The last time the U.S. Women's Open was played in Minnesota also was the last time that a mostly original Hazeltine National layout was played in a championship event.

Hollis Stacy was the 1977 winner at 4-over 292. Rookie Nancy Lopez was the runner-up, two strokes behind.

Reed Mackenzie, a Hazeltine member and the former president of the USGA, was asked to recall if the women were as hard on Hazeltine as were Dave Hill and Co. when the 1970 Open was held at the course.

"No, the ladies were much nicer, even back then," Mackenzie said.

Hazeltine is on the sideline this week as the Women's Open arrives at Interlachen in Edina. The spotlight will return to the brawny Chaska track next August with the PGA Championship.

The USGA found itself in the unusual position of being heaped with praise earlier this month, when Tiger Woods clumped around for 91 holes to defeat Rocco Mediate in the Open at Torrey Pines.

Mike Davis, the organization's senior director of rules and competition, was credited with setting up a course that maintained the USGA's traditional difficulty, while offering the chance to execute shots, drop putts and make birdies (and even eagles).

More so than with the PGA, the Masters or the British Open, the international golf media always has put a focus on the USGA employee responsible for setting up a championship course.

Joseph Dey was the USGA's executive director from 1934 through 1968. "Joe was a one-man operation for most of his time," Mackenzie said. "He set up the courses himself. Eventually, he hired P.J. [Boatwright] and broke him in."

The USGA brought the Women's Open to Hazeltine in 1966. Sandra Spuzich was the winner with a 9-over 297. That should have been a warning to the USGA, but it brought the men's Open to Hazeltine four years later.

Everyone except the winner, England's Tony Jacklin, lived to regret it.

After the criticism during and after the 1970 Open, Hazeltine undertook substantial construction to eliminate blind landing areas. "Even though we had the Women's Open in '77, P.J. told us, 'As long as both the 17th hole and I are around, you will never get another [men's] Open,'" Mackenzie said.

Mackenzie and others found a jut of land in Lake Hazeltine to use as a 16th tee. That allowed them to turn the hole into a par-4, and change the 17th from a silly par 4 into a great par 3.

The first USGA championship with the new layout was the 1983 Senior Open. Boatwright was there a year earlier to see the dramatic change to the closing holes.

"We were playing the new 16th and were in the fairway," Mackenzie said. "P.J. looked at the green sitting out there on the shore, with the deck over in the back.

"The pin was there and P.J. said, 'Reed, it's too small back there. This green is going to have to be changed.' I said, 'It's OK, P.J. It will be fine.' And then I hit a shot in there about three feet from the pin.

"P.J. looked at me and said, 'We'll play the hole like this, and put a pin back there.'"

Boatwright never did see the complete rehabilitation of Hazeltine with the successful 1991 Open. He died of bone cancer in April 1991, a month after the death of Dey, his mentor.

David Eger, now a player on the Champions Tour, was the USGA's director of rules and competition from 1992 through 1995. He was replaced by Tom Meeks, who became a hot-button figure for USGA critics.

His Waterloo came in the 2004 Open, when the Sunday greens became unplayable at Shinnecock Hills. He would retire at the end of the USGA's 2005 championship season.

His replacement Davis has introduced graduated rough, front pin placements and short par 4s to great applause from men and women players alike.

"Watching as an outsider now, I'd say Mike is doing a tremendous job," Mackenzie said.

Reed was the general chairman of the 1991 Open at Hazeltine -- the event that created Minnesota's now-large reputation as a golf hotbed.

"If P.J. hadn't gone to bat for us, we would never have gotten the second Open," Mackenzie said. "And the '91 Open has led to many great things for Minnesota golf.

"That's why Hazeltine commissioned a P.J. Boatwright portrait. There are two copies -- one in [USGA] Golf House and one in our clubhouse."

Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. • preusse@startribune.com