Furrowgate Breaks Out At The Memorial

They're moaning and groaning about the groovy bunkers at Muirfield Village.  From what I saw on television, the bunkers looked about the way bunkers used to look, oh, 15 years ago when they were dragged careless with a sand pro.

Granted, furrowing is contrived, and this nonsense about going in a certain direction is brutal, but gosh, it didn't exactly look like the Oakmont silliness. Yet...

Mark Lamport Stokes reports that both Nick Price and Ernie Els are not fans.

"I heard someone say earlier in the week that this is the way that they used to rake bunkers way back when and bunkers have always been hazards," the Zimbabwean said after carding a 69.

"I think the difference now is that the greens are running at 13 or 14 (in putting speed). Back in the bygone era, when they did it before, the greens were probably running at about six.

"It's different hitting out of a bunker to a green where you've got no chance to get any spin on the ball. So I disagree with it. I don't like it at all.

"I don't think there's one player out here that does. It's a bit of pot luck, to be honest.

"You can get in there and have a perfect lie when it lands on top of a groove, then you can have another one that goes in the trough, in the bottom of it, and you've got no chance." 

Uh, they used to call that Rub of the Green. I know, I know...in his defense, I would add that there also wasn't as much rough on steroids as there used to be. If you read The Future of Golf, you know I argued that if bunkers were to ever get nasty again (preferably through no more maintenance crew raking after Wednesday play), it would also require getting rid of some of the long grass to at least feel more equitable.

Anyway, Els...

"You're either lucky or unlucky," the South African world number six said after three bogeys in the last four holes gave him a first-round 74. "If you're unlucky, you have no shot, basically.

"I don't care how good of a bunker player you are, you have no shot. But I guess that's what they want."

Sean O'Hair had a different take...

"A trap is a trap, it's a hazard," said O'Hair. "You're not supposed to be there.

"The bunkers here are not hidden, you know where they are. So don't hit it there. If you don't hit it there, you don't have to worry about it."

In this AP story, Jeff Maggert, a well known expert on bunker raking who likely will find himself in the USGA's $#@!* pairing in two weeks, was quoted:

Jeff Maggert suggested that if Nicklaus wanted to make the course harder, he should have narrowed the fairways. As it was, Maggert said, "to try to kind of manufacture something is Mickey Mouse."

And Robert Allenby wasn't a fan either, though I'm not convinced by his argument either:

This is the best-groomed golf course, and I can't believe they would do the bunkers like this," Robert Allenby said after a 71. "It already was hard to get the ball tight. I don't think anyone likes it who is playing this tournament."

Nicklaus said that the new rakes and method of raking was a trial run for other stops on the PGA Tour.

"I don't believe that," said Brad Faxon, who had a 73. "I just don't think these bunkers were that easy to begin with, you know? I don't mind, because I'm a good bunker player. So it wouldn't bother me, but I don't think this place is broken, either."

And if you're a  Nick Price fan, this is just painful to read...

"It's kind of a waste, because he [Nicklaus] has such beautiful sand in the bunkers," Price said. "Why put beautiful sand in the bunkers if you're going to rake them with these rakes? You might as well put crappy sand in there."

Mickelson On Winged Foot, Furrowing

PHIL MICKELSON: Over at Winged Foot, it's tough. It's a very tough golf course. Obviously we know the USGA is going to make it difficult. The rough is thicker and deeper than I've seen it. But I really like the layered rough. In the past you were rewarded for missing a shot with a larger margin of error. If you could hit it into the people, you were much better off than missing the fairway by a yard. Now with the layered rough it's imperative that you keep it, if you do miss a fairway, just off the fairway, because that thick rough is so high that there were sometimes it would take two or three shots just to get it back to the fairway. We'll see a lot of doubles and triples out of that rough, especially given the fact that they're going to keep the people further away. That thick rough won't get trampled down.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: I can always reach the people. If you reach the people now you'll be in the trees and it will be much more difficult to get it back to the fairway, because you have to chip it over the chick rough and get it stopped in a narrow fairway under the trees.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: It wasn't like Carnoustie like it wrapped around and they hadn't cut it for 1 year. They've ^money it perfectly right across the top, probably six inches, just like they said. Very consistent. But the third cut is. But it was thicker than I've seen it. It looks like when the ball would go to the bottom, the grass would just grow over it. It was very difficult.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, yeah, the guy who wins won't be hitting it there. He'll be hitting it in the short stuff or if he ^dismiss it in the shorter cut. However, that thick grass was all around the green, they didn't layer it around the green, the six inch rough around the green.

