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The Public's Last Chance To Play Bethpage Black

New Jersey residents (from left to right) Andy Kim, Kevin Park and JB Kim rejoice over getting the last walk-up tee time on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park on May 31, the final day the course was open to the public before this year's U.S. Open. (John Mummert)

We followed the last walk-up foursome on May 31, the final day of public play before the course closed for U.S. Open preparations.

By Justin Hancher, USGA

Farmingdale, N.Y. – Parked in spot No. 21, these guys just wanted to play golf.

Andy Kim, JB Kim and Kevin Park made the 45-minute drive from Englewood, N.J., arriving at Bethpage State Park at 2:30 a.m. Sunday in hopes of getting an early tee time on any of the municipal complex’s five courses. Around 5 a.m., a park employee asked JB Kim what course his carload preferred to play.

“We’d love to play the Black,” the 31-year-old said, figuring there was little to no chance his group would actually receive a coveted tee time on the course that in 2002 became the first truly public venue to host a U.S. Open Championship. Usually, only the golfers in the first six or so cars in the parking-lot queue get on the Black Course.

But at 8:45 a.m., Andy Kim, JB Kim, Park and Bethpage, N.Y., resident Michael Brickman were standing on the Black’s first tee, the last foursome of walk-ups — or drive-ups — to play the Black before it closed for championship preparations, just 2½ weeks prior to the start of the 109th U.S. Open.

How’d they get a tee time? Not everyone waiting in line overnight wanted to play the Black, which is known for its physically demanding layout even when it’s not primed to test the skills of the world’s best golfers. Some of the golfers in line opted instead to spend an entire day and night in their cars so they could be in one of the early groups out on one of Bethpage’s other four courses.

Until they arrived at Bethpage, the three recently relocated Californians, who now live in northern New Jersey and work for a large electronics company, were unaware that Sunday was the last day of public play at the Black. With handicaps ranging from 18 to 20, they each paid the $120 out-of-state green fee and waited their turn to battle “the beast.”

Playing on just an hour or two of sleep and watched by a gallery of some 30 people, Park, 29, teed off first, driving his ball in the left-side fairway bunker of the 430-yard dogleg right par 4. JB Kim’s tee shot came to rest in the same spot. After intently studying his scorecard all morning, Andy Kim’s preparation nearly paid off; his ball ended up just to the right of the fairway. (No golfer hit the fairway on the first hole until the 12th player of the day.)

It was Brickman’s turn. Unlike the other players in the foursome, he’d played the Black before — an estimated 50 times. But that experience paid off in nothing more than a duffed ball off the first tee.

“See how fun this is?” said the 27-year-old Brickman.

Following his opening-hole triple bogey, Brickman, an 11-handicapper whose best score on the Black is an 86, would par or bogey the next six holes. He was following his game plan: He wrote “PS” in black marker on his left hand, reminding himself to “play safe and play smart.”

Brickman, who parked six spots ahead of his fellow competitors the night before, carded one of those pars on the par-5 fourth, the Black’s signature hole. He asked Andy Kim, 33, how he fared on the hole.

“Five,” Andy Kim said, “Over par.”

On a picture-perfect day for golf, the Black’s infamous rough was, by consensus, “brutal.” Hitting anywhere other than the tall grass seemed like a good shot, including the bunkers.

“You’ll be all right,” Brickman said after JB Kim hit his ball into a bunker, a place his ball frequently came to rest throughout the day. “Well, you’ll find it.”

The eighth hole, a 210-yard par 3 with a green fronted by a large pond, typified both the good and the bad. Three of the group’s four tee shots found the water. Park mishit his ball but lucked out when it bounced along the right bank of the pond and onto the fringe. He putted onto the green and then sank a 15-footer for his second consecutive par.

Brickman finished the first nine with a 49, noting that the conditions were the toughest he’d ever faced. The others shot in the 50s.

A lifetime Long Islander, Brickman played a caddie-like role throughout the day by offering local knowledge on how to play each hole. He also continued to follow his game plan, recording three pars on holes 10 through 14. The others didn’t fare so well. Forced to hit out of yet another bunker, JB Kim conceded that his game wasn’t suited for the course.

“I’m finding out I really [stink] at golf,” JB Kim said.

“No, you’re just finding out how good the pros really are,” Brickman responded.

After hitting their drives on 15, the normally talkative group fell silent.

“I can’t breathe, and I’m tired,” said Andy Kim. “I’m running out of gas.”

It showed. Andy Kim finished with a 118, six shots worse than JB Kim. Drained and exhausted after the 5½-hour round, Park, who posted a 107, had some advice for the pros.

“Stay away from the rough and the bunkers, and you’re going to be fine,” he said as the others laughed, knowing first-hand that it’s not as easy as it sounds.

“These conditions are nothing compared to what they’re going to be like [for the U.S. Open],” said Brickman, who carded a 93 and plans to attend the final two days of the championship. “It’s nice that I can come out here, shoot what I did and be proud of it. I had a couple pars and a couple birdie opportunities, so it makes me feel good that they’re going to have the same opportunities that I did. It’s exciting, and I’m ready to watch [the Open] and see how they do.”

Justin Hancher works in the USGA’s Communications Department. E-mail him with questions or comments at jhancher@usga.org.

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