Golf Channel's Before-After Shot of TPC Boston's18th

Finally, a visual look at the change to the TPC Boston's home hole green courtesy of Golf Channel's first round broadcast of the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Not a huge change from afar but several details standout: the approach area over the wetlands allowing for a shot to land and release, the short grass area to the rear, and the loss of green left where most players bailed out.

2011:

2012:

They Don't Call 'Emselves Wozzilroy For Nothin!

I'm all for Caroline Wozniacki hopping up to Boston after her first round loss in the U.S. Open and I'm sure no one minds seeing her walking inside the ropes during pro-am play clad in skin tight pants, all the while telling Sirius/XM's Doug Bell that the walking makes her gluteous hurt.

But I guess no one had the heart to tell Sweet Caroline that the Deutsche Bank Championship tee markers are for branding, not sitting? Especially while your man is competing? I know it's a pro-am but still...

And in case you think this is a swing drill to ensure Rory doesn't take it too far inside, here's the video:

Gosh I can't wait to see where Caroline goes during the Ryder Cup!

TPC Boston's 18th: “I don’t think it’s a bad change or a good change, but it’s a hard change.”

There's an excellent unbylined Golfweek.com story about the new 18th at TPC Boston (I'm presuming a McCabe authored piece) and as you'd expect, the players are not too jumping for joy about change that makes their jobs tougher. Defending champ Webb Simpson:

“I think with the old green, it was a wide target, but the left half of the green was small because it wasn’t that long in depth.”

It was clear for Hanse and even the million amateur architects who are out there that was there was a simple way for the big boys to play the 18th – drive it into a wide fairway and then launch your second shot from anywhere between 190 and 230 yards. If you were wide left or long, no worries; you had a basic wedge shot out of thick rough and getting it up-and-down was hardly needed for creative talents.

No more, not with shaved-down areas left and long and when balls bounced through the green or wide of the green, you will have a number of style options – putt it, try and flop it off a tight lie, or pitch it into the slope and get it on that way.

But if the homework was done during practice rounds, players know that the swales are steep – especially left.

“We can’t bail out left,” Tiger Woods insisted. “That swale is going to be (a challenge). We’ve got to figure out where the spot is to miss it.”

Chances are, many of those in this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship field will figure it out. After all, we can’t sue for false advertisement because indeed, these guys are good. But Hanse knows when a group of tour players gather, they can’t come to a consensus on what day it is, so don’t expect universal agreement on the work done to the 18th green.

We'll find out Friday in round one of the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Tiger Says Little Has Changed As A Short Hitting Old Guy

There was some interesting stuff in today's transcript at the Deutsche Bank Championship, where Tiger Woods talked about changes in the game and what it means for him as part of the second-tier players distance-wise. You can watch the video of the presser here.

TIGER WOODS:  Well, probably mid 2000s I wasn't the longest one out here.  I mean, the game has certainly changed.  When I came our here in '96 and '97 I was long, and I averaged 296.  I think there's like 30‑some‑odd guys who are averaging over 300.  So it's a totally different game now.

You know, the bigger hitters can hit the ball 320 in the air.  I don't really have that.  I can carry it 300, but that's a different gear.  They're taller, they're bigger, and most of the longer guys are 6'3".  When I was coming out here, if you were six foot you were pretty much average height, big height.  Look at Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Watson, they're all short compared to the big guys now, and they were long hitters at the time for their era.  But these guys are just bigger.

I certainly can't carry the ball that far, but I'm still one of the longer ones but not the longest by any stretch of the imagination.

And...

Q.  Following up on the length, when was it that you realized I'm not the longest guy out here anymore?  Was there a specific moment?

TIGER WOODS:  Even when I was long on TOUR, Daly was still longer.  Daly was the longest.  I believe he's the first guy to average over 300 yards.  But now that's kind of average now.  Most of the guys can hit the ball 300 yards.  Granted, we've changed equipment.  It was balata balls, 43?‑inch steel‑shafted drivers.  Now the standard driver is 45, graphite.  You're taking 60 grams out of a shaft, and the balls are much harder than they ever used to be.  You add that and the guys are bigger and stronger and faster, it's a significant jump.

From a design point of view, this is fascinating and hopefully shows how difficult it is to design strategically interesting holes for today's game.

Q.  Given that, how much have you had to maybe reinvent yourself, and how much has that gone on this year, and how gratified are you to see their results now with the wins that you've had?

TIGER WOODS:  Well, I can still get to the par‑5s.  The longer par‑4s now are, instead of being 460, now they're 520 and 540.  Those are the stout par‑4s now.  So that's changed.

What has changed, I think, quite a bit is the carry, the cover number over corners or over bunkers.  They used to be staggered at probably about 260, maybe 280 at the tops.  Now they're 300 to 320.  Those are our carry numbers on most of the holes that have been lengthened or bunkers repositioned.  So that part has changed.