Q. Do you like it?

PHIL MICKELSON: Do I like it? I'm not in favor of it around the green as much, because it takes the short game out of play. But I think that if you miss it right or if you hit a number of greens you'll be okay.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, oh, yeah.

Q. (Inaudible.)

PHIL MICKELSON: No, but I have a hard time seeing it being anymore difficult than Shinnecock in '04 on the weekend. And I think the USGA can make it as hard as they want. Winged Foot is such a good course that it won't require ridiculous things to keep par a good score. In looking at it now, I don't see how guys are going to shoot under par. Of course I say that every open, and every open guys are under par the first couple of rounds.

And on the furrowing...

Q. The sand traps, they're going to do something different for the first time here at this tournament, the raking. It's really going to be a penalty. What do you hear about that, what are your thoughts?

PHIL MICKELSON: It is a hazard and nothing says that the bunkers need to be immaculate. Bobby Jones, back in the 20s, I believe, played Oakmont when they were using those furrowed rakes, and he said that he didn't like it, because it took the skill out of the game. Now, it just depends how bad a lie. Is there a chance we can hit a shot out of it? Or is it going to be just ridiculous where you're lucky to get it on the green, and it takes the skill out of it? So it's a fine line between the two. But I don't mind making a bunker a hazard, because it is.

Well said. It's almost like...na! 

Jack's Memorial Press Conference

I'll spare you of reading the transcript which was filled with several nice rally kills. Here's Jack Nicklaus on the new fairway mowing patter, the new bunker raking concept, and other things he's done to the course (there's more hole-by-hole talk if you go to the full transcript):

The other thing that we did one thing we did with the fairways, was that about for the last couple, three years, I keep looking on television and seeing the checkerboard on the thing and I said I just don't like it. It's pretty, but it doesn't look like a golf course, it looks like something else. You know what I'm talking about? The way we cut the fairways in the cross cutting.

I liked the look of Augusta, but I don't like cutting the fairway into you, because I think that's I don't like that, because I think it makes you hit flyers, because the grass is lying into you, and I think it's not a it slows down the golf course, that's why they did it was to slow down the golf course. I felt like the other way around, I like my golf course fast, and I felt like it's much nicer lie to play with the grass lying down towards the hole. It's a much better shot, the fairways will play faster, so the balls can run farther. I don't mind that the course kept playing shorter, because it makes the fairways shorter. We cut the fairways all in one direction.

The last thing we did is a couple of weeks before the tournament I called and I said, "Would you make a call to the Tour and ask them what they want to do with the bunkers?" We spend money every year, to try and deep even the bunkers, do different things and the bunker has ceased to become a penalty. And I said if we came back actually even if we raked them the way we did when we started the tournament, we'd have an uncertainty of what the lie was. We were probably the cause of bunkers being perfect today. They used to rake them with a pretty good sized rake and it was clumpy, and the ball really never set very well in the bunker. And we started working here, how do you make a bunker so it really is a nice lie so you really have a clean lie out of it, and so that everything is consistent. We developed that rake that is used, the round rake, and that was our development here. And we took that and that's what everybody uses today.

Now all the bunkers are so perfect, there's no penalty anymore. Bunkers are really supposed to be a penalty. I don't care about them being a penalty, penalty, right now guys look at a par 5, if I don't get it on the green, and put it in the bunker, I know I can get it up and down and we move on.

I asked the Tour, and they have been telling the guys all year, the honeymoon is over, the bunkers are going to be a penalty. I said, "When are you going to do that?" We haven't done it yet. I said, "We can start it right here if you want to." And they said, "Fine."

