USGA Rough "Flexibility"

How's this for a strange take offered by the New York Times's Charles McGrath not offering tiered rough on Winged Foot's three most birdieable holes.

[Fay] explained later in an e-mail that he was looking for "the mythical half-stroke penalty": the shot that has a chance of getting to the green but that probably won't stay there. Fay added that the U.S.G.A. would also be flexible; on some of the easier holes, like Nos. 5 and 11, the rough might be six inches, and on 6, a 321-yard par 4 that some of the boomers may be able to reach off the tee, he intended to let the grass sprout to eight or beyond. "They're going to need a scythe to get it out of there!" he said happily.

Ah, spoken like a frustrated golfer.

You know, somehow the word flexible in the context of harvesting rough to stop birdies, just doesn't quite work, does it?

Length, he added, wasn't everything, explaining that the Winged Foot doglegs are so severe — in some cases, golfers can't see the green from the tee box — that a player who can't shape his drives may run out of real estate. "Look what happened here at the P.G.A. in 1997," he said. "On the last day you had Davis Love, one of the longest hitters in golf, and Justin Leonard, one of the shortest."

To which, McGrath counters with this: 

A couple of days later I spoke to Rick Smith, Phil Mickelson's swing coach, who said of No. 9: "You've got to blast it there. On the other hand, you're better off in the fairway with 240 in than being in the rough. If guys are struggling, they're just going to hit something accurate." About the driver question, he said: "Initially, Phil felt he wouldn't use both, because the fairways are so narrow — only about 22 yards. But with the length of some of those holes, he's reconsidering, and depending on the conditions, no question he might bring along the other driver."

Sounds like Phil may be flogging!

The story also has Fay predicting Tiger will only driver around 4 times around. Wanna bet? 

Huggan on Euro Scheduling, Wentworth's Redesign

John Huggan's Sunday in The Scotsman ;) column looks at the European Tour's scheduling dilemma, the Fed Ex Cup, and Ernie Els' redesign work at Wentworth. Naturally, he's skeptical.

The biggest thing on O'Grady's mind is easy to identify. Next year, America's PGA Tour will embark on a radical new schedule climaxing with something called the Fed-Ex Cup, a 'play-off' series modelled on the mystifyingly-successful NASCAR, in which cars drive round and round in endless circles to no obvious purpose.

Regarding the European Tour...

With more and more of Europe's leading players spending more and more time in the US, the traditional European Tour schedule will have to adjust. For instance, the British Masters, which was held at the Belfry three weeks ago, will move to September to avoid a clash with the Players Championship, which will switch from March to May.

"It will become readily apparent when we refine our 2007 dates where we're trying to focus ourselves. We spent a lot of effort with various players to find the right period to put tournaments in. We are examining where we are with the PGA Tour, because they bring a welter of marketing muscle and money to any situation."

Allow me to decode. Without actually saying so - the man is a diplomat - O'Grady is alluding to the fact that the PGA Tour in the shape of commissioner Tim Finchem is a classic bully, who couldn't care less about the effect of his actions on anyone other than his members. For the good of the game is not a phrase that the former Washington lobbyist is too familiar with.

On the upside, many doubts remain about the long-term success of the Fed-Ex series thingy. The suspicion here is that, as with so many things in golf, it will come down to the level of interest that one Tiger Woods can muster. If the world No.1 decides that he has better things to do, like winning the major championships that history will actually remember, the whole thing will quickly fold.

Which would not be good news for Finchem. If recently- released viewing figures are anything to go by, America's ever-shortening attention span is causing many of Uncle Sam's nieces and nephews to reach for their remotes when a golfer appears on their TV screens - Tiger or no Tiger. Should the Fed-Ex series fail to deliver - sorry, couldn't resist that - it is hard to imagine where the PGA Tour would go next. China, probably. Still, all of that is for the future.

As for Wentworth...

Even at the new, turbo-charged Wentworth, misgivings remain. Take Ernie Els's new fairway bunkers - one left, one right - on the opening hole. While O'Grady enthused about how their presence would provoke players into thinking on the tee, it was hard not to shake one's head inwardly.

Rather than encouraging thought and choice, the traps dictate only how the hole has to be played. As things stand, the drive is now merely a test of execution - can you hit it between the bunkers?

Had Els placed one or more bunker up the left side, which offers the more favourable angle into the distant green, and merely left the right side as it was, the players would have been offered a genuine option. Driving close to the bunker would bring reward in the shape of an easier approach; playing safe down the right would take the sand out of play, but leave a more difficult second shot.

That's called strategy, folks.

