Links LS Gets a U.S. Open at Pinehurst Add-On

Microsoft has released U.S. Open at Pinehurst, an add-on package for the Links LS golf series, with the real tournament close at hand. Developed by Access Software of Salt Lake City, it recreates Pinehurst’s No. 2 Course exactly as it is set up for the 1999 U.S. Open, complete with cheering galleries, Open signage, camera towers, and press vehicles, so you can take on the championship layout before the pros hit the first tee.

No. 2 is the Donald J. Ross classic in North Carolina, considered one of the ten greatest courses in the world: rated 74.1, a shade over 7,000 yards off the blues, with greens as tough as any in golf. The package also includes The Centennial-Pinehurst No. 8, the Tom Fazio design meant as a modern take on No. 2, opened in 1997 for the resort’s 100th anniversary, where bunkers that look greenside can actually sit twenty yards short of the green to toy with your depth perception. The Pinehurst resort itself spans eight courses and 144 holes.

Links is the best-selling PC golf simulation of all time, and playing the Open venue in Open trim before the pros do is the whole pitch. It is a good one.