County officials scotch plans for a second course at Chambers Bay

The amount of infrastructure space required to host modern major championships has caused Pierce County (Wash.) officials to scotch the idea of building a second golf course at Chambers Bay, host of the U.S. Open last summer.

“We didn’t feel from a county perspective that it was realistic to have a development predicated on the building of a new golf course,” Pierce County deputy county executive Kevin Phelps told the Tacoma News-Tribune. “We feel that even though we could technically squeeze another 18 holes in, it might make it so we’re not competitive for a future event.”

The success of the U.S. Open there in June, notwithstanding spotty greens and the difficulty spectators had moving around the course, has piqued interest in bringing another Open to Chambers Bay, possibly in 2025.

John Ladenburg, the former Pierce County executive largely responsible for bringing the Open to Chambers Bay in the first place, said recently that it’s his belief that the USGA would like to return. He also broached the idea of a U.S. Women’s Open
being played there.

A Los Angeles developer, Sonnenblick Development, had entered into a preliminary agreement with the county build a hotel and another course on the Chambers Creek property on the south side of the existing course. A smaller hotel is still planned for the site.