Doak & Urbina Reunite For A Bandon Himalayas Course

Matt Ginella reports that Mike Keiser has reunited architect Tom Doak with the longtime associate he let go about the time the duo opened the magnificent Old Macdonald course.

This time Doak will be designing and Jim Urbina will be shaping a Himalayas-style putting course at Bandon Dunes resort.

Punchbowl will utilize 125,000- to 150,000-square feet of dunesland between the clubhouse at Pacific Dunes and the Pacific Ocean. The eighth green at Old Macdonald is 25,000 square feet and is currently the biggest single green on property. The Himalayas at the Old Course is roughly 140,000 square feet.

The land is being cleared now. Urbina says the goal is to have it seeded by May and the first putt might be as soon as the fall.

Couples On Riviera's 10th: "It's not as fun because it's more of a struggle."

As the Northern Trust Open first round neared a conclusion before play was called at 5:43, Riviera's 10th was playing to a 4.056 average and for the first time several players suggested that maybe the short par-4 beloved by so many wasn't as fun as it used to be.

Several players referred to "changes" but the only difference this year is the Stimpmeter reading of 12 and increased firmness from a lack of rain. The last major changes to the green caem in 2009 when the surrounding bunker lips were lowered.

Fred Couples after an opening 68:

Q.  Since you've been here, how have you played 10 in the past?  Do you feel like it's been one of your better holes here at Riviera?

FRED COUPLES:  Yeah, I said that yesterday.  I used to tell my caddie being a little cocky that when we teed off, just put the 3 on the card, because I birdied it so many times, and now I think if you look at the last four years I've played, I barely make pars on it.  I bogeyed it last year twice.  They might need to re‑evaluate that green here in the near future.

It's really slopey, and the front of the green goes up and the back goes like that and the balls are rolling over.  It's all fun and hunky‑dory when you try to drive the green but when you get around the green and you're playing 35 feet left of the flag because there's nowhere to go, it kind of defeats the purpose.

And...

Q.  Is it fun?

FRED COUPLES:  It's not as fun because it's more of a struggle.  There's nowhere to drive it.  If you're good enough to drive it in that grass and pop it up in the air and have it trickle on the front of the green, you're really a good player.

But if you drive it on the green, it rolls down across and they have shaved it and it just rolls to where there's nowhere to go, except when the pin is in the very front.  But the other three days, you're chipping 40 feet from the hole.

Lee Westwood, making his first Riviera appearance in six years, opened with 68 and said after the round:

They have changed it since I played it, six or seven years ago.  There's like a run‑off area down the left if you hit driver, so it runs too far and then you've got to come around the bunker to a back right flag.

So it's really difficult to play it now, and there's no fringe around the green, around the bunkers.  So anything, it's a very severe green, it's very quick and anything that spins off goes in the trap.  It's significantly harder than the last time I played it.  I probably still haven't quite figured out how you play it but I think most of the people will be in the same position to be honest.

Phil Mickelson, birdied the hole en route to an opening 71:

Q.  Would 10 be any better, if they worked with it more, could it be a better hole than it already is?

PHIL MICKELSON:  Well, I think it was ten years ago, but over time, greens are going to shrink, kikuyu is going to keep in.  As we have got firmer greens, it's become a hole that you used to try to make a three on and you're pretty happy today to make a four.

I got lucky today in the sense that I hit a perfect chip shot and made a great putt but this hole is going to play over par.  It's very difficult to make threes there right now.

Q.  On 11, you turned and watched Westwood play his shot; is that one hole you can sit and watch out of curiosity how guys play and what they do?
   
PHIL MICKELSON:  Yeah, I always enjoy watching him chip around the greens, too, though.

It is fascinating how, as the green has sped up and the hole becomes more difficult, how much it seems to be in the heads of the world's best. I'm not sure it's quite as extreme as some are describing simply because so few actually lay-up off the tee in the proper area.

Either way, Doug Ferguson filed a fun summary of the early morning antics Thursday worth a look. Most notably, Humana Challenge winner Brian Gay opened with a triple bogey 7.

He's among the shorter hitters in golf, and chose to lay up to the left. He had 58 yards left and a decent angle to the diagonal green. The safe shot would have been a pitch that landed on the front of the green and rolled up to about 20 feet. Gay realized the middle part of the green sloped hard to the left, so he took on a small gap just to the left of the front bunker.

It was a smaller margin of error, and he made an error. The shot was too far to the right and went into the sand. He compounded that by aiming at the flag, and his bunker shot went through the green into the back bunker. His next shot hit the 8-inch lip of the bunker and rolled back to the sand. He hit the next onto the green about 7 feet away, and the missed his putt. Triple bogey.

His caddie, Kip Henley, walked over to the 11th tee and said, "What the hell just happened?"

He added a few minutes later, "This has got to be one of the top five holes on tour. Maybe the best. And I'm saying that after my man made triple."

Mark Lamport Stokes reports on the first round, where Matt Kuchar's 64 led the way.

A few images from the opening day, including Jonas Blixt's hot pink shoes, Adam Scott's range bag-turned-putter cover and the tallest professional basketball player in the world making an appearance.

IGF "Very Concerned" Over Rio Golf Construction Delay

AroundtheRings.com scores an exclusive chat with International Golf Federation head Antony Scanlon, who is hoping to bring attention to the stalled Rio 2016 golf course project on the eve of the IOC Coordination Commission's visit to Rio.

