The Old White TPC It Is!

We have the verdict. Gentlemen of the PGA Tour branding department, what say you?

In the sticky matter of trying to name a TPC course with the words Old and White, two words we try to stay away from here in Ponte Vedra for fear of conjuring up something we certainly are not, never have been and never will be, we the members of the PGA Tour branding staff have come up with...

Introducing The Old White TPC Course at The Greenbrier

Oh that one just rolls off the tongue!

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. –The PGA TOUR announced today that The Old White Course at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, is now part of the TPC Network of clubs as part of a licensing agreement for the property.  One of four championship layouts at the historic Greenbrier, the newly named The Old White TPC serves as host site of the TOUR’s Greenbrier Classic, which will be played July 25 – 31, 2011.   The announcement was made by PGA TOUR Golf Course Properties President and EVP, Championship Management David Pillsbury.

“We are thrilled to add this legendary layout to the TPC Network and look forward to continuing The Greenbrier’s tradition for superb golf, remarkable amenities and personalized service,” said Pillsbury.  “In partnership with The Greenbrier management team, PGA TOUR players and tournament fans, we also look forward to positively impacting the local community through the TOUR’s ‘Together, anything’s possible’ charitable mission.”

Included in the TPC relationship is management consultation from PGA TOUR.  As part of that, 30-year golf industry veteran Burton Baine has been hired to be on property to advise the owner regarding day to day golf course operations.  In addition to managing some of the country’s leading high-end private golf clubs, including TPC Piper Glen in Charlotte, NC, Baine is an accomplished player and Class A PGA of America golf professional – having been named PGA Northern Texas Section Player of the Year as well as PGA Northern Texas Section Golf Professional of the Year.

“We are delighted to enter into this agreement with the PGA TOUR and the TPC Network, two of the most respected brands in all of sports,” said Jim Justice, owner of The Greenbrier and West Virginia native.  “Together with the PGA TOUR, under the leadership of Burton Baine, I am confident The Old White TPC will regain its position as one of the most iconic golf layouts in the world and help restore The Greenbrier to its original glory as one of the most exclusive resorts on the globe.”

"But real stars are validated only when those tools consistently hold up in the heat. Anything decreed before that happens is hot air."

Jaime Diaz is suggesting in a Golf World Monday item that the hype machine surrounding young Americans has not been justified. Blasphemy!

More telling was the play of those still around at crunch time. Steve Marino (pictured) had the most conspicuous collapse, giving the tournament away with a bogey on 15, a soft par on 16, and a stabbed five-footer (and a double bogey) on 17. Justin Rose was brilliant on the back nine until he faced a must-have seven-footer for par on the 71st, and Marc Leishman missed a 15-footer on the last as both fell to T-3. Eventual winner Martin Laird was as shaky as anyone, playing the first 11 holes five over par. The Scot rallied late to be the last man standing, but his 75 shouldn't have been enough.

There's no doubt the members of the would-be new order have flashy tools. But real stars are validated only when those tools consistently hold up in the heat. Anything decreed before that happens is hot air.

"BAY HILL'S BRUTISH BUNKERS"

The SI/golf.com gang was joined by Davis Love and they talk about whether the buried lies at Bay Hill are intentional. Remember, the PGA Tour rules staff has a reduced role in how two tournaments a year are prepared: Bay Hill and the Memorial.

Herre: I was surprised to see so many balls plugging in the bunkers. I suppose that was by design. Anyone know if that was new, softer sand in the bunkers? It was an almost automatic bogey every time someone flew a ball either high or into the upslope.

Bamberger: Or the downslope! Arnold wants his course hard. He feels bunkers have been emasculated. He masculated them.

Love: Soft sand has to be a strategy there, that's the only knock on the course the last few years.

"We're running out of time in our allotted broadcast window."

Thanks to Mark Diver for Tweeting this fine moment in Golf Channel history as they signed off from today's European Tour's Open De Andalucia De Golf with Paul Lawrie walking up 18 attempting to clinch his first win in ages. For? The Arnold Palmer Invitational Pre-Game show!

"I'm just not going to hit 3-woods off the tee and play that course strategically the week before Augusta."

Dave Shedloski files an interesting item about Phil Mickelson and Houston next week that should be noted for you Masters pool players who look at the previous weeks play.

"Houston is not going to set up well for me," Mickelson said Saturday after a 3-under-par 69 at Bay Hill Club. "The way the course is set up, you can't hit it more than 285-290 off a lot of the tees. It's not going to be a course where I'm going to play the most strategic and expect to really score well."

The Tournament Course at Redstone is a big ballpark, 7,457 yards, par 72. It would seem a good venue for Mickelson's high-ball power game - if the wind doesn't blow. But many fairways aren't as open as he'd like at the 300-yard mark. Mickelson finished T-35 there a year ago.

"The problem for me there is there is so much water that pinches off the tee, and I'm just not going to hit 3-woods off the tee and play that course strategically the week before Augusta," Mickelson said. "And then when it gets windy and I'm trying to hit high balls for Augusta and it requires a low knock-down shot, it's not going to work.

Having not seen the course, I'm not sure this is more of a statement about the set-up or the design. Knowing Phil's love of Rees Jones' oeuvre, I'm guessing the latter.

A Fresh Perspective On Tiger's Golf Digest Masters Cover Appearance

Thanks to Steve Elling for catching the now-heavily re-Tweeted and epic newsstand placement with Tiger's much-talked about appearance on the Golf Digest Masters cover. See, all you cover haters, it really was worth it just for this. (The original Tweeter of the photo seems to be in hiding now.)