It had been 34 years since The Country Club in Brookline last hosted the U.S. Open. The calls have already begun for the tournament to return much sooner than that this time around.
The Country Club earned positive reviews throughout this weekend’s U.S. Open, with a number of the world’s top golfers praising the course, the location, and the atmosphere created by Boston fans who turned out in droves.
The fact that the tournament went right down to the final shot only added to the spectacle. After Matt Fitzpatrick made par on the 18th hole, thanks in large part to a terrific shot out of a bunker, Will Zalatoris needed to make a 15-foot birdie putt to force a playoff. He missed by inches, and Fitzpatrick won his first major by one stroke.
World Number 1 Scottie Scheffler also finished one stroke back, while former major champions Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa rounded out a top five that truly showcased some of the best in the world.
Fitzpatrick also won the U.S. Amateur at The Country Club in 2013, making him just the second male golfer -- along with Jack Nicklaus -- to win the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open at the same course. Needless to say, the 27-year-old Englishman is a fan of the course.
“I love playing this golf course,” Fitzpatrick said. “It suits me so well. It suits my game well. I've been playing well for a while, and I think it all just fell into place that this was the place it was going to happen.”
Fitzpatrick said he loved that the crowd in Brookline was louder than most courses, even if fans just about swarmed him on the 18th hole.
“It felt like [caddie Billy Foster] and me were going to get stampeded, but we didn't. We're fine. I love that,” he said. “I love when the crowd is excited and loud. It's what makes it more exciting. I love football, and I love the atmosphere in that. I know golf's different, and it's got to be all nice and calm and everything, but sometimes it's good to be a bit different.”
He's not the only one who was a fan of the setting. Keegan Bradley, who was born in Vermont and moved to Hopkinton, Mass. in high school, said the combination of a great course and great fans made it the best of the 10 U.S. Opens he’s played in. Bradley finished tied for seventh at 1-under.
“I think it's one of the best golf courses in the world, and alongside probably the best sports fans in the world,” Bradley said. “Combine those two, and you get this out here. The Country Club is spectacular. I absolutely loved it. It's my favorite U.S. Open venue I've ever played. Any time you get to play a tournament in Boston, it's electric. The fans are the best.”
McIlroy, the four-time major champion who has emerged as the face of the PGA in the battle against the upstart LIV Golf, had high praise as well.
“I thought it was great,” McIlroy said. “I thought a few funky tee shots, a few tee shots I'm happy to not see again for a few years. But overall, really good setup, great U.S. Open. To be able to play this championship especially so close to big cities, I think that's really, really important. Great atmosphere, great crowds. It was a really good week.”
Morikawa praised the course as one that was challenging enough to require some real strategy, but not so difficult as to make for miserable playing.
“I thought it was the best place I've played in a while,” Morikawa said. “There's only been a handful of courses where I really step foot on property, and you see it for a short period of time, and then you think you're going to love it, and this was one of them. There's no B.S. around that. It's a good golf course.
“You really have to plot your way around the course. You've got to think through it. I thought it was a course that you could play pretty well at and a course that could kind of hurt you in the back pretty quickly. I think I got both ends of that, but overall, yeah, I loved it.”
The next opening in the U.S. Open schedule is 2028. After that, there are five more openings over the next 20 years -- 2031, 2036, 2038, 2039 and 2040. Given the positive reviews from this weekend, it would be surprising if The Country Club didn’t get at least one of those, as long the course’s leadership and membership is interested in bringing the U.S. Open back.
It’s possible The Country Club could even become a more regular part of the U.S. Open rotation, a la courses like Pebble Beach, Pinehurst and Oakmont, which are all locked into hosting at least four times over the next 30 years.
McIlroy believes Brookline has earned a return trip soon.
“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “I think it just goes to show that a golf course doesn't need to be overly long to play tough. This thing's 7,200 yards, which is pretty short by today's standards. But just with good architecture and good setup, the winning score is going to be sort of 5, 6-under par, which I think is a fair reflection of how the course played all week.
“I thought it's a really good track, and I'd love to see it come back here.”
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