Cleaning Up After the Open

Just a few days after 230,000 flocked to Bethesda for the U.S. Open,  re-opened to its members Wednesday.

While the clubhouse was made available to its members June 22, the blue course, which was used for the tournament, won’t be usable for at least a month. The United States Golf Association must relay top soil and grass to make the course playable again, championship manager Hank Thompson said.

“We’ve really just started the clean-up effort,” he said. “To put it into context we started construction March 21 for the June 13 U.S. Open. It’ll take a solid month to month and a half to take everything down.”

Since the tournament ended Sunday night, approximately 50 to 60 different vendors have had employees working to clean up the club and remove the equipment that was constructed for the Open. Trucks are working to take away many of the supplies, including Pepsi machines and metal pieces from the audience seating, that were at Congressional for the tournament.

Having recycling stations set up next to trash cans helped to keep the tournament’s attendees environmentally conscious, Thompson said. Materials from concessions stands, like hamburger wrappers and Pepsi bottles, made up the majority of the Open’s trash.

“I would like to think it was pretty successful,” he said. “On a daily basis our ecology vendor was out there maintaining trash cans and making sure dumpsters were rotated in and out, but there’s still a lot to do.”

Because attendees weren’t allowed to park at Congressional for the tournament, the USGA used satellite parking lots around the metropolitan area. Nearby the country club, the which was used as a limo and bus drop-off location, was left in excellent condition, allowing their summer camp to begin on time Monday morning, said Patricia Morrison, the school's assistant head for strategic initiatives.

"The USGA was cooperative and understanding of the large impact the tournament would have to the neighborhood," she said. "They were sensitive to the needs of our institutions. We really had a very positive experience."

In Gaithersburg, one of the largest satellite parking lots, the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, was also left in good condition Monday morning, only requiring a minimal amount of cleaning, said Marnie Adamson-Comanda, Montgomery County Agricultural Center’s event coordinator.

“There were various surrounding areas on the grounds that had minimal debris that the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center assisted with,” Adamson-Comanda said. “Overall we were very impressed with their attention to detail and the organization of the event.”

Montgomery County will soon begin that were constructed over Bradley Boulevard and River Road to allow pedestrian access to the course.

This story has been updated to reflect information from the USGA.