Russ Miller has been the PGA director of golf at The Broadmoor for 19 years — a period during which the Colorado Springs resort has hosted two USGA open championships — the 2008 U.S. Senior Open and the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open.
Despite his experience, there’s always more to learn when helping to oversee a major championship. That’s why — at least in part — Miller traveled to the U.S. Senior Open near Salem, Mass., in late June, and to the U.S. Amateur in Pacific Palisades Calif., this week.
With a little more than 300 days before tournament week at the East Course at The Broadmoor — June 25-July 1 — the resort is gradually gearing up for the 2018 U.S. Senior Open. It will be the 13th major championship to be conducted in Colorado — at least according to the current lineups used by the PGA Tour, LPGA and PGA Tour Champions. (The Women’s Western Open, once considered a major, was held at The Broadmoor in 1938 and at Cherry Hills Country Club in 1950, when Babe Zaharias won.)
Here’s the rundown of tour majors contested in Colorado:
U.S. Open — 1938, 1960 and 1978 (Cherry Hills).
PGA Championship — 1941 and 1985 (Cherry Hills); 1967 (Columbine).
U.S. Women’s Open — 1995 and 2011 (The Broadmoor); 2005 (Cherry Hills).
U.S. Senior Open — 1993 (Cherry Hills); 2008 and 2018 (The Broadmoor). (Note: After 2018, only Ohio, home to six championships, will have hosted the U.S. Senior Open more times than Colorado.)
Senior PGA Championship — 2010 (Colorado Golf Club).
In the 43-year period from 1972 through 2014, there was only one year (2007) that Colorado didn’t host at least one significant professional tour event or a major national/international amateur golf competition. But with the 2018 Senior Open being the first such tournament in Colorado since Cherry Hills did the honors at the BMW Championship in the 2014 PGA Tour playoffs, there appears to be some pent-up demand.
Miller said that in the first phase of ticket availability, which just concluded, sales more than doubled what they were for the same period in 2008, the last time the U.S. Senior Open came to The Broadmoor — or to the state.
“What that tells me about Colorado is people are really excited to have another championship back,” Miller said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “When your ticket sales are good, that shows you the excitement is good and it’s going to keep on growing.”
For the 2008 U.S. Senior Open — which featured the likes of World Golf Hall of Famers Tom Watson, Hale Irwin, Greg Norman, Bernhard Langer, Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite and Curtis Strange in the 156-man field — The Broadmoor attracted an announced 128,714 fans for the week. As good as that was, Miller is looking for a slight jump for next year’s event.
“We did about 130,000 in 2008. We’d love to exceed that by let’s say 5,000,” he said. “What’s neat about it this far out is you know how to build your restroom facilities, your food and beverage facilities and your concession stands based on ticket sales. It can keep going up and we just plan for it ahead of time.
“At The Broadmoor we have so much space that we won’t really sell out. We can accommodate however many we can take. We’re lucky at The Broadmoor. We can handle 35,000 people a day. At Cherry Hills or a smaller club logistics-wise, it may not be able to handle that many. I’d love to do 135,000. That would be just a home run.”
And, in an effort to encourage youngsters to attend, fans 17 and under will be granted free admission when accompanied by a ticketed adult, with each adult allowed to bring up to nine kids.
For more information about ticket sales, or to make a purchase, CLICK HERE.
If the numbers play out as expected attendance-wise, it’s believed that the Senior Open could have a $20 million-plus economic impact on the local economy after the ’08 event pulled in an estimated $21 million to the area.
“This is a big event, a big economic driver for Colorado Springs,” mayor John Suthers said. “We’ll make sure everybody is prepared.”
Next year will certainly be a momentous one at The Broadmoor, the picturesque venue at the foot of Cheyenne Mountain that opened in 1918. The resort will have centennial-related events throughout the year, starting Jan. 1. But the precise day The Broadmoor will turn 100 years old will be June 29, the Friday of U.S. Senior Open week.
The plan is to hold a large charity concert on Monday of that week (June 25) and fireworks on Friday night. As what you might expect at a five-star resort, The Broadmoor hopes to leave players, fans and anyone else associated with the event with an indelible positive impression.
“What’s unique about it is, it’s kind of the mentality we have every day at the hotel,” Miller noted. “How can we make our guest experience better and unique versus other resorts in the world? That’s the fun apart.”
The folks at The Broadmoor are certainly no strangers to hosting large-scale events, including major golf championships. Just with USGA tournaments, the club has hosted national/international events seven times since 1959, with next year being No. 8 (six at the East Course, a combination of holes designed by Donald Ross and Robert Trent Jones Sr.). The list includes two U.S. Women’s Opens, two U.S. Senior Opens, two U.S. Amateurs, one U.S. Women’s Amateur and one Curtis Cup.
