Skip to content
Education
Link copied to clipboard

Haverford College tees up for its moment on the green

The Main Line was once famous for fox hunts, but for the next 21/2 weeks, the biggest quarry in certain leafy stretches of Haverford and Ardmore will most definitely be a certain rare breed of Tiger.

Preparation at the Haverford College site for the U.S. Open golf tournament , photographed on 5/29/13.  Here, the inside of one of the gigantic tents that have sprung up to house the event.( APRIL SAUL / Staff )
Preparation at the Haverford College site for the U.S. Open golf tournament , photographed on 5/29/13. Here, the inside of one of the gigantic tents that have sprung up to house the event.( APRIL SAUL / Staff )Read more

The Main Line was once famous for fox hunts, but for the next 21/2 weeks, the biggest quarry in certain leafy stretches of Haverford and Ardmore will most definitely be a certain rare breed of Tiger.

"You can't imagine how many people have said he's renting a house - more houses than George Washington slept in," said a laughing Sharon McNamara, president of the Merion Golf Manor Neighborhood Committee, when asked about the nonstop buzz about golfing icon Tiger Woods and his whereabouts in the run-up to the U.S. Open championship at Merion Golf Club from June 13 to 16.

Rumored Tiger spottings are traded in whispers much as F. Scott Fitzgerald's characters gossiped about Jay Gatsby's possible ties to the Kaiser. One tipster offered info about a mysterious pool installation at the home of former 76ers general manager Billy King, prompting an adamant denial from King that Woods - in the midst of a remarkable comeback season - is now or will be his guest.

The banter about Woods and other golfing luminaries is a pleasant distraction for residents of the densely wooded streets surrounding the historic Merion course as they prepare for the daily arrival of 25,000 ticketed spectators, and the traffic, parking and transit complications that show up with them.

Planning for the major golf tournament has consumed local officials and community groups for the last two years - but the epicenter has been Haverford College, the liberal arts school just north of the course. Most golf courses that host major championships have roughly 300 acres; Merion is just 127 acres. As a result, the Quaker college and its green open spaces are serving as a kind of a backup "back 9" for the tourney.

"Without Haverford, they wouldn't have had a contiguous property" to stage off-the-links activities, said Don Campbell, facilities manager for Haverford College. "We agreed to participate in this because we wanted to support the neighborhood and the whole environment."

The buildup came with some campus controversy, especially over the future of a popular community garden that is temporarily shut down because of the event. Haverford College officials said the school is ready and any side effects from the looming disruption will be temporary.

"It's very good for the community and the greater Philadelphia area," said Dick Wynn, Haverford College's chief financial officer. "We know the [U.S. Golf Association] will restore fields. We're very comfortable things will be in better shape than when we turned them over to them. We don't see any problem with that."

Before anyone even yells "Fore," the school has another big event to take care of - this week's Alumni Weekend, in which 800 alums will invade campus and likely want to get a peek inside those huge tents going up along Haverford Road. They won't be allowed.

The tents are off-limits until tee time and then only by high-stakes ticket-holders who want to party and watch the action on big-screen TVs.

The school officials said that community gardening activities have been moved in the last year and that the garden - now a staging area for the tournament - will reopen next spring. Meanwhile, Campbell said, the college is offering parking for 800 cars in campus lots and adjacent to school apartments, as well as on intramural sports fields where cars have parked for major events in the past. Most visitors will walk to the golf course along the 2.1-mile nature trail that passes the nation's oldest campus arboretum.

The need for so many hospitality tents - a reflection of the growing corporatization of professional sports, including golf - is one of the biggest changes that longtime residents will notice since the last time that Merion hosted the Open, back in 1981.

"We worked closely with them and really set up a buffer around trees," said Campbell, noting that most of the tents are nestled in a 16-acre area of campus where West Coast conifers were planted in 1928. "We only had to move four trees to accommodate the walkway from the tents" to Haverford Road.

In return for those kinds of accommodations, Haverford's Wynn confirmed the school is receiving a "substantial" payment from the USGA, although officials aren't revealing the exact amount. The chief financial officer also said the school received 100 free (and highly coveted) tickets to the tournament and exercised an option to buy more. Officials also expect something else that all colleges crave these days - good publicity.

"Hopefully, the college sign will show up on TV once in a while," Campbell said.