“We are very concerned,” Scanlon admits to ATR. “The IGF are anxiously waiting for the necessary legislation to be passed at the next sitting of the Rio de Janeiro council and that all the required contracts, licenses and permits are issued and able to be executed immediately so that construction proper can commence as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile the Rio people responded by saying everything is A-okay, according to their communications director, Carlos Villanova.

"The Organizing Committee has been keeping IGF informed of all developments and counted on its expertise in several occasions, including the selection of the design for a new golf course.

"American designer Gil Hanse has already relocated to Rio as planned, to oversee the construction works.

"The necessary legislation has been voted by the Rio de Janeiro Council; hence the start of construction remains on track for April."

The project was originally slated to commence in October...of last year.

Trinity River Update: “I think most folks would be blown away by what’s out there"

Bill Nichols files an update on the Trinity River project ouside Dallas where Coore and Crenshaw have been hired to build a course for AT&T excecutives with the hope of one day hosting the Byron Nelson.

Trinity Forest will be cut in the mold of, say, Chicago Golf Club or Tulsa’s Southern Hills: No water, no trees; but lots of gnarly grasses swaying over a wind-blown landscape surrounded by forest and lowlands.

“The fairways will be expansive with meandering hills,” Coore said. “It will be a natural look with smooth contours that ripple and roll, ever cascading.”

From the highest point of the course, the No. 5 fairway, you can see downtown during winter months. That view will be blocked by trees the rest of the year.

Although there are no dramatic highs and lows, the elevation changes about 35 feet.

The layout promises to reward creativity. Three holes will cross a deep ravine. The most dramatic could be the par-3 No. 8, which goes downhill over the ravine with forest to the right.

"The environmental question is really the one that is difficult for the manufacturers to refute."

Richard Gillis files an interesting WSJ piece (thanks reader John) about distance where Nike's Cindy Davis preaches the joys of pursuing longer drives and selling the next great driver.

Thankfully, my colleague Gil Hanse brought some sanity to the discussion.

"We're at a point where something has to be done," Hanse said. "We're talking about a tiny proportion of golfers where distance is an issue, a small handful of tour players and accomplished amateurs. Whether its bifurcation or rolling the ball back I don't know what the answer is, but the environmental question is really the one that is difficult for the manufacturers to refute."

The new normal in golf course design is the 8,000-yard layout.

"Two hundred acres is the new standard for a golf course compared to 150 acres a few years ago," Hanse said. "And 120 of those acres have to be maintained and watered as opposed to 80. You really are going down an unsustainable path. From a manufacturers standpoint, how can you argue against that? They can talk a lot about marketing, about player endorsements and how there's always been the same set of rules, etc., but the environmental argument is the winning one."

EA's Absurdly Cool "Masters Historic Edition"

Electronic Arts announced a special edition of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 and for those of us fascinated by Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones' original Augusta National design, the attention to detail looks amazing.

For Immediate Release:

Electronic Arts Inc., announced today that fans will be able to step back in time with Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 14: The Masters Historic Edition. For the first time ever, users will experience Augusta National Golf Club as it was when the course played host to the very first Masters Tournament - what was known in 1934 as the Inaugural Augusta National Invitation Tournament.

The development of this exclusive feature was researched with meticulous detail in an effort to re-create the original 1931 design of world-renowned golf course architect Dr. Alister MacKenzie and legendary golfer Bobby Jones.

"From the very beginning, our relationship with the Masters Tournament has been built around our ability to bring a unique and authentic experience to a new and younger demographic of potential golfers," Mike Taramykin, Vice President of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR said. "From unprecedented access to the Augusta National archives, to in-depth discussions with golf historians - and even our own internal research into the sport in the 1930s - The Masters Historic Edition is the next step in bringing gamers an exciting and distinctive glimpse into the game of golf."

Game play will place players in a 1934 environment, which takes into account everything from the clothing to the equipment. On the golf course, users will discover a new way to enjoy the timeless layout, and as it would have played when the first Tournament field competed in the Club's inaugural invitational. This includes everything from the golf course's nines being reversed to its original green contours and speeds.

In addition to this unique feature, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 14: The Masters Historic Edition will also include:

    •    A complete copy of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 14
    •    A walk through of the original 1934 layout of Augusta National
    •    The present-day Augusta National Golf Club course
    •    Augusta National's world-class Tournament Practice Facility
    •    Augusta National's Par 3 course
    •    Green Jacket ceremony
    •    Augusta, the Song, as heard during the Masters Tournament television broadcast

In total, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 14: The Masters Historic Edition will include all 20 courses available in the standard edition and the four additional championship courses: Royal County Down, Royal Melbourne, Sheshan and TPC Blue Monster at Doral.

The preview video:

EA '14: Your Chance To "Take Down" A Cross-Eyed Bobby Jones, A Juiced Arnold Palmer & An Almost Anorexic Jack Nicklaus

Besides getting to play legends using swings and physiques with which we are unfamiliar, the EA press info says they allow you to "tweak" courses on this edition.

Players, fill us in. Maybe there's a way to de-Fazio Augusta and Riviera? Reesnovate Torrey South? De-Dawson the Old Course?

Here's the preview for the March release of EA Sports' Tiger Woods '14:

Entire Golf Digest 100 Greatest Now Posted

...with capsules and photo(s) for each course.