Report: US Open, Women’s Open in back-to-back weeks at Pinehurst

Men and women in consecutive US Opens at Pinehurst

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — The USGA plans to hold the U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2 a week apart in 2014, according to a published report.

Golf World magazine, citing sources it did not identify, said the USGA would announce the unusual doubleheader this week. It would be the first time the men and women played the U.S. Open on the same course in the same year, let alone in consecutive weeks.

USGA spokesman Rand Jerris said no decision had been made on the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open.

The U.S. Open already is scheduled for Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014, the third time in 15 years its premier championship has been played on the Donald Ross course in the sand hills of North Carolina.

The U.S. Women’s Open has been held at Pine Needles, but never at Pinehurst No. 2.

To put both tournaments a week apart would save the USGA money in setting up the golf course, building grandstands and scoreboards, and erecting tents for concession, media and hospitality.