COVERAGE: Despite ‘Anxiety,’ USGA ‘Full Speed Ahead’ on Ball Rollback

OAKMONT, Pa. — Each Wednesday before the U.S. Open, the USGA trio consisting of president Fred Perpall, CEO Mike Whan and chief champions officer John Bodenhamer meet with reporters to discuss the coming days and beyond as it relates to the world of golf.

It was a crowded press conference room with reporters being joined by USGA officers including Kevin Hammer, the next president, local officials and Oakmont Country Club President John Lynch. The USGA announced the same $21.5 million purse, $4.3 million of which goes to the winner.

This is Oakmont’s 10th time hosting the U.S. Open, more than any other site, something which led to Bodenhamer calling the course a “cathedral” this spring. It was announced as the second Open ‘anchor site’ by the USGA in 2021.

“It also allows us to look 10, 15, 20 years into advance and do things we never contemplated before,” Bodenhamer explained about the commitment. “In the past we’d look two or three years in advance. We’d have a team here, and we’d make decisions based on that short time frame. Now we’re doing things well out into the future.”

There have also been upgrades such as the practice range, which has expanded and also assisted in determining how many fans Oakmont can hold. All tickets have been sold for the four tournament days and all that remains is the secondary market.

“I would tell you that this weekend when we’re all in here, there’s a ticker in our office that every time somebody comes through, we see the number change,” Whan said. “We’ve got to move it because it just keeps going all day and you get looking at it. But I’ll bet all in we’ll have about 40,000 people on site here on Saturday, 40,000 people on Sunday, and probably similar tomorrow and Friday.”

Bodenhamer believes that when it comes to Oakmont there are many “ghosts” who have played there. It starts with the champions who have won there, most of whom are in or are projected into the World Golf Hall of Fame. The ghosts are only more evident in the locker room, where the benches show spike marks from the very beginning.

Moving forward, the USGA has its media rights available in 2027, and they are early on in the process, one which Whan did not want to divulge to hundreds of media members. He did explain that the level of interest, which also includes current partners, has been phenomenal.

Whan made clear the media rights are not solely for the U.S. Open, but also the women’s Open, Amateur and even the final qualifying.

“Obviously, we’re committed to pretty significant investments back into the game, and one of the benefits of that investment is a good TV partner,” said Whan. “We’re going to look for somebody that can deliver at the levels or better than we’re delivering now, and through that partnership enables us not just to tell the U.S. Open story or the U.S. Women’s Open story, but some of these incredible amateur stories as well. We think that’s been part of our partnerships for a long time, that we get to put a limelight on some championships that maybe otherwise people wouldn’t get to see.

“Like I said, I don’t really want to share communication strategy in a group of people that have the job to go then tell everybody else. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve made that mistake. But we’ve got a ways to go. When we get to a point where we think we can really share with you outcomes, whether that’s current partner or different partner, I promise we’ll sit down and do that, including the strategies that drove us there.”

The USGA also made some headlines during the PGA Championship because of driver testing which it was reported Rory McIlroy was tested and his driver did not pass and Scottie Scheffler self-reported the same happened to him.

The test is called a characteristic time creep or CT creep, which measures how long the golf ball stays on the face.

Whan likened it to a kid jumping on a trampoline and the longer they are on the further they jump. The USGA sets a limit with manufacturers as far as how long the ball can stay on, which is tested in microseconds and if it stays on for more than 25 microseconds the club is considered out of tolerance.

This is a service to players and tours as testing is random and regular.

“I think sometimes in the media and the fan space, you think, we just took 20 yards off that player,” Whan weighed in. “We’re literally talking about an extra microsecond, and if you get within I think it’s 18 microseconds of the line and we test you, we give you what we call a yellow warning, which is, hey, be careful, that club is starting to — because at the velocities and at the frequency at which they hit these clubs, they will just relax over time. If I’m being honest with you, I think in terms of what happened at the PGA Championship, it made us more committed to not wanting to have this be the topic of the town because I think when you talked about a rules violation or somebody who’s playing with a hot driver, that gets so much more sensational than the reality.

“I can tell you as a rules body, if we had concern about this incredible advantage, we would change the degree in which we test. But we think the testing that we’re doing now is commensurate with the size of both the issue and the size of the reality of the issue. (I) probably shouldn’t admit this, but I know we tested this week. I couldn’t tell you if we had failures, and if so, what those failures were at the time.”

As far as rolling back the golf ball goes, the stakeholder meetings began at the Players Championship and continued at the Masters. Whan is quite encouraged by the nature of these conversations.

“As an industry we have to be able to make small adjustments that are in the best interest of the game long-term, that we all know would be better 40 years from now if we were smart enough to make them today,” finalized Whan. “Not everybody will like it. It’ll be high anxiety until we get there, but nobody is going to die. The game is going to be great. We’re going to prove that we can be better for future generations rather than to simply look the other way and know that in 40 or 50 years we’d be handing them something we could have made small adjustments on.

“If I’m being honest with you, we’re full speed ahead on what we’ve announced. Those decisions have been made. I’m really excited that the different stakeholders are in the room talking about the how to and what further things we need to know to do that better, but I won’t lie to you; there’s anxiety there, and I’m right there on the anxiety list, too.

“This is why we’re put in this position. We don’t have the same conflicts and contracts and biases. This is our job as governance, and it’s not a fun one. If you look over the 130-year history, we’re not new to this and we’ve had to do these things before that feel like ‘Oh, my gosh’ when they happen, and you look back 10 years later and go, ‘Whatever happened to the …’ I think as an industry we’ve got to be able to do this both for ourselves and for the future generations that want to inherit this game, and we will.”

The press conference ended with Perpall having the final word as it was his last as USGA president as Hammer prepares to take on the role at the 2026 USGA Annual Meeting.

Perpall was at the 2021 U.S. Amateur when it was played at Oakmont, working closely with then-president Stu Francis.

“(I am) getting a little choked up thinking this is my last U.S. Open as USGA president,” he wrapped up. “It’s been an honor and a privilege because I think back to what the 15-year-old Fred would say about all of this. The volunteer leadership at the USGA, we’re just regular golf guys and golf gals that love this game enough to serve it in a very full way. (We) spend countless hours on the road and many nights out of our bed because we love what golf does for us. We love the opportunity to give back through this game of golf.

“We have this disposition at the USGA, and I hope you’ve heard that today, that we believe this game really can change the lives, and we want to include more Americans in this game. I want to say when you are given the opportunity to serve, what makes life fuller is that you do something for others, and I want to thank all of you who care enough about this game to actually give back to the game and to be engaged in the future of the game.”