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Home > What's New > No Smoke — for Fans — at U.S. Open
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No Smoke — for Fans — at U.S. Open
Posted: Thursday, June 12, 2008
By David Savona
Golf fans who make it to Torrey Pines to watch the U.S. Open, which begins today, face the usual list of bans common to anyone attending a golf tournament — no cell phones, no noise-making devices, no pets — but for the first time in the history of a major golf tournament, they will also be banned from smoking.
No smoking on a golf course? In the great outdoors?
Torrey Pines is a municipal golf course, only the second to host a U.S. Open. It is owned by the city of San Diego, California, so it is subject to San Diego law, which has banned smoking on public beaches, in public parks and on public golf courses since 2006. Those who are caught breaking the law can be fined $100.
But the law doesn't apply to those participating in the Open itself — USGA officials were able to get a reprieve from the ban, so those taking part in the Open (golfers, caddies, even officials) can smoke if they wish.
"I don't think it's fair," Miguel Angel Jimenez, perhaps golf's most passionate cigar smoker, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. "I don't see what's the problem. Why not make everyone ride a bike here instead of driving their cars? We're in open space. I thought we were supposed to have freedom to do what we want."
In a poll conducted last year on cigaraficionado.com, 61 percent of respondents said they played golf. Just more than half, 51 percent, said they smoked two or more cigars during a typical round of play.
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