6 golfdigest.com | june 2019BOATWRIGHT: C
OuRT
esyOfusGA • IllusTRATIO
n:RO
nBARR
eTTIt’s clear we need a return to the BoatwrightMethod at the U.S. Open.Editor’s Letter
The Legend of Purvis Jamesby jerry tarde
Chairman and Editor-in-ChiefSo our story in this issue,
“USGA Confidential” (page
70 ), isn’t the first example of
the contentiousness between
tour players and the Govern-
ing Body. P.J. Boatwright, who
set up courses for the USGA
from 1969-’90, once told me:
“Shouldn’t it be difficult to
win the U.S. Open—damned
difficult?” But the definition
of damned difficult has been
called into question these days.
For the answer, I’d look to the
man himself.
Purvis James Boatwright Jr.
of Spartanburg, S.C., won the
Carolina Open twice and the
Carolina Amateur once in the
1950s. He played 72 holes in the
1950 U.S. Open at Merion won
by Ben Hogan, but the champi-
onship that left its mark was the
1949 U.S. Amateur at Oak Hill,
where he drew the No. 1-ranked
Ronnie White at match play.
Boatwright had a swing idiosyn-
crasy of “milking the grip,” like
Sergio Garcia’s old habit. Being
especially nervous, P.J. was
standing over his drive on the
first hole milking the grip a bit
excessively before finally hitting
his tee shot. When he stepped
aside, he felt a tap on his shoul-
der and turned to see USGA ex-
ecutive secretary Joseph C. Dey
Jr. glaring at him.
“Young man,” Dey said,
“you need to pick up the pace...considerably... if you’re going
to get around the course today.”
The warning began a lifelong
frostiness between Boatwright
and Dey, but it didn’t stop Joe
from recommending P.J. as his
successor at the USGA. Histori-
cal note: Like the famous rivals
John Adams and Thomas Jef-
ferson, who passed away within
hours of each other in 1826, Dey
and Boatwright died a month
apart in 1991. No rules official
ever since has taken their place
as the Open Eminence.
The point of the Oak Hill
story is that P.J. was a fine
amateur who never lost hissensitivity for looking at
championships from a player’s
perspective. As one of his suc-
cessors, David Fay, says: “He
had great judgment and a total,
absolute understanding of the
Rules of Golf. In selecting hole
locations, he erred toward the
bland over the goofy. Vanilla
was OK with him. He never
wanted the venue to be the
story. He was a devotee of the
[1956-’57 USGA president] Rich-
ard Tufts setup: Put the ball inplay off the tee. Make the greens
firm so they require a skilled
approach. The putting should
be difficult but fair.”
David Eger, who succeeded
Boatwright, described his phi-
losophy similarly: “P.J. used an
abundance of caution in setting
up the course—and in every-
thing he did. If a bunch of guys
are under par the first couple of
days, you don’t have to touchthe course to get the winning
score to even par if that’s the
goal. Increased pressure of
playing for the U.S. Open will
take care of that.”
On each green, P.J. selected
four hole locations and rated
them 1 to 4 (hardest to easiest),
and put together 18 holes total-
ing 43-47 each day. Using his
“fingertips and feet,” he decided
how much to water or mow or
roll the greens. In his day, green
speeds got no faster than 10 feet
on the Stimpmeter; today they
routinely exceed 13 at the Open.
He never cut a hole closer than
five paces from the edge of a
green; today the limit is three.
It’s clear we need a return
to the Boatwright Method. Un-
like a lot of USGA officials who
primp and preen on television
while walking with the leaders
on the weekend, P.J. rode in a
golf cart a hole or so behind the
last group. It allowed him to
study the course conditions in
the afternoon, especially as the
greens hardened and got crusty,
so he could make his final deci-
sion on the next round’s hole
locations rather than at 6:
the next morning. He’d amble
out of the cart with a couple
of balls and his Cash-In putter
and mark the spots with a can
of spray paint. Also, riding in
a cart put him in position to
scoot to any rulings among the
leaders, so he could backstop
the walking volunteer rules
officials.
Knowing how course condi-
tions evolve during a cham-
pionship helped P.J. avoid
situations like last year, when
the first 19 players to finish Sun-
day improved by 145 strokes
from Saturday. As one example,
Rickie Fowler went 84-65 for a
record 19-stroke improvement.
That tells you more about the
silliness of the course setup
than Rickie’s play.
This year at Pebble Beach,
after too many U.S. Open de-
bacles in a row, the USGA des-
perately needs to let a great golf
course play as it should—and
channel the cautious restraint
of Purvis James.hen gary player won the 1965
U.S. Open at Bellerive, first place
was $25,000. Player, whose mother
died of cancer when he was 8, donated
$5,000 from the purse to cancer research
and the remaining $20,000 to the USGA
for junior golf. Some pros were moved
to say, “Just goes to show, the USGA is
four times tougher to beat than cancer.”W
▶ the usga’s P.J. Boatwright
had the patrician look of Henry
Fonda and a reputation for being
the best rules man on either side
of the Atlantic.