Lee Wybranski Keeps His Record Alive for U.S. Open Posters

Arizona-based artist paints his eighth consecutive commemorative poster for the U.S. Open

(Flagstaff, Ariz.) - The U.S. Open Championship might be coming to the Pacific Northwest for the first time this June, but it is hardly the first time that artist Lee Wybranski has painted the official poster of golf’s national championship.

Chambers Bay will mark the eighth straight time that Wybranski has taken brush in hand to create the official poster for the United States Golf Association. Wybranski’s first U.S. Open poster was created in 2008, when the championship was played at Torrey Pines in Southern California, which like Chambers Bay is a public course.

A native of Philadelphia who now lives and works in Flagstaff, Arizona, Wybranski feels a special kinship to the Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed Chambers Bay because, as he says, “I love links golf. Not only for playing and looking at the course, but to me golf by the water on sandy turf is where the game makes the most sense. I think it will be a very exciting championship this year because of the course - and because our Open has never been to the region. Plus they are sports crazy and I'm curious to see if the ‘12th Man’ somehow shows up in June."

According to the artist, Chambers Bay offers a number of elements that guaranteed a dramatic composition. “The water, the numerous bunkers on the course, and the lone fir that sits behind the 15th green were my bare minimums to include. Plus, I love diagonal compositions, because they provide a great deal of depth and drama and really pull your eyes in.”

But there is something else, something new that makes this course and this poster extra special. “It’s the first time I’ve had the chance to paint a train in any of my work. Trains are a mythical feature of the American West, and they have a long history in golf, running alongside many old links in the UK. By coincidence, the train in the painting is the same line that goes through the center of Flagstaff a block from my studio.”

Work on the painting began more than a year before the championship. “I spent a few days last May doing fieldwork. I always want to be on a site long enough to get one great morning and one great evening of light. I got very lucky with the weather when I was up there. I hope the players are as lucky as I was.”

Wybranski will be signing the posters in the Main Merchandise Pavilion during the week of the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, June 11-21.

To order the U.S. Open poster go to www.leewybranski.com or call 928-310-2152.