Come to think of it, a bunker stuck right in the middle of the fairway would have been better. That really would have made the players ponder.

Hawkins: It's All About Jack

Golf World's John Hawkins misses the point behind the Memorial bunker furrowing, chalking it up to appeasing Jack Nicklaus. He obviously didn't get the message that people find it ridiculous when players would rather their ball up in sand than rough.

The lead reminds you that Darwin, he ain't.

Fortify a PGA Tour venue with four inches of lush rough? Bravo! Gooseneck the fairways, hide the pins, triple-cut the greens? You betcha. Create furrows in the bunker sand? Are you freakin’ nuts?

And the real reason behind this furrowing madness...

As for the notion that tournament officials ignored standard procedure as determined by the tour’s own policy board, one can only chuckle. The players themselves are all too aware of how little influence they have in Camp Ponte Vedra’s version of democracy, particularly when it involves Nicklaus. Jack wanted grooves in the sand so the boys would have harder time short-siding an approach, splashing out to two feet and moving on. The tour wasn’t about to object to the wishes of the man they just named 2007 Presidents Cup captain, a man who almost always gets what he wants and is usually right.

“Why does everybody want a free ride?” Jack pondered during the Friday telecast. “You don’t hear much [complaining] from the good players. The tour said it wants to keep doing this—we’ll find out whether [it has] any guts or not. It will be interesting to see what [happens] next week.”

Next week? You can bet the tour will follow the path of least resistance at Westchester and beyond. The bunkers will return to their pristine state, the moaning will cease, and it will be business as usual. Nicklaus has always cast the Memorial as something of a Masters knockoff, complete with its own little set of rules (caddies wear white jumpsuits, no reporters on the practice range), many of which have been abandoned over the years. It’s Jack’s way of reminding us who he is, a right to which he is perfectly entitled, and Camp Ponte Vedra isn’t about to play the role of heavy one week each year.

Somehow, I think there is a whole lot more to this than coddling Jack Nicklaus's ego.

And the NCAA Men's Title Goes To...

Oklahoma State...because they need another title like UCLA needs another basketball men's volleyball crown. And OSU redshirt freshman Jonathon Moore took the individual title too.

Final team scores are here, final individual scores here, and Ron Balicki's Golfweek.com game story is here. 

Week In Review, May 28-June 3: Bunker Furrowing

Rex Hoggard's column about reduced playing opportunities for Tour school grads spawned a heated debate about the current PGA Tour system and its future.

Sam Weinman penned a great story from Winged Foot and a debate broke out over...Tiger wearing shorts.

Randell Mell revealed the worst kept secret in golf: the feud between Rees and Robert Trent Jones Jr., and Rees'  plans to redo his dad's course, with DK noting, "Well Rees is nothing if not consistent. He'll even tear up his father's course in the name of "progress".

But the big story of the week: Jack Nicklaus adding furrowed rakes to the anti-distance equation for this week's Memorial. And the early reviews were understandably mixed.

JPB: "I think this is an area where added difficulty is more interesting. Perfect, consistent bunkers aren't interesting. Getting luck involved after a poor shot is interesting. It is why poker is interesting on TV, the better hand loses a lot. It isn't like good shots are getting punished; you just have a variable punishment. Better tough bunkers than 22 yard wide fairways and excessive rough IMO."

All For Furrows wrote: "I second JPB's thoughts - bunkers have not been enforcing the penalty they were meant to enforce on better players. I hope the PGA Tour has a thick enough skin to put up with the whining of the players and to continue this experiment at other Tour stops, and the implement it."

Matt: "One of my favorite courses in the world, the original Muirfield, held up a few years ago to technology in the British Open. I think, in part, due to the severity of the fairway bunkers and the players opting to take the strategic route 'round the course."

AP Maran wrote: "As the game continues to distance itself from the original, "unfair" game where not-perfect fairways, bunkers and greens where part of the obstacle, now they try to make it unfair again but by preparation, inspite of Jones comments. Next step must be cutting the greens unevenly, make fairways 20 feet wide and always 10 inches high rough in front of the greens. All prepared with the best intentions.

Chris wrote: "The USGA has allowed most of the skill level to be reduced by todays technology, Nicklaus's idea (out of desperation) makes sense."

Gus: "The fact that so much thought and effort is going into the bunkers and other maintenance minutia is disturbing. Most, if not all courses in America spend more time, money, and effort maintaining bunkers than they do greens. This is an upside down priority. While this may be fine at a big tournament, the fact that it is happening to some degree at every course only raises the cost of playing the game and leads to a decline in participation. If Jack wants to make the bunkers difficult again, he should do what we do at the muni- rake them once or twice a week only. It's a hazard after all.

