-drop-place… It’s a challenge to find a semi-level spot at Erin Hills! I was impressed with Hailee’s short game, getting up and down from where she was. Also, shoutout to the USGA for raising the biggest prize purse in women’s golf ($12 million total). Hailee had made just shy of $50,000 on the Epson Tour coming into her first U.S. Women's Open as a professional. She went on to finish seventh at Erin Hills to earn a well-deserved $358,000.
I had another ruling with Minjee Lee on Saturday. She and her caddie were reading her put then waived for me to come over to talk to them. Minjee asked me to look at the hole and noted there was some damage to it. The left edge of the hole had caved in slightly. I’m not sure how that happened because there wasn’t a shot that hit it in any of the proceeding groups, so my only guess is that a caddie might have carelessly put the flagstick in and brushed the side of the cup. I told Minjee she was allowed to repair that damage and she did so very well. You couldn’t tell there was any damage prior. Her caddie questioned whether the player could do this, and I assured him that it was allowed under Rule 13.1c. Clarification 13.1c(2)/1 – Damaged Hole Is Part of Damage on the Putting Green – provides further explanation.
“Damage to the hole is covered by Rule 13.1c as part of damage on a putting green. The player may repair a damaged hole unless the damage is natural wear that Rule 13.1c does not allow to be repaired. For example, if the hole is damaged in removing the flagstick, it may be repaired by the player under Rule 13.1c, even if the damage has changed the dimensions of the hole. However, if a hole has been damaged and the player cannot repair the damage (such as the hole cannot be made round again) or where natural wear that the player may not repair results in the hole not being round, the player should request that the Committee repair it.”
After my shift on Saturday, I showered in the clubhouse and changed into shorts. Saturday was a beautiful day, and I was excited to watch some golf “off the clock.” Walking out to the course, I met USGA President Fred Perpall and President-Elect Kevin Hammer on the 10th tee. We had a nice chat and watched Hinako Shibuno, Nelly Korda, and Mao Saigo tee off to start their second nine. My family was en route to meet me at Erin Hills so I stayed close to the clubhouse. The Deloitte corporate tent behind # 9 green was the perfect spot. There weren’t many spectators here, and I was able to get a picture with a replica of the U.S. Women’s Open Championship trophy and get some good food and a Spotted Cow. We were sitting directly behind the green at the downhill par 3 9th. Once my family arrived, I met them in the parking lot and we walked back to my spot behind 9 green. It was cool for my daughters to see female golfers for a change and predict whether a player would make a lengthy putt on this undulated green. We stayed there for about an hour before we decided to check out the merchandise tent and then the Lodge at Erin Hills after that. One of the most memorable moments of the week occurred when we were walking back to the clubhouse from The Lodge. Nelly Korda was coming out of the scoring tent to sign some autographs for the patrons gathered around the practice putting green and our paths crossed. I asked Nelly if she would be willing to take a quick picture with my daughters and she politely obliged. She has two new fans for life now. The smiles on my girls’ faces were priceless and the picture will soon hang in my office at the LGA headquarters, reminding us of that incredible day at the U.S. Women’s Open.
On Sunday, I had the best job in America. My assignment was the par 5 14th hole, PM shift. I was excited to watch the leaders come down the home stretch on this exciting hole. The hole location was back right and it was reachable in two for almost all of the players if they found the fairway off the tee. I positioned by chair to the right of the tv tower on the hill behind the green. 15 tee was only a few paces away behind me as well. Spectators were roped off to the left of the hole and to the right of the hole was miles of Wisconsin farm land. Looking back over the green toward the tee was a beautiful scene and very peaceful.
