Inside knowledge and a good wind game are key this week

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Matt Weibring's dad, D.A., helped design TPC at Craig Ranch, which might just give him the upper hand this week.

Nov. 5, 2008
By Dave Lagarde, PGATOUR.com Correspondent

McKINNEY, Texas -- There will be two kinds of knowledge in play at the Nationwide Tour Championship at TPC Craig Ranch.

The first is local knowledge, derived from playing the 7,438-yard, par-71 track on more than a few occasions. Players like Colt Knost and Hunter Haas, who live in the Dallas Metroplex, have gained an understanding of the nuances of the Tom Weiskopf-designed layout.

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With two wins under his belt, Colt Knost has no worries this week, but he'd sure like the No. 1 spot on the money list to be his.

The second is parental knowledge. It applies exclusively to Matt Weibring, whose golf professional and golf course architect father, D.A., contributed to the design work.

Whether either will matter greatly once the 72-hole chase for a $1 million purse and PGA TOUR job security in 2009 begins Thursday is a matter of conjecture. But this is high-stakes professional golf, a game that meshes physical ability with deft mental gymnastics, so any advantage, whether real or imagined, can be considered a plus.

That is particularly important to Weibring, a Dallas native, who finds himself ranked 20th on the Nationwide Tour money list. His aim is to finish among "THE 25" top money winners when the Nationwide Tour Championship reaches its conclusion and earn playing privileges on the PGA TOUR for the first time in his six-year career. In his favor is the fact that no more than two players have been knocked out of earning their PGA TOUR cards in the 15 previous season finales. The purse, matching the largest ever offered on the Nationwide Tour, makes for nervous times though. Statistically, every player in the field has the opportunity to climb into "THE 25."

"I won't be seeing anything out here this week that I haven't seen before,'' Weibring said Wednesay as he went through his final, full-practice session on the range. "I've seen wind from every direction. That has to be an advantage that guys like Colt, Hunter and I have.''

But Weibring is the only one of the threesome who can pick the brain of one of the course designers.

"We haven't talked much about that lately,'' Weibring said. "My dad taught me well. He knows I know how to manage my game and plan a strategy based on conditions. He told me to just keep on doing what I've been doing this year and not add any extra pressure.''

Haas knows the pressure to perform begins Thursday. He finds himself one spot away from the privileged at No. 26, trailing No. 25 Chris Tidland by $469, the smallest margin separating the last "have" from the first "have not" in history. He likes the idea he'll be playing what amounts to a home game.

"I've played all the shots out here in all kinds of conditions,'' he said. "I don't think I'll get fooled by anything.''

Knost, resting comfortably at No. 11, has no such worries. But a first-place check worth $180,000 could do wonders. It would give him three victories and a full exemption in '09. It also would give him a chance to unseat Brendon de Jonge at the top of the money list, a feat that would earn him a spot in THE PLAYERS Championship.

"There's still some work to do,'' said Knost, a rookie who claims to have played the TPC at Craig Ranch more than 100 times.' "I'd love to see the golf course play tough. The fairways are wide, and people think they can hit it just about anywhere. But it's tough to play out of this rough. Throw in some wind, and it can be brutal.''

There are many subtleties to golf courses that can go unnoticed. At TPC Craig Ranch, Haas said, it is important to know where to place the ball in the generous fairways, which pin placements can be attacked and which raise red, cautionary, flags. "The pin placements can fool you,'' he said. "Playing out here, I've learned it's important to know where to miss it. Some of these greens can be pretty severe. And the last thing you want to be doing is putting downhill, downgrain and downwind.''

Many in this select field of 59 were cramming as much information as possible into yardage books and the caverns of their minds. If they asked Weibring for a hint, he'd tell them not to be aggressive with long-iron approach shots into the long par 4, six of which measure at least 450 yards. Haas would suggest they get to know the greens, learn that there are times when a longer chip shot is a lot easier than a short one.

The 'X' factor could be the wind. It was howling wickedly out of the south during a pro-am Wednesday, playing tricks on the participants with gusts of up to 35 mph. Forecasts have it doing a 180 Thursday, something that certainly will be confusing to the players experiencing it for the first time.

"It's the course's primary defense,'' said Brendon de Jonge, who will be looking to protect a $39,897 lead over Australian Jarrod Lyle. "For the most part, it either blows straight in (your face) or straight down (wind).''

De Jonge came about his Craig Ranch knowledge in the second stage of the 2007 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament. He made it through, as did Scott Gutschewski, Kyle Reifers, Peter Tomasulo, Knost, Tidland and Haas, all of whom are in the field this week.

"We all have some positive memories,'' Knost said.

And they all hope to create some more over the course of the next four days.