Smolmania: "At the Dunes Club, a cool nine hole Nugent design in New Buffalo, MI which is supposed to be an homage to Pine Valley, the bulk of the bunkers on the course (of which there are many) don't have rakes. Makes for some difficult shots out there, but bunkers are after all supposed to be hazards."

R Thompson writes: "Another "Mickey Mouse" course set up to try and bring back some integrity to the sport, where the USGA has had their head buried in one of those deep troughs."

RM: "After reading about the furrowing this week, then watching the telecast today, then reading these comments, I am now definitely in favor of this practice. Even tour pros (or especially tour pros) need to realize that there is more to this game than ordered play on perfect grounds."

DK: "They're panicking that they have just seen the wave of the future and they are lashing out at everyone. This is hilarious and better than I thought it would be. Mickelson seemed to be the only one with poise."

MacDuff: "if it sounds like sour grapes, then that's just what it is...bad breaks and uneven lies are part and parcel of the auld game...perhaps pros of recent decades have had it too cushy; expectations of perfection can only breed a "princess & the pea" mentality."

Pete the Luddite: "I like the furrows. Even better, bring out the horses and run them through the bunkers a few times. Too much grooming these days, let them earn their way out of the bunker!"

Glyn:  "When a pro is happy to be in a bunker because they know they can make an easy out, something is wrong. Like Jack said, I would rather see interesting recovery attempts in reasonable rough than ho hum bunker play."

JohnV: "Now that the bunkers are inconsistent, I'd like to see the rough that way also. I'm tired of perfectly manicured rough. Guys should get good and bad breaks there also. For me nothing is harder than a pitch to a downhill green from a bare dirt patch with a big clump of grass behind the ball. Why do they think we call it "rough"?"

JM: "The furrows seem to be sifting out much more than the more skillful players... there's nothing worse than a guy who blames the course for his own mistakes (or opens his mouth and inserts his foot like Price). Consistency across the tour is certainly an issue, though. I agree. Two thumbs up for Nicklaus."

a.c.: "why is changing the rake any more or less "Mickey Mouse" or "tricked up" than narrowing fairways or growing the rough longer, Mr. Maggert?"

Sean Murphy: "Are we seeing the first examples of bifurication in the rules of golf at the professional level? So, if it's bifurication making its way into the sport at the professional level, to try and artificially increase the difficulty level that there once was, I say, bring back the wood headed clubs, and the three piece wound balls. Lets get this bifurication going, lets make golf at the professional level "TOUGH AGAIN", right John Hawkins?"

Yet Another Cup...

Mark your calendars, Monty and Goosen are named Captains in the Europe/US vs. Rest of the World in the IMG Goodwill Cup...

More Muirfield Moaning

As much as I'd like to side with the players, their cause is hurt by a consistent inability to articulate why bunker furrowing is a bad idea and by their reluctance to address the distance issue that has led to situations like this. 

Ken Gordon had these comments in the Dispatch:

"They’re not very good, that’s about all you can say," Jeff Maggert said. "We don’t play any other tournament like this. I think you’ll see players looking to pop this event off (their schedule) if they keep doing it."

And..

The idea was to make the course more old-school. But Mark Brooks thought the change actually hurt shortgame artists more than the bombers.

"If a guy’s got a good short game, he can play more aggressively if he’s got reasonable opportunities to recover," Brooks said.

"It’s about (losing) the art of the recovery shot. (Ben) Crenshaw, (Seve) Ballesteros, those guys didn’t drive the ball great but won tons of tournaments from hitting it all over the place because they were great at recovery shots."

One of the biggest issues was the element of surprise. Players said they did not know about the change until they showed up this week.

"It’s something that I think kind of shocked us this week," Steve Flesch said. "Some of the players are like, Wait, wait.’ We’re used to hopping in there with a perfect lie and knocking it on the green."

Joe Ogilvie is one of four players on the PGA Tour policy board.

"It’s a communication issue," the Lancaster native said. "I don’t think there would be nearly be the controversy here if the PGA Tour and the Memorial Tournament had communicated to the players. We’ve got terrible communication on the tour, period."

Later, that was the major concession made by PGA onsite tournament director Slugger White.

"We’ve taken some criticism and we’ll just look forward," White said. "It’s change, and everyone is a little bit stubborn when it comes to change. We all are.

"Looking back, probably we should have prepped these guys (players) a little earlier, and I’ll take the blame for that."

Not everyone was hot and bothered. Sergio Garcia said it made players think a little more, changing clubs to avoid hitting bunkers, "so it’s good."

