Dublin, Ohio – One of the biggest topics of discussion at the Memorial isn’t the absence of Tiger Woods or the upcoming U.S. Open, but rather bunkers. For the first time this season on the PGA Tour, and apparently the first time since the Stone Age to listen to some whiners, the sand will actually play as it was intended. As a hazard.
“From a distance, from 30 yards away, you can’t even tell,” Jim Furyk said this week. “Then, when you get right up on your ball, you go, ‘Oh boy, this isn’t going to be good.”‘
This week, the tour, at the behest of tournament host Jack Nicklaus, is using a different kind of rake, one with fewer teeth that leaves furrows in the sand. Depending on the lie, just getting the ball anywhere on solid ground will be a more viable option than effortlessly clipping the ball onto the green and spinning it close to the hole.
“You hit it in the bunker this week and you’re going to pay a huge price,” Fred Couples said. “You (previously) could have the toughest little bunker shot, and, if you’re a very good bunker player, you could put some spin on it and get it to 8 to 10 feet, no matter how hard the shot. Now, it sounds like you’re going to be playing away from the pin, 30, 40 feet away from the hole.”
The idea behind the change, Nicklaus said, is to make things tougher on the players.
“The bunkers are so perfect, there’s no penalty anymore,” Nicklaus said. “I asked the tour and they said they’ve been telling guys all year, ‘The honeymoon is over; the bunkers are going to be a penalty.’
“I said, ‘When are you going to do that?’ They said, ‘We haven’t done it yet.’ So I said, ‘We can start right here if you want to.”‘
While Nicklaus said the PGA Tour supported his choice 100 percent and that the new rake and furrowed sand may be the wave of the future, Furyk said the topic hadn’t come up at all with the players or their policy board, which would likely have to approve any permanent change. Tour officials were also quick to point out that this week will be more of an experiment than the first week of a regular occurrence.
“I haven’t heard of it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true,” Furyk said. “What Jack is trying to do, he wants the more skilled player to get closer to the pin out of the bunker than the less- skilled player. When the ball is in the air, he wants you to be rooting for the ball to stay out of the bunker and take a shot from somewhere else. I think that can be done.”
Into the breach
Given its spotty performance recently in the Ryder Cup, the United States must be thrilled to have the Presidents Cup to fall back on. Truth be told, the past two editions of the U.S. vs. Internationals challenge – a tie in South Africa in 2003 and an American win on virtually the final hole last year in Washington- have been much more dramatic and compelling than the Yanks getting thrashed by the Europeans.
On Wednesday, it was announced that the captains of the teams, Nicklaus and Gary Player, would return for a third go-round in 2007. That event will be played at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in Canada.
“The Presidents Cup has come of age over the last two playings, in large part, due to the efforts of these two legends of the game,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said.
While Nicklaus, 66, and Player, 70, have become great friends through the years, it was clear that their rivalry still burns. At one point it was pointed out that while the Golden Bear is 1-0-1 in the past two competitions, Player is 0-1-1.
“I don’t mind giving Gary the opportunity to win a match,” Nicklaus tweaked.
“Don’t leave (Nicklaus) 1-up,” Player responded.
Great expectations
With Colin Montgomerie on the back nine of his career, and Sergio Garcia heretofore unable to break through, it may be that Europe’s best chance of winning a major championship has fallen onto the shoulders of Englishman David Howell.
Ranked 10th in the world, Howell, 30, has never won on the PGA Tour – Garcia has six wins in the U.S. – and only has five victories in Europe.
However, Howell has stared down Tiger Woods in the final round to win (last year in the HSBC Champions tournament in China) and has played on a Ryder Cup team.