Watching shots on this hole added to my appreciation for the architecture at Erin Hills. This championship was about who could control their golf ball. It asked a different question of a player’s game than what they typically experience week to week on the LPGA Tour. There was a backboard behind the green that sloped left to right directly below where I was sitting. Shots that were coming in too long and fast would either bounce and get caught in the fescue on the hill or gain too much momentum on the slope and roll off the green to a deep greenside bunker or worse yet 50 yards down the hill potentially in more fescue. I saw Angel Yin hit an amazing flop shot from the fescue on the hill behind the green (awkward stance and ball well below her feet) landing it softly only a few feet away and allowing the slope to take the ball closer to the hole. She would make the birdie putt and par out to finish tied for 9th. She was the only player I saw judge that shot properly and convert it to birdie.
Charley Hull was three-under for her final round when she arrived to the 14th tee. Her approach shot hit the green in the ideal spot and the ball rolled down the slope toward the hole and stopped just beyond it in the fringe. She missed her eagle putt but I knew we were in store for some drama on this hole as the day continued. Also, every player that was putting from beyond the hole to the right as Charley was, missed their putts on the high side because it didn’t break as much as they were reading. Nelly Korda was three shots off the lead through 13 and knew 14 could provide a momentum swing in her favor. She only had 197 yards into the green after a great drive (she hit 27/28 fairways on the weekend). Her approach shot hit the center of the green but slightly further right than any I’d see before. After two big hops the ball raced up the backdrop and caught the slope and turned directions heading directly toward the hole. It missed the cup by one foot. I can only imagine the roars if it had gone in for a rare albatross. Korda missed her eagle putt and settled for birdie.
The shot of the championship came from Maja Stark on 14. She had just over 200 yards to the hole, and her approach shot hit the downslope of the mound in front of the green perfectly (only ball I saw land here all day) and rolled up to the back edge, caught the slope and started toward the hole eventually coming to rest approximately ten feet beyond the hole. She left her eagle putt short, but it seemed that the championship was hers after executing that and getting back to a three-shot lead. Seeing a golf ball change directions four times after it hits the ground was awesome to watch and I had a front row seat. Erin Hills is legit in every sense of the word. I watched Maja tee off on 15 then caught a shuttle back to the clubhouse to watch the finish. From the back patio of the clubhouse, you could see 18 green in the distance and there were several TVs set up showing the NBC broadcast.
Maja was a deserving champion and it was neat to see former LSU player and fellow Swede Ingrid Linblad join the celebration on 18 green. If you saw the guy in the red coat at the trophy ceremony that was my friend Rob Jansen who I mentioned earlier. I was appreciative that Mike Whan gave a shout out to the Wisconsin State Golf Association during the trophy presentation, emphasizing the Allied Golf Association partnership with the USGA.
The final “pinch yourself” moment for me was a great way to cap off the week. The Rules Committee was invited to toast the champion in the clubhouse. After Maja did a few pressers, she arrived at the clubhouse and we all raised a glass of champagne in her honor alongside the USGA Executive Leadership Team and Executive Committee, agronomy staff, Erin Hills staff, and others. Being able to reminisce with Thomas Pagel and John Bodenhamer was a fun time. Everyone was pleased with the result and their efforts were rewarded with an amazing championship. I know how much hard work goes into this and also how rewarding it is. You are a part of a tradition and legacy and strive to do everything you can to elevate the player experience and present the best product possible, and the USGA certainly did that. I have countless takeaways that will serve me well in my career. Leslie Henry from Metairie is on the USGA Executive Committee and was in attendance so I was able to catch up with her as well. Maja said a few words and you could see the elation on her face and hear it in her words. She was humble and gracious. She would not let go of the trophy! The toast was a special and intimate moment and one I will not forget.
We were treated to a beautiful sunset as we walked back to our car. I’m blessed to have been a part of the 80th U.S. Women’s Open Championship and grateful that my family could accompany me and create lasting memories of their own… Oh, and I made every ruling correct which was expected! It was truly an unrivaled and invaluable experience. Now it’s a quick turnaround for me and back to my day job as we turn our sights to the 106th Louisiana Amateur Championship at Bayou Oaks at City Park in New Orleans this week. Let’s geaux!
Maili Bartz
Director of Marketing and Communications
maili@lgagolf.org