But I really haven't had to reinvent how I played because I've always been one of the longer hitters on TOUR, just had to be efficient at what I do.  Having this‑‑ hitting the ball far‑‑ I hit the ball far enough to where I can get to the par‑5s, and if you take care of the par‑5s and you take care of a few more along the way, you're going to have a pretty good tournament.

First Look At TPC Boston's New 18th Green

Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Brad Faxon along with TPC Boston superintendent Tom Brodeur will be unveiling their latest change to the host site for the Deutsche Bank Championship. It's a long overdue renovation of the 18th green, a remnant of the mostly-abandoned Arnold Palmer design and modified to match the other greens on the course that have been rebuilt (but there's still a ways to go to do all 18).

Brad Klein describes the changes to the green.

From there, the old green was miles wide, and because Tour-quality players rarely hit short (they just miss it right or left), there was little question they’d get home, Now that more of a question since the new green, 30 percent smaller and perched, brings more trouble into play, including wetlands on the right that had hardly been relevant before.

Tom Layman in the Boston Herald talks about the new green, including the square footage reduction from 6,500 to 4,100 and even talks to a few players about the change.

“It’s interesting, very interesting,” said Jason Day, who has two top-five finishes at the Deutsche Bank the past two seasons and is 88th in the FedEx Cup playoff standings entering the tournament. “I’ve talked to a couple of guys, but there’s obviously mixed thoughts. If I was a new guy and this was my first year on tour and you’ve never played the course before, 18 would just look like a tough second shot hitting into that green.

“Since it’s new, it’s obviously going to play a little harder.”

Of the 918 ranked holes on the PGA Tour last year, only 26 were easier than the 530-yard, par-5 finishing hole at TPC Boston. The scoring average was 4.5 during last year’s tournament, and it has been the lowest-scoring hole on the course ever since the event became part of the FedEx Cup playoffs in 2007.

A New England Sports Network report hosted by Alexandra Grace looks at tournament enhancements, with quite a bit of video footage looking at the new 18th along with an insightful interview of the club GM, Brad Williams.

I had the video embedded, but it automatically played the ad everytime you opened my page. So tacky, especially since the NESN owners don't have to pay Adrian, Carl and Josh's salaries any longer!

For more on the TPC Boston, including before-after shots of other holes and analysis from last year when I was at the event, check out the Topics page for TPC Boston.

Sergio Cracks Under Playoff Pressure, WD's From Boston

The intensity of the algorithms, resets and overall immensity of the Playoffs got to Sergio Garcia as he withdrew from next week's Deutsche Bank Championship under the vast weight of the...wait?  What did you say?

Oh, it's to rest for the Ryder Cup? Well why not! He could win this week and next. Then there is a reset of the points before the final event that helps ensure more algorithm madness anyway. So why not take a week off?

Jim McCabe reports.

“Everybody knows how important the Ryder Cup is for me and I want to be fully fit there,” Garcia told PGA Tour officials after shooting 3-under 68 to get into a share of the second-round lead with Nick Watney at The Barclays. “I need to take a week off somewhere.”

How refreshing. He's passing up a chance to make money to be ready for a free appearance week at the Ryder Cup. Keep this up Sergio and we might start to really, really like you!

Where's Privacy When You Need It Files: Some Poor Hotel Manager Spent Friday Night Running Around Trying To Get Tiger A Firmer Mattress

Tiger docked his yacht at Kiawah for the PGA but didn't have Privacy shipped up to New York for this week's event at Bethpage, even though he had it there for the '09 U.S. Open and--even more startling--this is the Playoffs(C)! He's getting careless in his old age.

Hank Gola on Tiger's wrenched back caused by a soft mattress.

“There’s a difference between being in pain and injured,” Woods said afterward when asked about ’08. “This is just a little bit of pain. That was an injury.”

Woods blamed the soft bed in his hotel room — he said he’d be sleeping on the floor Friday night — for his back woes.

“Must have slept funny on it,” he said. “Woke up this morning with it stiff. You know, as I warmed up, it got progressively worse, and then you saw what happened on the golf course. It hurt all day.”

Actually, Wood played his best golf after the back got worse. He began with back-to-back bogeys but made three out of four birdies beginning on No. 4 and added another on the back nine on No. 14. That came just a hole after the hill got him as he walked into the bunker on the 13th.

Jim McCabe found the performance impressive in light of his ballstriking stats.

Time after time, Woods was shown wincing, though the agony didn’t translate into misery. Woods matched his Round 1 stats – 9 of 14 fairways and 13 greens in regulation – and played bogey-free for the final 16 holes.

One of his biggest winces came at the par-4 10th. The pain was so bad that he walked slowly into a tent next to the tee where players can collect snacks, fruits and drinks. Woods stayed there for nearly a minute before proceeding to walk to his drive some 322 yards away.

That’s right. In pain, he unloaded it 322 yards, one hole after driving it 310, and a few holes before toasting it out there at 311 and 315.