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By Andrew Both
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Reuters) - U.S.
Open attendance is expected to top out at about 13,000 each day,
barely 25% of the numbers at Torrey Pines when it previously
hosted the tournament in 2008, the U.S. Golf Association (USGA)
said on Wednesday's championship eve.
This is despite the fact that California on Tuesday lifted most
coronavirus curbs on crowd gatherings.
State health officials had previously told the USGA that
off-site parking areas for fans had to be within a 15-minute bus
ride of the course.
Given limited availability of nearby parking and uncertainty
over when restrictions would be lifted, this made it near
impossible for the USGA to plan for the sort of crowds that
attended Torrey Pines 13 years ago.
USGA championship director John Bodenhamer said paid ticket
sales were between 8,000-10,000 a day, with just under 3,000
workers too.
"So somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000-13,000 will be on the
grounds every day," he told a news conference.
"It's probably one fourth of what we had last time, but I
guarantee you, if you're here on site, it's going to be an
amazing experience."
Even if the gallery roars at the Pacific Ocean clifftop course
are not quite as loud as when Tiger Woods famously won 13 years
ago, they will nonetheless be a welcome change from the funereal
silence at last year's Open.
That championship at Winged Foot in New York won by Bryson
DeChambeau was played in front of no paying gallery.
Indeed, all three major championships in the United States last
year were contested without paying fans, while the British Open
was cancelled altogether.
There has been a return to normality this year, with a limited
unannounced attendance at the Masters and daily crowds at the
PGA Championship at Kiawah Island last month officially capped
at 10,000 but seemingly higher in reality.
Next month's British Open at Royal St. George's in Kent is
expected to have large galleries, though still probably slightly
smaller than normal.
As for this week, the USGA's Bodenhamer was enthusiastic.
"What our team has done and the City of San Diego and Torrey
Pines have done to create this atmosphere and what is built here
is really a testament to what's happened the last two or three
weeks," he said.
(Reporting by Andrew Both; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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