Doral and the Chicago connection
[Your Name Here]The Morning Nine for Monday, March 10, 2014
If the weatherman is correct – and he has been all too often this winter – spring will waft in today with 50 degree temperatures. That’s a start. Of course, he also says it will snow on Wednesday, never get above 26, and plunge to 16 going into Thursday morning. So think golf dome if you’re thinking about practice at all.
Having said that, on to the Morning Nine, which, thanks to the weather, is Florida-oriented, albeit with Chicago connections:
1. The complaints, oddly not so much by players as observers, over the remodeled Doral Blue Monster turning into just that on a windy Friday seem unfounded when the long view is taken.
The renovation by Gil Hanse included 18 new greens. Very new greens, less than eight months old. A new green has little thatch in it, so shots are going to bounce harder than they would on an established green. Add in rough that’s as new as the green on slopes that lead to ponds, and wind gusting to 33 mph, and shots that aren’t as well struck as they should be are going to die a watery death. That’s why 113 balls found the water during the second round. (There were only four rounds in the 80s among 68 players, so it wasn’t a torture chamber.)
The course will mature. Players will also learn to play it – as winner Patrick Reed did, playing the 18th hole by laying up off the tee and on his second shot, settling for a bogey 5 to take home the trophy by a stroke over Bubba Watson and Jamie Donaldson.
2. Here’s how Rory McIlroy – after finishing at 5-over-par 293 – put it into words: “It's a frustrating golf course because you feel like you should be doing so much better, and it just doesn't allow you to. You have to be so precise and just to get the ball close on some of these greens and these pin positions. I don't know if it's because you've got memories of the course before, like going low, and the way it is now it just doesn't allow you to do that.”
3. Doral was designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee in the early 1960s. It earned the Monster appellation soon after, but Wilson didn’t implement all his design strategies, which called for players playing over angles – especially of water – completely.
That’s likely in part because Doral developer Al Kaskel threw Wilson off the property when the architect, a notorious boozer, turned up hammered once too often. Wilson turned the job over to Lee and underling Robert Von Hagge, going back to Boynton Beach to complete Pine Tree, considered by many Wilson fans his best work.
But the original plans remained, and Hanse consulted them when planning the renovation. The result is a 21st century version of what Wilson originally envisioned, as interpreted by Hanse. The Wilson-trademark jigsaw-puzzle bunkering and elevated greens remain. The hunch here is that Wilson would be proud of Hanse’s redo.
4. Wilson’s Chicago connection is Cog Hill. He and Lee were hired by Joe Jemsek in the early 1960s to create 18 holes that became the No. 3 course, then kept on to build Jemsek’s championship layout, No. 4, which he named Dubsdread after an Orlando layout he fancied.
Dubsdread’s original look, once the land for the current 13th hole was bought, was updated by Rees Jones several years ago, and proved as controversial as Doral has been. The only difference: It was the players in the BMW Championship / Western Open who were complaining about slopes on greens and conditioning at a time the WGA was looking to maximize the annual return, based on the big boost in revenue that came about from the renovation-timed trip to Bellerive near St. Louis.
Aside from McIlroy, the players at Doral bit their collective tongue with Donald Trump prancing about his property. Cog Hill might have lost the tournament anyway, since it’s easier to make money in the fall from corporate clients on the north shore than in Lemont, but the complaints didn’t give Cog Hill a fighting chance to retain it.
Phil Mickelson was one of the complainers. But for Doral, he said. “I think it’s really close to being great.” So go figure.
Meanwhile, for the public without access to Butler National, Medinah No. 3 or Olympia Fields North, Dubsdread remains the toughest place to play in the area – and a fair test from the proper set of tees.
5. It’s always amazing when players on the PGA Tour complain. They’re playing for millions, they get a free car for the week, they get free food in the clubhouse, people grovel for their autograph, and someone else is carrying their clubs. What’s the beef?
Those on the lower levels are almost uniformly appreciative when the smallest kindness is shown. Players at last year’s Chicago Open marveled at the free buffet, for instance. On the big tour, someone would probably complain about the wrong kind of salad dressing.
6. The other chatter post-Doral is about Patrick Reed pronouncing himself one of the top five players in the world. He said so Saturday night on an interview NBC played an excerpt of during Sunday’s round, and repeated himself after winning.
Three wins since late last year and a climb into the top 20 in the slow-to-react world rankings is mighty impressive, especially since Reed hasn’t played in one of the four pro majors.
Top five? Of the players who’ve done anything in the last couple of months, yes. Overall? Win a couple of more and we’ll talk. But the lad’s pluck is admired. Better to have someone crow than “aw, shucks” his way though an interview.
7. For the second year in a row, there’s no U.S. Open sectional qualifying anywhere near Chicago. The closest site is the so-called Tour qualifier in Columbus, Ohio, at Brookside and Scioto country clubs. The local qualifiers this year are at Dunne National in Oak Forest on May 5, and at the Knollwood Club in Lake Forest on May 12. U.S. Women’s Open qualifying is at Indian Hill Club in Winnetka on May 12.
8. It’s one thing not to host a U.S. Open since 2003. But no sectional qualifier, which sends players to the Open? It’s not as if the CDGA hasn’t lined up great courses for the 36-hole test in the past. Sometimes, the thinking of the USGA is unfathomable.
9. Finally, it has nothing to do with golf – yet – but if you have a minute, check out the Paraylmpics on NBCSN. The skiing was absolutely amazing early on Monday, though two skiers had to be helicoptered off the mountain after taking nasty falls. By the way, don’t look for golf in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, unfortunately. It didn’t make the cut when new sports were added for that carnival.
– Tim Cronin
Reader Comments (1)
Chicago sounds pretty frosty :S Here in the UK it's really bad and it's to be hot!