We developed a rake here that put us on I think I think it's center of the middle of the tines are like two and a half inches, when means two inches spread between the spread of the rake. And it gives you a little bit of a waffling in the bunker, and it can be you can get a good lie or you might not get a good lie. And particularly in the fairway bunkers, if you hit it in the fairway bunker, you've got an option before you hit it in the fairway bunker that's most of the bunkers that were changed, to have a penalty off the tee shot, if you hit it in the bunker they hit it so far, and it doesn't make any difference, unless the bunker is 25 feet deep. I'll never forget the one they did at 5 on Augusta, and hoot I said no one is going to knock it out of here. I said, "That won't make a difference." And so anyway, that was sort of the issue. And so rather than having to change the bunkers all the time, we'll continue to change our bunkers, now we've got to get them consistent to all the bunkers on the golf course, we continue to change a few every year, but now I want them so when you hit the ball they say, "I don't really want to be in that bunker." But if they get in it then they have a chance of having a penalty. That was sort of the idea.

The Tour liked it, the Tour supported it 100 percent, and that's what we're doing.

And, this is where it gets kind of silly when you really think about it...

Q. Jack, is there any strategy to raking the bunkers with these rakes? In other words, having the furrows run parallel toward the green or perpendicular?

JACK NICKLAUS: We had it going the other way, but the Tour said they wanted it the other way. I don't care how you do it, I could care less. I think the Tour probably said it's not quite as much a penalty if you go towards the hole. I don't care which way you go. All I'm trying to do is make the guy think he doesn't want to be in the bunker, and it's not the place to aim for. To the right of 18. They don't want to be in the water, guys have tried tried to drive over the bunker, some still can, but they didn't mind being in the first bunker to the right, because it was a fairly flat, low profile bunker and you could play the ball. I can't figure out a way to deep even that bunker, so let's just make the lie uncertain. That way the guy is not going to just want to be in that bunker.

And...

Q. Compared to Oakmont type bunker, how do they compare?

JACK NICKLAUS: When I played in '62, you took a sand wedge and hit it out, that's all you could do. That was much deeper than what we have now. That was a big that was probably that deep (indicating), probably a ball deep and it was sort of like that (indicating). This is two inch spread, actually from edge of the rake to the edge of the rake, and it puts a thing but not nearly as severe as that.

And...

Q. You talked about when you played at Oakmont you had to hit them out with sand wedges, would you like to see them back to that, or do you think that's too dramatic now?

JACK NICKLAUS: It would be okay. Why do you put a bunker on a golf course? I think there's two reasons three reasons, one, is esthetically it's very pretty, it gives you a framing issue. Two, it guides you around the golf course or three, it's penal. It could be one of those three. To this point in time they've been esthetically pleasing and they guide you around the golf course, but they haven't been penal. So I think that third element needs to come into it. I thought that for a long, long time.

The proverbial technology question...didn't even get out before Jack jumped in, followed by a nice rally killer...

Q. I was going to ask you what, as technology keeps on you have guys hitting

JACK NICKLAUS: I hope in technology, somebody wakes up, eventually, to technology.

Q. On the subject of psychology, has that changed the art of shot making, does that still exist, or do people just hit it as far as they can?

Furrowed Bunkers at Muirfield Village!?

Bob Baptist in The Columbus Dispatch has the details:

Acting on an initiative to which the tour so far has only given lip service, the Memorial Tournament has switched to longer-toothed rakes to create small furrows in the bunkers on the course. The hoped-for result is less-consistent lies in the sand and tougher shots out of it when practice rounds begin Monday.

"Bunkers were meant to be a penalty," Jack Nicklaus said yesterday while playing the course, "and they haven’t been for quite a while."

Nicklaus, who designed and built Muirfield Village, said he has been thinking for a while about furrowing the bunkers as one more way to protect the course against never-ending technological advances that are propelling balls ever farther.

He said when he asked tour officials this past winter what they thought of the idea, he found that they were considering the same thing. They had not implemented it, however, until giving the Memorial the OK.

"The players wear us out (complaining) about the conditions of the bunkers, that they aren’t perfect," said tour official Frank Kavanaugh, who was on site yesterday setting up the course. "We’ve gotten to the point where they expect a perfect lie every time. We’ve got to change their attitude.

"There’s no more smooth ice. They’re on rough ice now."

Nicklaus said the bunkers will be reminiscent of how tour bunkers used to be and how they were the first few years of the Memorial, which started in 1976.

"The lies will be not as consistent," he said. "You’ll now have to look at your lie and play a bunker shot according to your lie.

