Before last year’s Dogwood Invitational, tournament chairman Edward Toledano starred in a pre-event video.
The plot: He was not going to let anyone shoot under par. Among his diabolical plans: putting concrete under the greens, growing the rough to 6 inches everywhere and changing all yardage markers to the metric systems.
In the end, only a Caddyshack dose of dynamite might have helped after rainy conditions and a lack of wind kept the greens soft and the rough playable and rendered the short course without defense.
Among the many to take advantage, Auburn’s Michael Johnson won by shooting a tournament-record 28 under par, breaking the previous record of 23 under set by Andrew Buckle in 2002.
The prescient end of the video featured a defeated Toledano saying, “There’s nothing I can do. These guys are just too good.”
Toledano won’t put it on video this year, but he did say that players won’t match Johnson’s score when the tournament starts at Druid Hills on Wednesday.
“I’ll hang that out there,” he said.
Even if no one approaches even 20 under this year, the chance to score on most of Druid Hills’ holes is what makes playing in the Dogwood so much fun, according to Georgia Tech’s Anders Albertson.
“You know going into the week that it’s different than a normal event where single-digit under par is going to win,” he said. “It’s a good golf course, and if you play well it’s fun.”
Toledano said there are actual options that could be exercised to make the course more challenging. Tee boxes can be lengthened at several holes that could stretch the course, which typically plays at 6,860 yards, to 7,200. They could also grow the rough.
But he doesn’t have any plans to make those changes. Not yet, anyway.
Instead, he will rely on challenging hole locations and letting the rough grow to a length that will give the players choices.
“We did get new green mowers with extra sharp blades,” he said, laughing.
Toledano doesn’t mind the scoring. He said it’s a testament to the skill of the golfers. It’s also a testament to the improved technology the players are able to use.
Tommy Barnes, who won the first tournament in 1941, shot 4 over. Scores began to consistently go low in the mid-1990s, which coincided with the meteoric advancement in club technology. Justin Roof won the 1995 event at 14 under, and scores haven’t risen since.
So forgive Toledano for having a little bit of fun in the video, which was produced by a student at Georgia State.
“It’s great, because I think Michael Johnson will play professionally and look back and say his Dogwood win was something that helped him,” Toledano said.
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