The Tradition is one of five majors on the Champions Tour with the others being the U.S. Senior Open, the Open Championship in Great Britain, the Senior PGA and the Senior Players Championship. The purse for the Tradition is $2,2 million and first place pays $330,000. Last year’s winner was Fred Funk.
Shoal Creek will be playing 7,234 yards, a lengthy distance. The rough is fairly thick, not too bad, and the greens are stimping at 11 1/2. At the U.S. Open the greens stimp at 13 or 14, so these are pretty quick. I played at Shoal last Saturday and the greens were in terrific shape. Last summer they were suffering from fungus on the greens and there were bare areas on the green. It looked pretty bad and the greens were not rolling well as you had to put through the dead areas. But now they’re green, plush and rolling great.
Key holes:
No.4: 464 yard par 4– Always a long, challenging hole. If you can get through this hole with four pars or better yet three pars and a birdie, you’ve got to feel good about yourself.
N0.9: 462, par-4–Toughest second shot on the course. Driving is a premium with the woods on the left and sand on the right. On your approach, you hit over water and there usually is wind on this hole. You’ve got to really get your club selection down or it’ll cost you. Four pars here on the No.1 handicap hole is very good.
No.12: 491, par 4–Always a challenging drive with the woods on your right and sand on your left. Long hole. Would be a driver, three wood for the Saturday morning golfer. Probably a driver, rescue for some of these guys or driver, five iron. Pretty challenging second shot also with sand on your left. Four pars here would be good as well.
N0. 14: 382, Par 4–The signature hole of the golf course in my opinion. Just beautiful. I remember seeing Nick Faldo in the 1990 PGA on this hole, hamming it up with the fans. He seemed like a good guy. Driving down a steep incline that has a beautiful view of the mountain behind there is sand on your right and left. Jack Nicklaus, who designed the course, is a big believer in putting sand traps on his courses and this course has a lot of sand in the fariways. An awesome driving hole. Really fires you up to hit a drive off this tee. Second shot, you have to deal with sand on the right front and two traps on the left. Very nice green. Really like this hole. Good scoring hole in this tournament. Players should get a lot of birdies here.
No.16: 213, Par 3–Going to be a tough tee shot. Sand on either side of green. Wide green but not deep. Club selection at a premium here.Easy to hit it over the green where you are kind of dead unless you are an excellent chipper. If you’re over the green bogey a distinct possibility. Probably another rescue for some or five iron for the longer hitters. Green pretty quick usually. Can be a birdie hole, but pros may be happy with four pars on this one.
No.18: 444, Par 4: A very difficult finishing hole. It’s hard enough from the three or four star tees. Pretty narrow landing area off the tee. Long sand trap on the right and woods on the left. Second shot very challenging. Miss left and you go in a challenging trap or if you pull it, you’re in the lake. Miss right and there’s a trap short and rough on the side. Green wide in the front, but narrower the deeper you get. Par on this hole definitely a good score.
What score will win this tournament? I think the course is going to play hard. The rough is not that high, so that’ll help these guys some. But it’s playing long and the greens are fast. The longer hitters should have a better shot, and, of course, the best putters should be in the mix. I’m, saying four under wins it. It was playing hard in 1990 at the PGA when Wayne Grady won it at six under. Fred Couples was next at three under.
Five Players who can win:
1. John Cook: Second on the Schwab Cup Points and second leading money winner on the tour. Has won twice this year at the Mitsubishi Championship in Hawaii and the Outback Steakhouse tourney in Tampa. Third on the tour in driving accuracy. Always been a good player. Won on the PGA Tour multiple times.
2. Nick Price: Great player. Won the British and the PGA twice on the PGA Tour. Leading the tour in driving accuracy and an excellent putter. Won the Toshiba Classic in California earlier this year.
3.Fred Funk: Won the Tradition last year. Just an excellent player. Not long which may hurt him, but has an excellent short game–terrific putter.
4.Tom Lehman: Won the British Open on the regular tour and was close in a couple of U.S.Opens. Won Allianz Championship at Boca Raton, Fl earlier this year. Leads the tour in the Schwab standings. It’s like the Fed Ex Cup with smaller purse. He leads the tour in money won so far with $821,595. Has four top ten finishes and is second in greens in regulation. Close to being an elite player on the regular tour in the 90’s, is an elite player on the Champions.
5. Tom Watson: This is kind of a heart pick, but you never count a guy out who won eight majors on the PGA Tour and almost won the British Open in 2009 at 59 years old. Leads the tour in greens in regulation. Only played in nine events, but you talk about a competitor; this guy is as good as it gets.
TV:
Golf Channel:
Thursday: 12-2 p.m.
Friday: 12-2 p.m.
Saturday: 2-5 p.m.
Sunday: 2-5 p.m.
Best memories:
Shot a 76 last fall and a 76 in 1999. Double bogeyed nine last fall (my 18th hole that day) after hitting a good drive and putting my second shot in the water. Double bogeyed 18 in 1999 hitting it in the trap off the tee and not getting it out of the trap on my second shot. Those are my two best rounds at Shoal. Still working on breaking 75 or better.
Best participant round: Playing with the Diamond Dealer last summer and watching him shoot a 67. Incredible round. Was hitting it 290 down the middle and probably had–and I’m guessing here Brombey–26 putts. It was fun to watch.
Should be a lot of fun with a great field this year. Fred Couples and Ben Crenshaw playing as well. Bernhard Langer is the only big name who couldn’t make it due to an injury.
(Would love to see Watson get it done.)