Low Scores Are A Risk You Take As Open Venue
August 11, 2010 by Kevin Thistle
When conditions softened at St. George’s Golf and Country Club during this year’s RBC Canadian Open, I got to thinking about the concerns with Angus Glen when I was there for two Opens in 2002 and 2007.
The two Opens at Angus Glen resulted in 16-under scores winning, while Carl Pettersson’s victory at St. George’s came at 14-under and in each case, those scores aren’t crazy when you compare to others on the PGA Tour, but concern about the host site for the Open goes with the territory.
Every once in a while, these guys, if conditions are perfect, are going to go low. As I’ve said in previous blogs, I love the St. George’s golf course.
Nobody should have shot 60 on that golf course, which is exactly what Carl Pettersson did in the third round. It was early. It had rained the day before. It was hot and humid and the greens were receptive. In other words, everything was in place for a low score.
It’s a risk you take when a golf course goes for the Canadian Open, but while you can talk about putting the course right to the back tees, growing the rough, speeding up the greens and bringing in the fairways, it’s the PGA Tour that takes over the golf course in the end.
I’m not saying the tour would intentionally set it up easier, but the course may not be exactly how you pictured it by tournament time. Golf Canada also has a lot of input into the course with the PGA Tour agronomist, but if the conditions soften and there’s no wind, it’s tough to defend against tour players.
Somebody will go out and shoot 60 or 62. They just drive it down the middle, put it on the green or make an up-and-down out of a bunker, then make an unbelievable putt.
When Angus Glen signed the deal in 2000, I don’t think the combination of golf ball technology and titanium drivers had really taken hold the way it has in the past few years. I remember Richard Zokol telling me in 2002 that he was hitting it 20 yards farther than when he was on tour.
When the Open was played on the South Course, sure we could have brought the fairways in, but the rough was thick. The course can play to 7,400 yards, but the PGA Tour didn’t play it to the backs, but that’s a decision you make at the time and one you live with for the tournament.
Thinking back, the 16-under score that won was the equivalent of four rounds of 68, which is pretty good on today’s PGA Tour.
If you look at the tournaments that immediately followed this year’s Open, the Greenbrier Classic was won by a 22-under score and Stuart Appleby, the winner, had a final round 59. A week later, Bill Lunde won the Turning Stone Resort Championship at 17-under.
Only the Bridgestone Invitational, won by Hunter Mahan’s 12-under, was lower than the 14-under posted by Pettersson at the Canadian Open. I don’t think St. George’s or the golfing public in Canada should be too worried about 14-under.
All you have to do is look around to see that.
Kevin Thistle is the general manager of Coppinwood in Uxbridge, Ontario and an oft-quoted media source for the game, including his regular thoughts through his GNN blog.
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Hope St George’s has a really good irrigation system – the members certainly do cry a lot. Plain and Simple – their golf course is not any more difficult than Angus Glen. My husband and I were at Angus Glen in 2007 and it was a far better host venue. In my opinion, private courses should not even be considered as hosts of an OPEN championship. The fences that keep others out work equally well to keep the members in. I also find it sort of sad that these courses apparently receive payment. That makes them a vendor not a host does it not?. Sorry, if this is long I usually don’t respond but I thought this to be a little off topic and redundant now that the tournaments is old news.
You’re welcome to your opinion about the timing of this blog Tracy, but where is it that you see St. George’s members crying?
Tracy:
What is sad about expecting some compensation for giving up your golf course for two weeks or more? There is a loss of revenue associated with closing the course for those two weeks as well as increased capital and operating costs that will be incurred in preparing the golf course for the event. I can pretty much guarantee you that any public course hosting the event will also be expecting and receiving payment for “hosting” the event.
Hello Kevin. It is nice to read your comments ,and being up beat really helps. Best regards.