TOUR players see pros, cons to changes at Pebble Beach
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- The incredibly picturesque Pebble Beach Golf Links course being played this week in the three-course rotation at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am will be the same one used for the 2010 U.S. Open.
Or will it?
Courses changes have already been made in preparation for next year's major. Four greens were rebuilt to USGA specifications. No less than 16 bunkers were added or rebuilt, including major changes at five holes (albeit with another one, No. 4, scheduled for this spring), while 11 tees also were overhauled or created.
Meanwhile, the golf course was lengthened by 166 yards, bringing it to 7,014 yards -- which still doesn't sound overwhelming considering that Torrey Pines was 500 yards longer last year, but at least allows Pebble Beach to break the 7,000-yard barrier.
But if you ask some of the pros, the course they see here this week in February will not exactly be the one they play next year in June. Consequently, they really don't expect to learn anything that they can apply 16 months from now.
"Not at all," said Charley Hoffman, who played a practice round at Pebble and will see the course again in Saturday's third round. On Thursday, he shot 66 at Spyglass Hill and is one shot off the lead.
"I've played here a ton. I've played in the Callaway event in November -- that was more like the conditions we'll face, a little firmer, a little faster. It's just way different in the summer than it is here. Right now, everything's soft. Plus, the fairways will be tightened for the Open.
"There's not much you can actually take from this week into the U.S. Open -- besides the scenery."
Indeed, the weather and its impact on the course will be the -- literally speaking -- major difference. And who knows how high the rough will be. But what about the course changes specifically? Are the players pleased what with they've seen thus far?
Yes and no.
Two significant points of discussion seem to center around the 513-yard par-5 sixth and the 466-yard par-4 ninth.
At the sixth, there no longer is a large fairway bunker at the lower landing area. Instead, it has been replaced with five new bunkers along the left side, and now the landing area is much closer to the ocean on the right.
"I really, really like the sixth hole," said 2008's PGA TOUR Player of the Year Padraig Harrington, "I think it's a massive improvement. ... It's just fantastic, a much better hole, much cleaner look, sharper-looking hole.
"If anything it's a fairer hole, but probably not tougher because the ball going in the hazard, you get a drop out and probably could knock it on the green."
Last week's Buick Invitational winner Nick Watney definitely thinks players will need to be more careful off the tee, lest they end up in the water.
"It completely changes the drive," Watney said. "I think before, the drive was -- I don't want to say easy, but now with the bunker and the way it's angled, the ocean is very much in play."
Added Davis Love, who played Thursday's first round at Pebble and shot a 3-under 69: "I don't like six because it's harder, but that doesn't make it wrong."
At the ninth, a new championship tee was added, and now the hole will play 50 yards longer than it did for the 2000 U.S. Open. But more than the length seems to be worries about where the tee shot will end up on drives that land in the middle of the fairway when the ground is firm in the summer.
"It's not fair," Hoffman said of the ninth. "If you hit a good drive and it hits hard, it goes in the water. Is that fair? It's not. I think the USGA will do something about that. They'll figure it out."
Also unfair, according to Love, is the continuing need to add length to courses, especially great ones such as Pebble Beach.
In 2000, when Tiger Woods became the first golfer in the 106 years of the U.S. Open to win with double-digits under par (12 under), the course was 6,846 yards. Now, by the time of next year's Open, it'll be nearly 200 yards longer. So ...
"We haven't gained 200 yards a round, and that's my only argument," Love said.
"You're adding 60, 70, 80 yards to holes. Well, nobody has picked up that much distance with technology, and that's my only argument is 20 yards a hole to 7,000-yard golf course might be OK if it was the longest course on TOUR. But when you start adding 200 yards every five or six years when you're going to have another U.S. Open, when is it going to stop?
"This has always been a pretty big golf course. This isn't Merion. It's always been a pretty big golf course. Torrey Pines, when I came out on TOUR in '86, the South Course was a hard, long golf course, and it's just gotten to where now you play bad, you shoot 77. You play good -- I played pretty good on Sunday (at the Buick Invitational) and shot 72. It's tough.
"Now, sure, 11- or 12- or 13-under, we're still shooting under par to win, but there's no way you can argue that the pros out here should shoot 5 over to win a golf tournament. Something is wrong. It's too hard when 5 over wins a golf tournament. That's my only thing."
Remember that, while Tiger won at 12 under, the second-place score back in 2000 was 3 over.
Maybe that year -- and that course -- is more reflective of what we can expect next year in June than what we'll see this week.
Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM
FAN ZONE
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network