When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Pete McDaniel reviews some of the more intriguing moments on the shortened par-4 13th Saturday, which along with a few other touches, appeared to breath a little life into the tournament by introducing strategy.
That's Davis Love talking about the 260-yard 15th.
While I feel for the players having to play the par-3 15th or any hole that long with a green designed for a shot about 75 yards shorter, I couldn't help but laugh seeing three and four irons as the club of choice for those under the age of 35. And as Bill Fields explains, the guy who shot 63 sums up the best approach. Or is it?
"I'm not a huge fan of playing a 260-yard par 3 with water and bunkers, but like I said yesterday, we all have to play it, we all have to suck it up and try to hit a good shot there," said Stricker. "You're going to see some big numbers there and you're going to see some birdies there. But it's very difficult."
As Bob Sowards, an Ohio club professional who carded a first-round 69 said after parring No. 15 with a 17-degree hybrid and two putts, "I don't play many holes like that."
The hole played to a 3.4359 scoring average, with 9 birdies, 88 pars, 43 bogies, 14 doubles and two others.
It's a shame there isn't a little more fairway leading up to the green so that someone could lay-up. Though I suspect that might tip folks off that it's not the best design ever. But who says you have to hit a green from a par-3 tee?
I think the suggestion in Ron Whitten's story on AAC's new turf about possible new major venues was a little exaggerated (Talking Stick and Whisper Rock?), but there is great importance in what figures to be the relentless talk about Atlanta Athletic Club's Champion Ultradwarf Bermuda greens this week (beats talking about the architecture). Hopefully the talk will turn to considering these grasses for more courses in warm climates where bent greens are needlessly installed.
Dave Hackenburg previews the U.S. Senior Open at Inverness where a peculiar sounding rerouting has taken place to help with gallery flow.
Lorne Rubenstein isn't a fan of the Shaughnessey setup for this week's Canadian Open either (Leader held to -3! Insomniacs rejoice!), suggesting the rough cut in half would provide infinitely more interesting and equally testing golf.
The weather is shaping up to be the dominant story before a shot is struck, but as Jim McCabe notes, the UK weather forecasts are not only wrong sometimes, but downright fun to analyze.
Doug Ferguson says the current forecast calls for the early/late tee times to get the worst end of the draw.
I've noticed a recurring theme in a few stories about the course: the R&A addressed complaints by widening fairways and keeping the rough tame. Uh, let's give credit where credit is due: the Golf Gods have kept Sandwich dry and therefore, at least based on the player comments I could find, the course is going to present itself well thanks to the lack of tall grass lining the fairways that has become an R&A staple to slow down swelling driving distances.
The beautiful undulations on the 17th fairway at Royal St. George's. (click to enlarge)John Huggan defends Royal St. George's but shares this peculiar theory of R&A in-house course designer Executive Secretary Peter Dawson, talking about the many harsh bounces found at Sandwich in 2003 and how the R&A has widened out the course since then to address player complaints.Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
