Dear Members and Guests,

I’ve probably watched clips of the final putt of the 1999 U.S. Open Championship about 200 times. I still can’t believe Payne Stewart — dressed in his plus-fours — made the 15-footer that garnered him a U.S. Open victory for a second time. Video replay does not diminish the sense of the raw emotion of the moment as the ball dropped into the cup on the 18th hole of Pinehurst No. 2. Payne thrust his fist in the air. He screamed to his caddie. He cried. He was, we were to learn, the first player in the then 99-year history of the U.S. Open to win on the 72nd hole with a substantial putt. And, of course, that statistic all too soon became one of the many poignant and fitting memorials to Payne when we lost the popular golfer in a plane crash a few months later.

I can’t predict the drama or the finish of the 2005 U.S. Open in its return to Pinehurst. I can promise you, however, that ClubCorp’s Three Steps of Service will be our playing strategy. Those Three Steps — Warm Welcomes, Magic Moments, and Fond Farewells — are foundational to our business of building relationships and enriching lives. And we intend to raise the bar in terms of providing hospitality and an exceptional venue for this important U.S. Golf Association championship.

Our Employee Partners at the Pinehurst resort in North Carolina have long been preparing for this exciting week. I hope many of you will be among the galleries and that you personally experience ClubCorp’s service culture combined with Pinehurst’s old-fashioned Southern hospitality. If you are not attending, please tune in to the action via the 55 hours of live television coverage. In either case, I invite you to share our excitement in welcoming this great championship back to Pinehurst. And when the final putt drops in June, our goal is to be able to echo the words of Payne on that Father’s Day six years ago: "I never gave up. I got the job done."

Robert H. Dedman Jr.
Chairman of the Board
ClubCorp

Photography by Danny Hurley.