USGA wants 2021 Open at Torrey

— -- The U.S. Open will return to Torrey Pines in 2021, pending approval from the San Diego City Council, the United States Golf Association confirmed Tuesday.

USGA spokesman Joe Goode said Tuesday that the tournament has been offered to the venue that hosted the epic 2008 U.S. Open won by Tiger Woods in a playoff over Rocco Mediate.

The San Diego Union-Tribune initially reported the news and suggested that the PGA of America's interest in bringing the PGA Championship to the course hastened the decision to get back to Southern California.

"It's a great win for San Diego," Mayor Kevin Faulconer told the newspaper. "The fact that we've been selected again speaks volumes as to how this city came together and put on a world-class tournament in '08. It just shows, from the USGA's standpoint, that we know how to get it done."

Faulconer said that the city council will be asked to approve bringing the tournament back at a meeting next week.

Torrey Pines is a public course that annually hosts the Farmers Insurance Open over two courses. The South Course is the one that would be used for the U.S. Open.

In 2008, playing on what was later discovered to be a broken tibia, Woods tied Mediate at 283, 1 under par, through 72 holes by rolling in a 12-foot birdie putt on the final green to force a playoff.

The next day, they were still tied through 18 holes, forcing sudden death, and Woods won with a par on the first extra hole. It was his 14th major title, and two days later he had season-ending knee surgery to replace a torn ACL. He has not won a major since. Woods also has won the PGA Tour event held at Torrey Pines seven times.

This year's U.S. Open will be played at Pinehurst No. 2, followed by Chambers Bay (2015), Oakmont (2016), Erin Hills (2017), Shinnecock Hills (2018), Pebble Beach (2019) and Winged Foot (2020).

The PGA Championship, which has not been played at a West Coast venue since 1998 and is not scheduled to be through 2019, had been seriously interested in going to Torrey Pines. If the U.S. Open deal goes through, any plans for a PGA Championship on the West Coast would likely be put on hold for several years beyond 2021. 

"There are a lot of chess pieces," USGA president Thomas O'Toole told the Union-Tribune. "We wouldn't have gone back to Torrey Pines any sooner than 10 years, and we're slightly outside that range now. We have a fabulous Open there; the city was great; and the community was incredibly supportive."