"The guys that are good bunker players will like it more. The guys who aren’t as good won’t like it as much."

Now, I'm all for returning the hazard to bunkers.

But I'm curious why the Tour, as reported in this story, is looking for ways to make their setups more difficult? Shouldn't they be looking at the ratings and wondering how they can make their setups more entertaining? Do they even know the difference?

Either way, this ought to make Muirfield Village interesting...until it starts raining. 

Good Enough For The President, Not The President's Cup

You may recall that even after two top 10s in the '05 Open and PGA, Gary Player chose Trevor Immelman over Geoff Ogilvy.

Maybe George W. Bush noticed and decided to make it up to Ogilvy?

Because Peter Stone shares Geoff Ogilvy's stories from a surprise invite to attend a White House state dinner, where Ogilvy found himself seated with Bush, Condoleeza Rice, Rupert Murdoch and the president of New Zealand Australia.

Don't pass this one up, it's a must read. I'm copying most below in case the link disappears (after all, this is my personal archive!):

"I still don't know why I was invited," [Ogilvy] said. "The White House contacted my manager less than a week before the dinner; they didn't know how else to contact me. I thought, 'That's a bit strange,' because it was the White House. They know everything.

"There were no details, an official invitation arrived in the post shortly afterwards, but it was a pretty easy decision to make. Of course we'd go."

The Ogilvys arrived spot on time. They were among the first to arrive, and after going through security were ushered into an anteroom for cocktails.

There they watched the other guests arrive - "Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Murdoch … Juli and I looked at each other and said, 'Wow, why are we here?' We knew [from newspapers and television] just about everyone who entered. 'Wow, we know why they're here."'

Ogilvy thought it would be a dinner for 800 or more people, but there were just over 120. He and Juli were given a small package which included their table number. Damn. Ogilvy was on No.11 (of 12 tables), his wife on No.7. They knew no one else and it would have been far more comfortable to be seated together.

"I thought, before we went to the dining room, maybe we'd be in a queue to shake Johnny and Bush's hand," Ogilvy said. "We were, but the President caught Juli's accent. 'Are you from Texas?' In 30 seconds they'd established that she had a friend who had babysat the Bush children.

"I said to Jules before we were ushered into the dining room, 'I'll see you later'. Then I found my table. 'Table 11. Where the hell is it? Right up the front. Not bad. Wonder who's on the table?' I looked at the place names. Condoleezza Rice. Wow. Rupert Murdoch. The President. John Howard and Mrs Howard, Julie Eisenhower. What the hell am I doing here?"

The band began to play, believe it or not, the same song they play on the movies whenever the actor who is president enters a room. Hail to the Chief. Juli had her back to where her husband was but turned to watch where the most powerful man in the world sat, two seats away from her husband.

"Juli freaked out when she looked around," Ogilvy said. "The look on her face was priceless. Mine probably was too. I just couldn't comprehend why he wanted me to sit at his table.

"He's the man. He could have had anyone in the world sitting just two chairs away from him, it was amazing."

Ogilvy and Bush talked. Bush talked to the Australian golfer, who was the only sportsperson in the entire room, more than to anyone else on the table.

There was never a word about politics. The only mention of Iraq was when Bush told Ogilvy he'd stopped playing golf when the Iraq war began.

This was a valuable lesson learned from the days of his predecessor, Bill Clinton, who was found on a golf course during a national crisis.

"All he wanted to do was talk sport," Ogilvy said of Bush. "No politics. Maybe that was the reason I was there. I'm an Australian and we love our sport.

"His dad is a fanatical golfer, his grandfather was a former president of the USGA, he loves his golf. These days he rides a bike. He used to run, but his knees blew out, so now he's passionate about his bike."

Ogilvy minded his manners while talking with Bush. Not for him the "atrocities" of fellow Australian golfer Mark Hensby, who is somewhat a loose cannon, who last year attended a White House reception for the Presidents Cup team and managed to have a shot at Bush over taxes and later managed to set fire to the dinner menu at the table with a candle.

"When you're sitting at a table with people like that you definitely remember what you were taught when you were young," Ogilvy said. "You only speak when you are spoken to. It's amazing how quickly your social etiquette comes back."