And Dave Hackenberg in the Toledo Blade:

Pro golfers don't react well to change, and the reaction to the bunkers was overwhelmingly negative.

Davis Love III was so angry - despite a 3-under 69 - that he blew past media members after making a double bogey out of the fairway bunker at No. 18 and declined comment.

Shaun Micheel spoke for Love, who is one of four players on the PGA Tour Policy Board.

"I had breakfast with Davis this morning, and he told me that the policy board had approved a standardized rake used for all tournaments," Micheel said.

The columns, they just keep on a coming! Actual, a breakfast of complaining and Tour policy board political chat between Micheel and Love is just too easy, even for me.

"Are we not supposed to make anything?" [Micheel] said. "Hey, fill 'em with water and paint hazard lines around them. There's a lot of frustration. [The players] had no warning. We showed up Monday, and they were furrowed and raked sideways. Today, every trap is raked parallel to the fairway. So they changed the conditions.

"They used to have the most beautiful sand here. What's wrong with guys shooting good scores?"

I'm with him on the last point. That would be a good question for the Commissioner. 

Whitten On Major Venues

Noticed this in the table of contents for July's Golf Digest:

Back to Royal O.B.
Royal Liverpool is no place for a major in the 21st century.
By Ron Whitten

It is interesting to see the continuation of Whitten's shift from defender of major venue changes to questioning the relevance of older venues in the modern game and attempts to set them up in the face of massive change over the last ten years.

You may recall his preview of Augusta's changes was less than flattering after having been an initial defender in 2001-02, while his Winged Foot preview appeared skeptical of the USGA's tiered rough and was marked by an underlying tone that rain may could easily render the course defenseless.

It's nice to see someone at Golf Digest putting their name on strong commentary. And it's great to see someone provoking reader thought on the technology issue, its impact on classic courses and setup, and the ramifications for the game in general. 

From Thursday's Memorial Telecast...More Furrowing Talk

KARL RAVECH: Baseball is a statistic driven sport and you get bunkers like this and the numbers are going to go down. Are the players concerned about those things?

JACK NICKLAUS: I never was, but maybe some of these guys are, I have no idea. But I don't see why they would be. A good bunker player is going to have a good sand save record. But I think the guy who can putt those four, five, six footers is the guy who is good at sand saves. It's not necessarily about how good of a bunker player you are.

IAN BAKER FINCH: The best bunker players on Tour are around 60 %, up and downs, and the average is just under 50%, so a little less than half is the up and down percentage.

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, if the Tour continues to do what we're doing here, which I think they will, they say they are going to, ah, then obviously the sand save percentage will go down.

PETER OOSTERHUIS: The average today is just over 34% from sand.

IAN BAKER FINCH: That's just today.

PETER OOSTERHUIS: Yes, 34.2%.

JACK NICKLAUS: I'll tell you what else will happen too, is that your driving accuracy will improve greatly on the Tour with bunkers like this in the fairway.

IAN BAKER FINCH: Because they'll have to take a club to avoid the bunkers and think a bit more about it.

JACK NICKLAUS: Yes, they're going to have to put the ball in play and I think it's going to bring the game back to level of...just a very simple thing, just a rake, brings the game back to where it's a little more controllable for the course and the guys putting on a tournament.

KARL RAVECH: What else? I mean, could you make rough longer during non-major events, what else can you do?

JACK NICKLAUS: Well, you know, Karl what I've always felt is that the recovery shot is one of the most beautiful shots in the game of golf and the norm has been now to make the rough higher, the fairways narrower and to me that makes the game more boring. Because all you do is hit it in the rough and chop it out. And the guys with the golf equipment today drive the ball must straighter so they can have narrower fairways. But when they miss they don't mind missing in the bunkers. But now if we make the bunkers such that you don't want to put it in the bunker, then you're going to start thinking, do we take teh driver out of your hand or do we leave in your hand to do what we're going to do. So I think it's only a plus for the game of golf. Equipment has made game much easier game, particularly for the pros. And I think there are ways to combat that and we haven't combatted that up until this time. Hopefully this will be used effectively in the future.

And this was a little later on...

JACK NICKLAUS: I want to try and equalize the game from power. I think that the game has gotten...it was about 80% shotmaking and 20% power when I played, power has always been an advantage and always will be. But I don't like to see it be 80% power and about 20% shotmaking. I think it's gotten too much where power takes over and you'd like to be able to get it a little more in balance. It takes guys that don't hit the ball nine miles a better opportunity to play the golf tournament and to be on par the guy who's a Tiger Woods...

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."

