Nationwide Tour prepares to take on toughest test
By Dave Lagarde, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- At first glance, the scene at Wente Vineyards, located approximately 20 miles southeast of Oakland, is serene and soothing.
Acres and acres of carefully trellised vines roll across the verdant countryside framed by sentinel-like foothills, where livestock grazes, wildlife frolics and ever-vigilant hawks draw mesmerizing circles in the azure sky. It's a perfect spot to kick back, relax and enjoy an alfresco lunch while sipping the fruits of the Livermore Valley vintners' labors of love.
Personal pleasures are not the reason the Nationwide Tour stops here though. There's tournament golf to be played, money to be won, status to be improved and, in the case of The Course at Wente Vineyards, mettle to be tested and nerves to be jangled. That's because if the Nationwide Tour staged a reasonable facsimile of the United States Open, the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship at Wente Vineyards would be it.
In a word, the Greg Norman-designed 7,181-yard, par-72 track is a monster, one that, in two years, has bumps and bruises as well as scrapes and scratches on the psyche of TOUR members.
Just how tough is it?
Do a Google search using the words "tough'' and "Wente course.'' More than 600 references pop up.
You'll discover the course has a slope rating of 145. But here's the real proof of the degree of difficulty for those who find slope ratings as impossible to decipher as the NFL's system for rating quarterbacks.
The Course at Wente Vineyards is two-for-two in No. 1 rankings -- as in hardest on Tour. It played to a scoring average of 75.235 in 2007 and 74.881 in 2006, each average representing the highest on Tour that season.
So what's the deal?
"There's a pretty aggressive wind factor out there,'' said Brad Ott.
"The rough's so thick, just like the U.S. Open,'' said Dicky Pride. "Hit it in that stuff and you have to chip out.''
"Thick rough, cold weather and lots of out-of-bounds stakes put you on the defensive,'' said Greg Chalmers.
"It feels like a course that you play a major (championship) on,'' said Peter Tomasulo.
"If you aren't hitting it well, it will find every weakness in your game,'' said Ryan Hietala.
"It's visually intimidating,'' said Brenden deJonge.
Get the picture?
There's a serious dichotomy between the setting and the golf course. But it is the setting that makes the course what it is, with daunting elevation changes and wickedly sloping greens tucked into nooks and crannies on hillsides that place an exacting premium on where approach shots must be placed.
Players say that the 1-2 punch combination of the elevation changes and those frightening white OB stakes make the holes that play downhill the toughest to conquer.
"You never have the feeling that your ball is going to hit the ground,'' Chalmers said, shaking his head. "The longer it stays in the air . . . the more things that can happen. And it typically isn't good.''
Tripp Isenhour (2006) and Omar Uresti (2007) have won here, but suffice to say, neither champion has brought the course to its knees. Quite the opposite, in fact, especially in Uresti's case.
Posting a final-round 76 on the Nationwide Tour, like Uresti did at Wente last year, normally provides an open invitation to get trampled before the finish line. But Uresti did just that -- and still won by two strokes by matching par of 288, the second-highest winning total in the tour's 19-year history. His 76 equaled the second-highest final-round, surpassed only by Roger Salazar's 79 in the 1991 South Texas Open.
So there is history year, brutal history on a track that gets you at the start and gets you at the finish.
How's this for starters?
The first hole, a 485-yard, par 4, was the most difficult on Tour in 2007. The hole, which drops approximately 100 feet from tee to green, is fraught with trouble. It played to a stroke average of 4.507 a year ago.
"It's a slight dogleg that isn't appealing to the eye,'' Hietala said.
And this for a finish?
The 469-yard, par-4 18th, guarded by a pond to the right of the green, was rated the third toughest hole with its 4.490 stroke average. But don't stop there, said deJonge.
"Sixteen, 17 and 18 are brutal,'' he said. "I like the shape of the three holes, but you're in big trouble if you don't hit good drives and very solid approach shots. It's the toughest finishing stretch we play all year.''
There's no reason to believe 2008 will be any different from 2006 or 2007, years when the 36-hole cut came at 6-over and 4-over respectively.
"The thing is, we saw two completely different courses,'' Tomasulo said. "In 2006 it was wet and the rough was thick. Last year the wind really blew and it was firm and fast. Either was, this course is very demanding. There's just no let-up.''
Even the easy holes are hard. Just ask Chalmers. He made a 13 on the shortest hole on the course, a downhill, 173-yard par 3.
"To this day I have no idea what I made to be honest,'' Chalmers said with a chuckle. "It's the first time I ever lost count.''
And to think, Chalmers was approximately 30 feet from the cup after his tee shot. But his ball came to rest in extremely gnarly rough.
"My club went straight underneath the ball on the first swing,'' he said. "I missed. I took two drops and kept swing, I kept racking up the strokes. I thought I made an 11 or 12, but according to the GOLF CHANNEL it was a 13. I said, 'Well that's what it is.' I was still going to miss the cut.
"But at least I learned it's best to keep the ball in play here.''
Obviously.
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