Bethpage Black Course

Rankings

In its July 2008 list of America's greatest golf courses, Golf Digest ranked Bethpage Black #26 overall, #6 in the state of New York, #6 of America's 50 toughest courses, and #5 in its list of America's greatest public golf courses. It is also the top-ranked course in the Golf Digest list that is operated by a governmental entity.

2002 U.S. Open

The U.S. Open was won by Tiger Woods, the only golfer to score under par for the championship. It was seen as one of the most difficult and exciting U.S. Opens in history, breaking attendance records and creating a more boisterous atmosphere for the U.S. Open. It was this event that the 17th hole became comparable to that of the 16th hole of the Phoenix Open due to the "Amphitheatre" atmosphere of the hole. This was partially caused by the giant stands erected parallel along both sides of the green, with a natural hill behind the green, creating a giant horseshoe of spectators.

Prior to 2002, all U.S. Opens had been staged at private golf or country clubs or at privately owned resorts that, while open to the public, were very expensive for the public to play, with greens fees of several hundred dollars per round. In 2002, Bethpage was selected as the first publicly owned and operated golf course to host the US Open. The USGA's choice of Bethpage was seen as an egalitarian move.

2009 U.S. Open

Lucas Glover won the 2009 U.S. Open. The course was hit heavily by continuous rain throughout the week and weekend. This resulted in multiple suspensions of play. It was this U.S. Open that Phil Mickelson declared that this would be his last tournament before taking significant time off to tend to his ailing wife, Amy, who had been recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Tiger Woods was never a legitimate factor in this U.S. Open and after he sank his final putt, it took him no more than 10 minutes to leave Bethpage State Park.

Like the 2002 U.S. Open, the media coverage of the relationship between the New York gallery and Mickelson was one of the major headlines of the entire tournament. The most memorable moment was Mickelson teeing off on the short par-3 17th hole. As Mickelson walked down the path, toward the green he was met by thousands of spectators with thunderous chants of, "Let's Go Mickelson!" Mickelson came up short, but commended the New York golf fans and suggested a Ryder Cup should be played at Bethpage Black because, "We would have a big advantage."

The USGA wanted to capture the entire venue that year at Bethpage Black for the 2009 US Open, so that the public could also experience every bunker, break, and ridiculous cut of rough during the real life tournament. So the USGA teamed up with World Golf Tour and co-hosted the 2009 Virtual US Open tournament that ended the day after the US Open tournament champion received his trophy. The winner of the virtual tournament won a trip for two to the next years live event in Pebble Beach. The Virtual U.S. Open attracted hundreds of thousands of players from more than 180 countries.

2012 Barclays

The annual Barclays tournament, the first of FedEx Cup playoff events, continued its rotation around the New York metropolitan area and was played at Bethpage State Park in 2012 in late August. As with the previous two U.S. Opens, the 2012 Barclays was played on the difficult Black course. Differing from the U.S. Opens, the 7th hole was lengthened slightly and played as a par-5 to make the course a par-71 at 7,468 yards (6,829 m), identical to the course's blue tees.

2016 Barclays

The Barclays was played August 25–28. Of the 125 players eligible to play in the event, five did not enter: Sergio García (ranked 20), Alex Čejka (59), Danny Willett (75), Shane Lowry (87), and Anirban Lahiri (117). Of the 120 entrants, 79 made the second-round cut at 145 (+3). Despite there being more than 78 players making the cut there was no secondary cut after the third round as in regular PGA Tour events, following a change made after the 2014 season.

Patrick Reed won by a stroke over Emiliano Grillo and Sean O'Hair and moved from seventh place to first place in the standings. The top 100 players in the points standings advanced to the Deutsche Bank Championship. This included five players who were outside the top 100 prior to The Barclays: Sean O'Hair (ranked 108th to 15th), Kang Sung-hoon (122 to 88), John Huh (111 to 90), Tyrone van Aswegen (104to 93), and Derek Fathauer (118 to 99). Five players started the tournament within the top 100 but ended the tournament outside the top 100, ending their playoff chances: Shane Lowry (ranked 87th to 102nd), Peter Malnati (93 to 104), Robert Streb (95 to 105), Lucas Glover (96 to 106), and Jonas Blixt (100 to 107).

The tournament was the last qualifying event for the eight qualifying places for the American team in the 2016 Ryder Cup.

2021, 2027 Barclays

Bethpage will host the 2021 and 2027 Barclays tournament, the first of PGA Tour FedEx Cup playoff events.

2019 PGA Championship & 2024 Ryder Cup

On September 17, 2013, the PGA of America in conjunction with the State of New York announced that the 2019 PGA Championship as well as the 2024 Ryder Cup will be contested at Bethpage Black.

Scorecard