This earlier post pointed out the troubled nature of the four PGA Tour events in Texas these days and, picking up on that them, this Gary Van Sickle/SI.com article scours the Tour’s latest attempt to make the rather pedestrian TPC Course at Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas a more challenging venue for Dallas’ EDS Byron Nelson Championship. Commenting on the Tour’s decision to install a lake on the left side of the 18th fairway of the course, Van Sickle notes:
The new hazard — OK, it’s not really big enough to be a lake, so let’s call it the Nelson Puddle — got a workout [in last week’s EDS Byron Nelson Open] . . .
“The 18th hole was a pretty good hole,” tournament host Byron Nelson said. “Now it’s a great hole. Even if some players carry it over the water, they’re still behind the trees. It’s become a dogleg out to the right now.”
With respect to the 94-year-old Mr. Nelson, everyone’s favorite legendary golfer, the 18th is still not quite ready for its close-up. It’s true, adding a water hazard has created a new element of danger. It is now a more difficult hole, yes. A great hole? Probably not. [. . .]
The reason the 18th isn’t a great hole is that the water hazard, like a lot of the TPC course, looks artificial. It resembles a swoopy Las Vegas hotel pool with a fountain in the middle. Plus, not many water hazards naturally occur halfway up a hillside.
“It’s a little contrived,” veteran player Billy Andrade said. “It doesn’t look like it fits. This course is kind of a funky layout anyway. I didn’t like the look of it before, either. It doesn’t change a player’s strategy much. You didn’t want to go left before, either.”
As for the players who found the Nelson Puddle early in the tournament, he added, “Maybe they thought it was a mirage and didn’t know it was there.”
With the top PGA Tour players fleeing in droves from this week’s Bank of America Colonial Invitational in Ft. Worth, the Texas swing of the PGA Tour continues its relentless descent into obscurity. When will Tour officials sit up and take notice?
Is the Colonial pedestrian? I agree that Las Colinas was and remains a poor choice when Nelson moved it there, but Ben Hogan’s old stomping grounds should have more appeal than Nelson’s goofy hotel course. Have the conditions at Colonial deteriorated that badly?
I think I’ve got the finishing touches put on a new mathematical hypothesis: “The opinion a professional golfer holds of a particular tournament venue is directly proportional to his performance in that tournament.”
I wasn’t surprised to see that Andrade wasn’t particularly enamored with the TPC at Las Colinas. He finished 57th in the event; an outcome that was artifically enhanced by a lucky eagle from out of the sand on the par-5 16th on Sunday. And, how can anyone who has participated in the tournament at Sawgrass call any other course “contrived”?
I’d like to see the answer given by a top-5 finisher on how he felt about the track. Regardless of how any modern tour player feels, Mr. Nelson’s opinion of the place is credible enough for me.