AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2007 > May > 10 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USOld and new hit by devilish gusts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Ponte Vedra, Fla. — Gentlemen, start your drivers! Or your 3-woods, or whatever may be your fancy. Keep it on the track and enjoy your new ride to the FedEx Cup — not to be confused with NASCAR’s game of the same name. Welcome to the new world of The Players, where the only change made in moderation is the name. What began as the Players Championship (TPC) and been shortened simply to The Players, for no good reason that I’ve heard. What once was played in mid-March has been moved to May.
You know, to get away from the bad spring-ish weather, the rain, the wind, the conflict of the grasses. You see, everything at the old TPC course is new and different and management would throw in the word “improved.” New clubhouse, new forestry and old, but new, 18 holes of golf. Actually, the golf course looks about the same, same old distances, same old pars, but some different grass on the greens.
Phil Mickelson speaks. “I like it a lot more now. It incorporates the short game more. You have a variety of shots that you can play. It incorporates all different shots.”
Lefty was just in from a round of 67, and looking good up there on the scoreboard tied for the lead with Rory Sabbatini. It had been an evenly played round, his six birdies cleverly distributed. His mood was casually generous, even to describing his verbal experiences with the new professor in his life, Butch Harmon.
“All his stories, whatever they may be about, have a point. I can’t tell you the top five [censorship], but I can give you the sixth,” he said. Could it be that Butch had brought a new sense of relaxation into Lefty’s life?
The new/old course was extracting its pint of blood. The wind, spinning off the storm named Andrea, was a howler. Worst of all, it gusted, it switched courses in a nano-second. “Wind is always tough,” Tom Lehman said, “but it’s gusts that make it more difficult. All you can do is execute and take what you get.”
Some gusts were measured at 40 mph, and to get an idea of the devilishness of them, by mid-afternoon over 30 tee balls had found water on No. 17, the island green, which is about one out of every three. Which, I might insert here, brings up an interesting commentary on this hole that commands spectator attention like a train wreck. Some years ago, your humble correspondent was asked if The Players might ever become a major. My answer: “Not as long as the 17th hole is part of it. It’s like a carnival attraction. Hit the green and win a fuzzy doll.”
Tiger Woods disturbed the hierarchy when he casually said that the hole is “too gimmicky,” particularly for that position in the round. Tough, for this is what they call the “signature hole.” “It would make a great eighth hole,” Tiger said, “but not the 71st of 72 holes. I just don’t think it’s the right feel.”
The commissioner wasn’t disturbed. “It doesn’t trouble me. There are an awful lot of players who haven’t had a good time at 17, for whatever reason,” Tim Finchem said. “He’s the first player I’ve heard suggest that we move it to No. 8” (which, I might add, would require transposing the two sides) on weekends. We don’t intend to do that.”
Which, of course, revived the time-worn question of: Should The Players not be the fifth major, or at least replace one of the present four, meaning the PGA Championship? Which would set off a firestorm too violent to take up in full here. But this was Finchem’s reply:
“I’ve been answering that question for 13 years and I think I have been consistent — that we don’t put ourselves in the middle of that debate.”
The wind that assaulted the course Thursday was a hot, Saharan wind — no chill, no rain, just a constant series of gusts, some fierce enough to knock some of the elderly to the ground. It was a fitting accompaniment to the Mediterranean architecture of the new clubhouse, rising pristinely above all that surrounds it. It is an attention-getter, but also an architectural exaggeration, far over and above the average requirement to accommodate an 18-hole round of golf. Augusta National would fit in its basement.
New course, old course or whatever, the effects of such strenuous exercise took a toll on three players, David Howell, Darren Clarke and Diasuke Maruyama. They pulled out, but Maruyama not until he had checked in with a round of 85, featuring double bogeys on the last three holes. It was either a bad back, or the 85, but the latter is suspected.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Furman Bisher
Services »
Comments
By Mel
May 11, 2007 10:29 PM | Link to this
You said “It was a fitting accompaniment to the Mediterranean architecture of the new clubhouse, rising pristinely above all that surrounds it. It is an attention-getter, but also an architectural exaggeration, far over and above the average requirement to accommodate an 18-hole round of golf. Augusta National would fit in its basement.”
It that a direct cut to the new clubhouse….just wondering cause I thought it was such a HUGE improvement from the hideous pyramid they had before…..