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

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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!

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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!

Cheyenne Wood Notches First Win, Q-School Next

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Thanks to reader Ken for this unbylined report in the Daytona Beach News Journal on Suncoast Series win.

Woods earned $3,000 for the win, and like many players in the field, she was using the event as a tuneup for next week's Stage I qualifier for the 2013 LPGA Tour. That tournament, the first of three stages for the LPGA's qualifying, is scheduled for Tuesday through Friday.

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

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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.

Initial Isaac Reports Positive For Golf Courses

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John Strege talks to Kelly Gibson about some of the first observations for the Louisiana area and while it was no Katrina and the levees are working better, Isaac has definitely left several golf courses under water.

"One course I'm personally concerned about is Joe Bartholomew Park [in New Orleans]. "We spent $8 million renovating it. They had received 12 feet of water for almost a month or so from Katrina and [Hurricane] Rita. We designed it to accommodate a substantial amount of rain."

Gretchen Bradford, the president of the Pontchartrain Neighborhood Park Association, reported that Joseph M. Bartholomew Sr. Municipal Golf Course survived intact.

"We had very minimal flooding in our neighborhood," she said. "We were very blessed. I'm not a golfer, but from what I see [of the golf course] it looks like it's OK. It has tree limbs and stuff around, and it probably did get saturated, but it wasn't flooded out."

Meanwhile, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that Audubon Park Golf Course in New Orleans "was inundated with standing water."

Mississippi is another story. Stay tuned.

Tiger Says Little Has Changed As A Short Hitting Old Guy

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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.

Phil Not Quite Yet Part Of Padres Ownership Group

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From an unbylined FoxSports.com story on the new Padres ownership group's first press conference Wednesday that did not include Phil Mickelson.

Mickelson was prominently absent on the list of investors revealed Wednesday upon the close of the sale by former owner John Moores. Instead, it was San Diego businessman Ron Fowler and four grandsons of longtime Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers patriarch Walter O'Malley — Kevin O'Malley, Brian O'Malley, Peter Seidler and Tom Seidler — who were presented to the media.

Those new owners pooh-poohed Mickelson's absence.

"We have a spot in our group for Phil and only Phil,” Peter Seidler said, according to UTSanDiego.com. “We expect that to be finalized in two weeks."

First Look At TPC Boston's New 18th Green

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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.

Brandel: "Society has changed, and golf has to adapt."

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Bob Young captures the highlights of a Brandel Chamblee ad campaign for Scottsdale Golf. He touches on a variety of topics in his usual way, including Tiger and the state of the game.

"There is a lot wrong with where golf has gone. The game has become too expensive, in my opinion. And golf-course architecture is responsible for a lot of that. Courses are too ornate and difficult.

"People fell in love with golf architecture that makes the game no fun. Courses should be interesting, not hard. They should be for enjoyment and competition.

"We should be building courses with three- to six-hole loops so people can come out and pay to play three holes or six or nine or 12."

"And there needs to be a more aggressive campaign to get more women and juniors involved in golf. I think larger holes cut on the opposite side of the green from the other hole is a way to do that, and building junior tees 150 yards from the green would do that.

Deutsche Bank Extends To 2016

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Another impressive job by the PGA Tour brass to get a prominent (and slightly troubled) sponsor to re-up, this time Deutsche Bank through 2016 for the playoff event where relations have had their ups and downs.

Michael Whitmer says the contracts were signed Wednesday.

For Immediate Release:

NORTON, Mass. – The PGA TOUR and Deutsche Bank today announced that the global banking firm has extended its sponsorship of the Deutsche Bank Championship by four years, through 2016. The announcement comes as the tournament, the second of four FedExCup Playoff events, celebrates its 10th anniversary this week.

Deutsche Bank has been title sponsor since the tournament’s Labor Day Weekend debut at TPC Boston in 2003. EMC Corporation also has renewed as the local presenting sponsor through 2016. 

“We are extremely proud of the success and positive impact the Deutsche Bank Championship has had over these first 10 years,” said Seth Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas. “The tournament's growth and ascension to the FedExCup Playoffs is a testament to the great fans of New England and terrific partnership with the PGA TOUR and Tiger Woods Foundation, as well as EMC as the local presenting sponsor. We are delighted to announce the continuation of our title sponsorship through 2016.”

Since its inception, the Deutsche Bank Championship has generated more than $20 million for charity. The Tiger Woods Foundation serves as the tournament’s host organization and primary beneficiary and the event also benefits many charities throughout New England via various events, programs and its Birdies for Charity initiative.  
“Deutsche Bank has been a valuable partner of the PGA TOUR and the Tiger Woods Foundation over the past decade and has helped to generate a significant impact on the region’s economy and charities through its sponsorship of the Deutsche Bank Championship,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. “With today’s announcement, the Deutsche Bank Championship will continue its positive influence throughout the region and maintain its important role in the FedExCup Playoffs. We sincerely thank and congratulate Deutsche Bank for this new four-year commitment.”

Medinah Rounding Into Shape, Slowly

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Sean Jensen visits Medinah for an update where the fairways are finally getting a break from being played "aggressively" by members and guests according to director of golf course operations Curtis Tyrrell.

The PGA's Kerry Haigh recently paid a visit and is only concerned with the fairway conditions, which should thrive with cooler weather and minimal play since the course was closed on August 20th.

The fairways are his only concern because of a combination of wear and tear, as well as weather. Tyrrell said the different types of grass at Medinah ideally grow at a soil temperature of around 50 to 65 degrees. But with a hot June and July — including a stretch of 45 days when the soil temperature was over 80 — the fairways, in particular, took a beating.

‘‘Rain would help and some cooler temperatures, and if we have one of those great Chicago Septembers, we’ll be just fine,’’ said Michael Belot, the director of the 2012 Ryder Cup. ‘‘The course will be in phenomenal shape.’’

Added Tyrrell, ‘‘The fairways are really filled in.’’

A nice video report features Tyrrell talking about tree removal and Rees Jones' renovation of Medinah.