Pinehurst area businesses as excited as golf fans for start of US Open: 'It's like a block party'
PINEHURST, N.C. (WTVD) -- After months of anticipation, the 124th US Open officially teed off from Pinehurst Resort in Moore County on Thursday. Golf officials said hundreds of thousands of people are descending on the village for the week, with large crowds already showing up in force for the first day of action.
Businesses said they're enjoying the influx of people, too.
"It definitely intensifies," said Drew Gross, Resident Manager of the Pine Crest Inn. "Part of our routine here is we closed the street on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and it becomes a pedestrian mall and it's like a block party."
Gross said the Pine Crest Inn has been booked solid for five years leading up to this year's Open.
"From a business standpoint we learned from the last one and we'll learn from this one," he said. "So what we do this year will, we'll do better in (20)29 that's for sure. So it's nice to be part of that growth."
At local coffee shop The Roast Office, manager Carol Hess said the feeling during US Open week has been special.
"This is, it's a phenomenal area," Hess said. "This used to actually be the original post office for Pinehurst. So it being repurposed into something that what it is and just to see the magnitude of people that have come into the village is amazing."
On the grounds of Pinehurst No. 2, fans said they couldn't be more excited that America's National Championship is back at one of the country's most storied courses. That includes Colton Palmer, who traveled from Maryland with his 10-year-old son, Otto.
"My dad brought me to the US Open in 1997 when I was about his age, so we thought it would be a cool father-son thing to do on Father's Day to bring down and to do his first PGA event," Palmer said.
Otto said he even got an autograph from Tiger Woods after his first round was done.
"Everyone was just like, 'oh my gosh', like, so amazed," he said. "This is like this for my first golf tournament in general, but it's my favorite so far."
It was a similar experience for Robert Gamble, who traveled down from Raleigh with his two boys to meet their grandfather for the first day of US Open action.
"I got to do it with my grandfather, you know, when I was young. And to be able to do that with my kids is a great experience," he said.
The US Open continues from Pinehurst on Friday morning.
