U.S. Mid-Amateur celebration of East End golf

A top golfer from Nebraska, planning his trip to the U.S. Mid-Amateur this weekend, called the tournament office to find out where Bridgehampton is. When he learned it is 96 miles from New York City, the golfer said he would commute.

Dennis Suskind, the tournament's general chairman, warned against it, saying the trip could take 3 1/2 hours. The stunned golfer asked, "Three-and-a-half hours for 96 miles?" Suskind, an East End resident and retired partner at Goldman Sachs, paraphrased the line from "The Wizard of Oz" when he replied, "You're not in Nebraska anymore."

It might feel like a trip to the land of Oz for many of the 264 amateurs, many of whom never have been to New York State, "Much less the Hamptons, so that is going to be an eye-opener," Suskind said.

At the same time, it also will be a door-opener for Long Islanders. It will be a rare chance to see two of the most eye-catching and exclusive golf courses anywhere, Atlantic Golf Club and the Bridge.

Admission is free and signs will direct spectators to parking lots (for Atlantic, it will be on Hayground Round, a 90-second shuttle ride to the course on Scuttlehole Road). There will be shuttles between the two courses during stroke play rounds on the weekend. Sixty-four golfers will advance to match play at Atlantic Monday through Thursday. The whole thing has the makings of quite a show, what with America's best 25-and-older golfers shooting for a spot in the Masters.

"There is a great feeling among the members of the two clubs. They're very proud of their golf courses," said Rees Jones, the golf architect known as "The Open Doctor" for his restoration of Bethpage Black and other venues for the U.S. Open. At the Mid-Amateur, he will feel more like a proud parent. He designed both Atlantic and The Bridge.

Jones remembers looking over Equinox Farms with owner Lowell Schulman, envisioning the holes that would make Atlantic Golf Digest's Best New Private Course of 1992. "It paved the way for other clubs on the East End to get started because we had to go through the [environmental] approval process," Jones said. "It was a wonderful opportunity for me and my family. I bought a house out there at a reasonable price."

He still spends much of his summer on the South Fork, which made it easier to oversee renovations in recent years. "They've made it look like the course has been there forever," he said.

The Bridge, on the other hand, was built to remind observers that the course hasn't been there forever. Jones said that principal owner Robert Rubin was a fan of the old Bridgehampton Race Circuit on the rolling 300 acres. "He wanted it to be a monument to the old days," he said, referring to race car signposts, Chevron ads and other mementos that remain. The driveway is part of the track on which Mario Andretti and Dan Gurney drove.

Tournament staffers have been preparing since early 2008. Executive director Karen Kooi has recruited 325 volunteers, including the mayor of Kiawah, S.C. (site of last year's Mid-Amateur). Atlantic head pro Rick Hartmann has eschewed his own playing schedule, such as the Met PGA Senior Championship this week, to make sure everything is ready.

Suskind, president of the Hampton Classic Horse Show and a former Southampton Town Board member, was chosen by his fellow Atlantic members to supervise the logistics, including a dinner tonight at which Mayor Michael Bloomberg will speak. The feeling at the club is that this week is worth 2 1/2 years of work.

"The logic for doing this is, No. 1, to give back to golf; two, there is a certain amount of pride in showing your golf course to 264 great golfers from around the country," Suskind said, "and, three, probably, that it's just fun."