Guest View: The Brand Lady

LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens penned a guest column in the Star Gazette News of Somewhere to help kick off Corning Classic play, and after days of deep analysis, I now post it for your brain teasing pleasure.

You are not only spectators and volunteers of this event, but you're also fans of women's golf who contribute to the growth of the LPGA. Thanks in no small part to your support, our organization is riding a remarkable wave of momentum. For those of you who come out to Corning Country Club this week, or even tune into The Golf Channel telecast, you'll be witnessing the LPGA Tour at the height of its popularity. You also will see a showcase of some of the greatest, most engaging and entertaining athletes in the world of sports today.

And, their interpreters too!

Yes, I am a little biased, but it's a fact. The world is finally discovering what many of us have known all along -- that female golfers have incredible charisma, power, strength and talent. From young talents such as Morgan Pressel and Seon Hwa Lee to American standouts Christina Kim and Natalie Gulbis -- the future of the game is so bright. And those young phenoms are playing right alongside Grace Park, Laura Diaz and Mi Hyun Kim, who are all in the prime of their careers, as well as accomplished veterans Helen Alfredsson, Pat Hurst and Lorie Kane.

Annika, Shmannkia.

It's an incredible mix of youth, culture, experience and talent that is translating into little girls showing up at a golf tournament with fun, stylish golf outfits "like Natalie," into record-breaking visitors to LPGA.com and into more fans tuning in or coming out to watch a tournament, many of whom have never been engaged with the LPGA or golf before.

Thank Heaven, for little girls...sorry

That excitement is only multiplied by several initiatives that are new to the LPGA since the Tour last came to Corning. Fans of the LPGA are already very familiar with the "These Girls Rock" campaign, which is all about showcasing LPGA players as great golfers -- some of the best golfers in the world.

This year, we also launched the LPGA Playoffs 2006, the first-ever playoff system in professional golf. Throughout the season, your favorite players will attempt to qualify for the season-ending ADT Championship and a chance at the $1 million first-place prize, the largest paycheck in women's golf history. And also earlier this year, the five major women's professional golf tours unveiled the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings, which provide a definitive answer -- and spark lively debate -- regarding the question, "Who are the best women golfers in the world?"

Yes, the debate has been lively. Right up there with, "what's the Schwab Cup?"

Note To Karl Ravech...

...that first Memorial honoree was Robert Tyre Jones, not Robert Trent Jones.

The Wacky World of College Golf

My latest Golfobserver.com column on the strange (but exciting) year in college golf, is now posted.

For 20 Years...Muirfield Village Was The Same...

Bob Baptist in the Columbus Dispatch writes:

For 20 years, aside from an occasional nip here and tuck there, the Muirfield Village Golf Club course was the same one Jack Nicklaus built for the first Memorial Tournament in 1976.

Then thin-faced drivers and long-distance, low-spin balls began changing the game. It hasn’t been the same since.

Neither has Muirfield Village.

Fairway bunkers were deepened and moved farther from the tee. Water was rerouted closer to where balls landed. One hole, the 17 th, was bulldozed and redesigned from tee to just short of the green.

Nine of the past 11 years, Nicklaus tacked on yardage, stretching a course that measured 7,104 yards as recently as 11 years ago to one that will set up at roughly 7,337 yards when the 31 st Memorial begins today.

But "length is not the issue," Nicklaus said. "How the course plays is my issue."

Isn't there something wrong with the game when a widely respected, consistent top 40 course suddenly has to do all of this stuff...oh hell, you know where I'm going.

This was also interesting, though I'm still not entirely sure this is the best way to reintroduce "thought" to the game:

Slugger White, the tour’s on-site tournament director this week, said he does not anticipate a controversy over the furrows, which surprised the players when they arrived.

"It’s a change. We’re trying to make (the bunkers) a little more penal. It is a hazard," White said.

"I was talking to Vijay (Singh) and he said, ‘You might not want to short-side yourself this week.’ I said, ‘You mean you might have to think a little bit out on the golf course?’ He said, ‘That’s a good point.’ "

That is Nicklaus’ point, also. Adding length alone to combat technology, as the Masters has done in recent years, does nothing to level the playing field. Power hitters still have the advantage. Deepening bunkers, making them harder to play out of, narrowing landing areas and greasing fairways by cutting them consistently in the direction of the greens — as also is being done this year for the first time — gives players more decisions to make and risks to take. If weather cooperates, that allows a bunter like Bart Bryant as good a chance to win the Memorial last year as a bomber like Ernie Els the year before.

And for Muirfield Village to survive the week with its integrity intact.

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!