Ogilvy, reunited with his wife as they departed, said to each other that none of their friends would believe it. She'd been on a table with Murdoch's wife Wendi and the man who was the mayor of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck; he's now in charge of rebuilding the famous city where Bourbon Street holds legendary status.

"Maybe I'll meet another president, or prime minister, but to be actually sitting with them at the same table in the White House - no one would believe that. I still don't," Ogilvy said.

Last Pairing Dominance

Wonder why the most exciting thing about a PGA Tour final round telecast is the latest Villages ad? (By the way, where would the PGA Tour be without their most consistent advertiser!?).

Anyway, reader Josh picked this up on ESPN.com, where Jason Sobel writes:

Most unbelievable fact on the PGA Tour so far this season? It has nothing to do with Watson's driving prowess or the multiple-victory seasons of Woods, Mickelson and Appleby. Instead, it's this: Through 20 stroke-play events, the eventual winner has come from the final grouping of the tournament in all but one. What does that tell us? That today's players, many of whom are putting increasing emphasis on the mental side of the game and remaining calm in high-pressure situations, are learning to become winners, with fewer final-round leaders choking away the lead coming down the stretch. Oh, and that one champion who did not come from the last grouping? If you guessed Kirk Triplett at the Chrysler Classic of Tucson, give yourself a pat on the back.

Okay, the bit about learning to become winners does sound like Golf Channel punditry gone bad.

Naturally, I'd blame the lack of come-from-behind finishes on the anti-birdie, pre-vent anyone-from-noticing-the-distance-issue-course setup mentality. Is that enough dashes for you in one sentence?

Sure it's early, but the 2006 final round scoring average is 72.0. It was 71.5 in 2005, 71.1 in 2000, 71.3 in 1995.

Now, we've been told the players and fields are better than ever, that courses are better conditioned than at any point in the history of the game and the equipment better than ever. Oh, and their mental calm is better than ever from all of that Adderall great mental preparation.

And yet the final round scoring average going up? 

"We've been promised some good dates thanks to our friends at FedEx"

Phil Stukenborg in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal (beat the Light and Shopper) writes about the St. Jude event and its excitement over a new June date in the 07 FedEx Cup schedule. Tournament director Phil Cannon is also excited for these reasons:

--The tournament, which will be known in 2007 as the Stanford St. Jude Championship, will be played June 7-10, or in the enviable spot one week before the U.S. Open.

--The FedEx Cup points competition, similar to the Nextel Cup on the NASCAR Circuit, is expected to increase player participation.

--And several more weeks to grow the rough should have the course in ideal condition.

That rough harvesting is tricky business!

Here's the line that will irk some tournament directors:

''There are about three primo dates on the PGA Tour in the summertime and we are going to have one of them next year,'' Cannon said. ''It hasn't been finalized yet, but the Tour has said we'll like our 2008 through 2012 dates just as much. We've been promised some good dates thanks to our friends at FedEx.''

And Cannon is excited about the FedEx Cup...

''The whole FedEx Cup points competition is going to change the structure of our sport tremendously,'' Cannon said. ''It's going to reward players for their performances and participation on a year-long basis, much like you see in NASCAR with the Nextel Cup. Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt are in every race all year long. Thirty-eight races.

''I don't think you'll see pro golfers in 95 percent of their events, but I think you'll see them increase their starts and vary their schedules. From talking to players and agents, they all say this is going to revolutionize scheduling.''

Still Slow After All These Months...

Sure sounds to me like Ben Crane's final round 64 would have been a much nicer 66 to the guys stuck behind him...

It's not always nice, though, to be summoned in public view by a PGA Tour rules official to be warned for the umpteenth time about lollygagging on the course.

For nearly 10 minutes against the brick wall of Colonial's clubhouse, Crane and the official each made their case.

"He said he wanted us to stay in front of the group behind us," Crane said. "He said, 'Look, if the group behind you waits, we'll fine you.' I said there was a discrepancy of whether they were waiting or not."

Crane's playing partner, Shigeki Maruyama, privately told Japanese television network NHK that he grew weary of Crane's pace. Publicly, Maruyama was his usual all smiles and had nothing negative to say.

Tour officials have yet to assess Crane a penalty stroke. Frustrated with Crane's pace at last year's Booz Allen Classic, Rory Sabbatini putted out of turn once, and left Crane in the fairway on another hole.