“It gets easier (with the past experience), but there’s still so many things to do before the time comes,” Miller said. “It’s like taking a test in college. You kind of know how to prepare, but you still have to study and do all the things beforehand. We always try to get better and you can always learn.”
That familiarity works both ways, of course. In joining forces with The Broadmoor, the USGA knows it’s getting a first-class resort. And with the East Course and its sometimes-confounding greens, it’s produced champions such as Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam and So Yeon Ryu, currently the No. 1-ranked women’s player in the world.
“When you’re starting with the course here at The Broadmoor, you don’t want to mess with the masterpiece too much,” USGA championship manager Robbie Zalzneck said recently. “It’s a great test and we’ll have a great championship.”
To make sure The Broadmoor has all the bases covered — and perhaps to plant the seeds for future big-time championships coming to the resort — Miller was on hand for the 2017 U.S. Senior Open at Salem Country Club and is this week for the U.S. Am at Riviera Country Club near L.A.
“I’m kind of privileged they asked me a couple of months ago to serve on an advisory committee for the U.S. Amateur,” Miller said. “But it’s kind of all hand-in-hand. We want to keep on getting championships in the picture (for The Broadmoor) no matter what they are. So that’s why I’m here mostly.”
But Miller has learned some things in his recent USGA-related travels, most notably related to the player and family experience at championships.
“The USGA is really putting an emphasis on (that),” he said. “And from there, it goes on down the line to the caddies and the fans. No matter if you’re a Tom Watson or a club pro like me that qualified, they want to make sure that your experience was off-the-chart good. A big part of what I was doing (at the Senior Open in Salem) was seeing how we can initiate that program next year for the players. … That’s what we’re focused on is really, really making the player and family experience our No. 1 priority.”
As for the set-up of the golf course, the USGA and the staff at The Broadmoor finalized their plans back in May. Some new tees were built last winter, with the championship in mind. Fairway widths and rough height will vary depending on various factors. The perhaps-driveable par-4 second hole, for instance, will feature a fairway width of 23 or 24 yards, with the rough right next to the fairway being 3 1/2 inches deep. On longer par-4s, the fairway may be 28-30 yards wide, with graduated rough going from 1 1/2 inches to 2 1/2 inches, then deeper the further from the fairway.
“It’s kind of hole by hole, based on the width of the fairways and the difficulty of the hole, which is really neat because it makes it inconsistent — and we think inconsistent is good,” Miller said.
One of the more notable changes on the scorecard will be that the third hole will be a 540-yard par-4 and the 17th a 610-yard par-5. That’s the opposite of what was done for the 2008 U.S. Senior Open, when No. 3 was a par-5 and No. 17 a par-4.
“The back nine is so much more difficult, so by making No. 3 a long par-4, it’ll help make the front nine a little bit more difficult and not make them as different,” Miller said. “But it’s downhill, downwind and normally firm. It sounds like a long hole but 500-some yards downhill, they can handle it; it’s not a huge deal.”
Fan experience-wise, the biggest change from the 2008 U.S. Senior Open and the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open will be that cell phones are now allowed.
“Now the world is so technological that we’re promoting cell phones and trying to create apps and ways to have visual maps of the golf course; player locations during the round that you can look up on your cell phone; scoring updates on your cell phone,” Miller said. “It’s just a totally different mindset from the past, but it’s just the way the world is going. It’s the best way to communicate.”
Another big change from the past will be that Fox Sports — with its tech-heavy broadcast mindset — will be televising the Senior Open at The Broadmoor, whereas the telecasts were handled by NBC in 2008 and for the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open.
“Back in ’08 NBC had three tractor-trailor trucks for their entire production,” Miller noted. “We’re expecting between 11 and 13 tractor-trailor trucks (with Fox next year). Why it’s so much bigger is (shot tracker and ball tracker on every green). There’s now 18 towers for all 18 greens. That’s a big change.
“(But) there’s a lot less cables than there used to be. There’s more cloud (communication) and all that stuff. That makes it easier too. But we’re definitely going to use more space than we did in the past for (the TV compound).”
All told, the tournament broadcast will reach more than 100 countries, and Fox and Fox Sports 1 will combine for more than 20 hours of live TV coverage.
About 2,300 volunteers will be needed for the 2018 U.S. Senior Open, and Miller said roughly 70 percent of those slots have already been filled, with about 43 states represented.
To volunteer, REGISTER HERE.
