🏌🏼 A U.S. Open to Remember

Rejoice dads, it’s the type of golf content we needed on a Father’s Day weekend.

What an ending to an incredible tournament. Coming down to the last few holes, it was Rory McIlroy vs. Bryson DeChambeau. Rory’s been fighting off golf demons as he hasn’t won a major for nearly a decade. Bryson, for months, has been sniffing around his second major championship while also doing everything he can to reinvent his image after leaving the PGA and taking $125M from the Saudis to join LIV Golf.

And just like that, after Rory missed a couple “simple” putts, Bryson took home his second U.S. Open Championship at Pinhurst No. 2 in North Carolina. Even though Bryson has been known throughout the years for being a very “different” kind of golfer with his corny antics and starting a popular YouTube channel with over 725K subscribers, this was undoubtedly a special moment for the superstar. Especially after losing his father in the fall of 2022 to multiple health issues. All the flowers to Bryson, because he deserved this championship. But today, we’ll be going over the U.S. Open as a whole — specifically at Pinehurst No. 2. Traditionally known as the hardest major for professional golfers, we’ll review the business of the tournament, how are these courses chosen, and what makes this tournament so special.

Let’s get after it…

What’s the history of Pinehurst?

• The first golf course was laid out in 1897, and the first championship held at Pinehurst was the United North and South Amateur Championship of 1901.

  • Pinehurst’s best known course, "Pinehurst No. 2," was completed in 1907 designed by Donald Ross, who became associated with Pinehurst for nearly half a century.

• To say Pinehurst is massive golf course would be an understatement. It’s the only property outside of China with 10 eighteen-hole courses.

• Pinehurst was first awarded the U.S. Open in 1999, but even though it’s one of the most beautiful courses and resorts in the United States, there were still plenty of issues when it came to logistics as its grounds are ~75 miles from the nearest major airport.

• Pinehurst is owned by golf’s richest family, the Dedman family. Robert Dedman Sr. owned a company called ClubCorp., which owned over 200 golf clubs nationwide.

  • His son sold the business in 2006, after his father’s death in 2002, for $1.8B. The family made sure to keep Pinehurst Golf within their asset portfolio.

What does the business and economic impact of the U.S. Open look like?

• The U.S. Open typically generates ~$165M in revenue for the USGA. To give you an idea, this one event accounts for 75% of the USGA’s annual revenue.

  • In terms of expenses, it usually costs ~$80M to conduct the U.S. Open. But this year, we saw expenses increase, especially in purse winnings to $21.5M (up from $20M in 2023 and $12.5M in 2020). Bryson took home $4.3M as the champion.

    • Since the USGA is a nonprofit, their “profits” are typically reinvested back into other golf initiatives, including other USGA championships and youth programs.

• In 2023, the USGA’s total revenue for the year was $306M, including the U.S. Open.

• When it comes to media rights, the USGA has traditionally sold all of its media rights together in one package. The current contract, which NBC took over from Fox in 2019, is worth $1.1B over 12 years and expires in 2026.

  • As of 2023, the broadcast and media rights represented 38% of the total revenue at $115M.

• When it comes to ticket sales, Pinehurst expected to draw 225K fans over 5 days (45K per day). That’s lower than its last two U.S. Opens in 2005 and 2014…but it’s on purpose.

  • USGA wants fans to be more comfortable and deal with less crowds. However, we saw ticket prices slightly increase to make up for the difference (there’s always a catch isn’t there?!).

  • The get-in price ended up being ~$225.

• Prior to the tournament, the U.S. Open estimated to have an economic impact of $500M on the state of North Carolina, with $200 to $250M for the Pinehurst community.

How does the USGA choose between courses?

• It had been nearly a decade since the U.S. Open was played at Pinehurst. Last year, it was played at Los Angeles Country Club. In 2022, at The Country Club in Brookline, MA. In 2021, at Torrey Pines Golf Club in La Jolla, San Diego, CA.