Fire and Nice!?

Charles Polansky reports on the Amy Sabbatini's latest t-shirt...not nearly as fun as her last.

There is a definite give-and-take, yin and yang, in Rory Sabbatini's life - on and off the golf course.

Take the T-shirts that his wife Amy has designed for his large gallery of friends and family planning to be at this week's Bank of America Colonial. They are appropriately appropriate.

Emblazoned on the front is a phrase that suits Sabbatini perfectly _"Fire and Nice."

Everybody who follows golf knows all about Sabbatini's fire.

Amy or Rory? Or sorry...

At last summer's Booz Allen Classic, Sabbatini infamously played out of turn on the 17th hole after growing frustrated with the slow pace of playing partner Ben Crane.

He finished the hole before Crane and walked ahead to the 18th tee, drawing boos from the gallery at Congressional Country Club as well as the ire of ABC golf analyst Paul Azinger, who skewered Sabbatini on the telecast.

"The first four weeks after were horrific," said Amy, who tries to walk as many rounds with her husband as possible. "It got to where I was putting on headphones to block everything out."

But there's another side to Sabbatini, a blossoming PGA Tour star from South Africa, that many haven't seen. Last year, he wore camouflage pants in the first round of events and donated $250 for every birdie and $1,000 for every eagle that he made to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

"His heart's bigger than his chest," Amy said during Sabbatini's second round at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.

Whoa Bubba! Vol. 2

Even floggers the blues...Bubba Watson's round 2 totals in the second column...

DRIVING DISTANCE        355.5        320.5            338.0        1
PUTTS PER ROUND        25                34                29.5           T80
PUTTS PER GIR                1.417           2.091           1.739        41
GREENS IN REG                   67             61                63.9          T67
SAND SAVES                        100            33             60.0           T42

Whoa Bubba!

Key Stats for Bubba Watson  after round 1 at Colonial:

Driving Distance    355.8
Driving Accuracy    71.4%
GIR    66.7%
        
Putts Per GIR    1.417
Avg. Proximity to Pin    25' 4"
Scrambling    66.7%

Update on 2006-05-19 05:13 by Geoff

Bill Nichols writes:

Can't hit a driver at Colonial? Watson used his nine times. On the par-5 No. 1, his drive traveled 391 yards, setting up a birdie. He almost drove the green with his 342-yard shot on the par-4 2nd. He landed just in front of the green with his 355-yard drive on 6, which he birdied, and he went 337 yards on No. 7.

 "It worked to my advantage that I hit it somewhat straight," Watson said. "It could work wonders for me this week. A lot of guys are hitting different clubs. But if you can hit if far enough, some of the holes open up, even though you are hitting out of the rough."

PGA Tour Tournament Central

Check out PGATour.com's new "Tournament Central" page where you can see where every group is on the course and where they are standing. You can also monitor how holes are playing.

But best of all, now we can see who is really slow.

Colonial Times

Gil LeBreton in the Star Telegram writes about Colonial's struggle to lure long hitters, how the once feared course is too short and reveals plans to make changes. Gee, all so that...eh.

But, as even Gentle Ben observed, "I don't think there is any question today that, with the distances that people can hit the ball, [Colonial] may be not quite what it used to be."

Earlier this month, architect Keith Foster of St. Louis presented Colonial members with his latest plans to redesign the old course.

Don't reach for your heart medicine. It's a subtle redesign, not a makeover.

The course needs its bunkers redone to aid their drainage. And, while Foster was going to be digging up the course, club officials asked him to draw up a proposal for how he would "improve" the late Marvin Leonard's riverside pasture land.

No big deal, according to Leonard's daughter, club vice president Marty Leonard.

"There will be some minimal yardage added in some areas," she said. "It's more about reshaping things. Maybe lowering some tees that have been built up that are not the Maxwell style."

Crenshaw On Hogan, Colonial

Ben Crenshaw talks to Doug Smith of his hometown paper about playing Colonial one more time and about his memories of five time Colonial Invitational champion Ben Hogan.

"The Nelson Puddle"

Gary Van Sickle on the new lake decorating the 18th at TPC Las Colinas: "it resembles a swoopy Las Vegas hotel pool with a fountain in the middle. Plus, not many water hazards naturally occur halfway up a hillside."