There's a good reason Kerr likes this course

Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

Cristie Kerr has not won in 2008, but she has four top-10 finishes and is ranked seventh in the world. She looks at a Donald Ross- designed course and thinks he had a sense of humor about the game.

Donald Ross' designs agree with her game. She won last year's U.S. Open on another one of his layouts, Pine Needles in N.C. "You have to be very strategic," she said.

By KENT YOUNGBLOOD, Star Tribune

Last update: June 25, 2008 - 12:35 AM

Perhaps they share the same sense of humor. This is Cristie Kerr's theory when it comes to Donald Ross.

Of course, the two never met. Ross, the famous designer of golf courses, including Interlachen Country Club, died in 1948. But 60 years later, Kerr can walk a Ross design and get a feel for the fellow. On Thursday, she will begin defending her U.S. Women's Open title, trying to become the first back-to-back winner since Karrie Webb in 2000 and 2001. She will have this edge:

Ross.

Kerr's favorite course is a Ross design, Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. In three Opens there she was low amateur in 1996, tied for fourth in 2001 and won it all last year for her first major title in her 263rd professional start.

Both Pine Needles and Interlachen are classic Ross. He redid Interlachen's original nine-hole layout, turning it into an 18-hole championship course that opened in 1921. Seven years later he laid out Pine Needles. They share several traits, most of which Kerr adores.

"I think he had a sense of humor about golf, as you can see by his golf courses," Kerr said. "I really enjoy playing them. You have to be very strategic, you have to have a lot of options."

Ross is known for classic, tree-lined courses that feature rolling fairways that offer every sort of lie, and small greens with wicked slopes.

"I like the teeth of the golf course," Kerr said. "I think it's tough. There's a lot of doglegs. There's some very long par 3s, just the mix of holes."

It's something Kerr noticed while playing at Interlachen in the 2002 Solheim Cup.

"It suited my eye," she said. "I could understand, maybe, what Donald Ross was thinking when he designed some of the holes."

Kerr had told people that her best chance at winning the Open would come at Pine Needles or Interlachen. Now she has a chance to win it on both courses.

She said her game, up and down at the start of this season, is rounding into shape and that her short game is the best it's been in two years. She went back to a two-ball putter and has begun making a lot of putts.

"It's just an overall sense of my game starting to peak at the right time," said Kerr, who has four top-10 finishes this season. She credits working on her mental approach with Dr. Joseph Parent for much of her improvement.

But just knowing she is about to start another tournament on a Ross-designed course already has Kerr at ease.

"Understanding the course ... I think you come up with a definite game plan which, no matter what the conditions are, or what somebody is doing with the lead or where you are in the tournament, it gives you a comfort level," she said. "I think that puts me at ease to be able to take care of my own job better."