• But what makes Pinehurst so interesting is that it’s an “anchor site” for the U.S. Open. This is new for the U.S. Open, but what it means is that it will describe a trio of famous courses that will play a recurring role in hosting the U.S. Open: Pinehurst No. 2, Oakmont Country Club in PA, and Pebble Beach Golf Links in Northern CA.

  • These anchor sites have already determined the U.S. Open calendar for the next 25 years:

    • Pinehurst: 2024, ’29, ’35, ’41, ’47

    • Oakmont: 2025, ’33, ’42, ’49

    • Pebble Beach: 2027, ’32, ’37, ’44

  • The USGA also named 3 other courses that will host multiple future U.S. Opens: New York’s Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (2026, ’36), Pennsylvania’s Merion Golf Club (’30, ’40, ’50), and Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan (’34, ’51) — so yes, get your flights ready to go to Michigan in 2051! 😳

• It also doesn’t hurt being an anchor site as millions of dollars have been invested in the property…

  • USGA renovated the championship locker room for the players with physio areas, cold plunge baths, and a private tunnel that leads directly to the first tee.

  • USGA also spent $800K on 50,000 square feet of pavement for new roads and expanded cart paths, and even opened up its own building on the Pinehurst grounds, costing ~$60M and housing 65 USGA employees year-round.

• Pinehurst No. 2 also added more premium hospitality options…well, 11 different hospitality options to be exact 😉. This year it included the 1895 Club next to the 18th green, which has 400 seating areas, gourmet food and beverages, golf cart shuttle service, and costs between $2.5K (1-day access) to $11K (5-days access).

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Quick Hitters

• 🏂 Do you enjoy fresh powder like Shaun White?? The snowboarding legend and 3x Olympic gold medalist is launching a professional snowboarding circuit, The Snow League, which is advertised as the sport’s first pro league for global snowboarding and freeskiing competitions. The league will have a total prize purse of ~$1.5M and has received investment from private equity firm Ares Management, Will Ventures, Ryan Sports Ventures, and co-owner of the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers, David Blitzer. It will look to fill a void as professional snowboarders/skiers look to find other ways to compete besides in the Winter Olympics and X Games.

• 🍢 If for some reason you were tuning into NBA TV after Game 4 of the NBA Finals, you might have heard Charles Barkley “announce” his retirement after next season. If you know King Charles, you know he’s not afraid to say what’s on his mind. And he’s had no problem bringing up the ongoing media rights negotiations between the NBA and his current employer, TNT. But as the face of Inside the NBA on TNT and with his reported $100M contract with TNT, it’s very odd to hear him announce his retirement — not on his own network, not with his longtime colleagues Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal, and not even wait to hear what the official ruling will be with the NBA media rights deal following next season. We’ll chalk this up to a leverage play.

• ⚽️ The European Football Championship and Olympics on during the same summer?! My goodness, it’s getting hot in here, fetch us a towel! But…soccer fans in America might’ve noticed it’s been a little more difficult finding games to watch. Right now, Fox Sports has the rights to air the games in this country, but it sublicensed 5 group-stage games to Fubo TV, a streaming service that primarily focuses on distributing live sports (mainly soccer). The first game that aired on Fubo TV was Hungary vs. Switzerland on Saturday.

  • Fox bought the U.S. rights for the Euros in a 6-year deal in the fall of 2021 after ESPN owned the rights since 2008.

  • UEFA was reportedly looking for a $300M contract for 2024 and 2028.

  • It’s not known how much Fox is paying for these games but shortly after, Fox struck a 6-year deal with Fubo TV to sublease UEFA matches, including five games in both the ’24 and ’28 Euros (yeahhh sounds like Fox needed a little help paying that $300M bill 😬). 

  • So if you’re having trouble viewing some games, go to Fubo TV! Or don’t, because we’re still trying to figure out wtf this is.

• 🔥 Sick swag alert! Ralph Lauren is a master with the stitching, just in time for Paris!