John Deere Classic 2017 preview

The PGA Championship returns to Kiawah Island this week. The Ocean Course, designed by Pete and Alice Dye, is known for both its beauty and its brawn. With a scorecard yardage of 7,876 yards, it will be the longest major venue in history. It is 135 yards longer than the previous record holder, Erin Hillls, the host of the 2017 U.S. Open. Golf Digest has also declared the Ocean Course the most difficult in the country. “The Ocean Course, strung along the Atlantic coastline with fairways and greens perched above sand, sea oats and sweetgrass, is perhaps (Dye’s) most Dye-abolical design,” the magazine wrote. “With forced carries over marshes (and) endless waste bunkers, … the Ocean is a rare course that can bring tears and fears even to TOUR pros.” This is the second time the oceanfront gem will host this championship. Rory McIlroy romped to an 8-shot win at Kiawah in 2012. The course also hosted one of the most hotly-contested Ryder Cups in history. “Strategically, it is an absolute masterpiece,” said Paul Azinger, a member of the 1991 U.S. Ryder Cup team. “There are some holes out there that can just completely end your hopes.” With that said, here are Nine Things to Know before the PGA Championship gets underway at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course: 1. IN THE BEGINNING Dye wrote in his autobiography that he immediately fell in love with the site for Kiawah Island, calling it “one of the greatest pieces of seaside property in the United States.” “The combination of the magnificent Atlantic Ocean on one side and the vast saltwater marshes on the other captivated me,” he wrote. How good was the land? Kiawah Island was awarded the Ryder Cup before the course was built. The matches were originally scheduled to be held at another Dye design, PGA West’s Stadium Course, but were moved to the East Coast to better suit television audiences in Europe. “For the first time in history, the heralded event had been awarded to a course that did not exist and there was less than two years to build one worthy of the event,” Dye wrote. His team didn’t get permission to begin clearing land until July 1989. Hurricane Hugo hit that October, delaying a construction process that was already working on a tight timetable. Many doubted that the course would be in suitable condition for the matches. That only inspired everyone involved in the construction, Dye said. The team worked 18-hour days, often under lights after the sun had set, to complete the course on time. The course was planted in July 1990, almost exactly a year after the groundbreaking. 2. BEAUTY The Ocean Course is built on a 2 ½ mile stretch of beachside property located about 30 miles from Charleston, South Carolina. With no homes allowed on site because of environmental restrictions, Dye said he was like a “kid with a lollipop” because of the flexibility that gave him to create the course he desired. Dye built the course in a figure-8 design, with the front nine looping clockwise to the east and the back nine looping counterclockwise to the west. That layout allows Kiawah Island to have more oceanfront holes (10) than any course in the North America. “It looks like God designed it,” said Dave Stockton, the U.S. captain in the 1991 Ryder Cup at Kiawah Island. “It’s just a natural creation. “It’s great to see a … golf course that’s not trying to fit between a freeway and a housing project.” 3. AND THE BEAST In his autobiography, Dye started the chapter on Kiawah Island with a quote from course architect John L. Low. “A good player prays for wind every day, but he must not pray too earnestly,” Low said. It’s a fitting quote because in return for the scenic views, players often face strong, and unpredictable, winds at the Ocean Course. During construction, Dye discovered there was no prevailing wind on Kiawah Island. It could blow from different directions on consecutive days. It required Dye to design an adaptable course. “We were in effect building two golf courses since the direction of the wind could require a long approach one day and a short on the next,” Dye wrote. He did this by building greens that were 40-50 yards deep and could accept shots with a variety of trajectories. He also built long tees that would allow a hole’s yardage to vary greatly day-to-day. Players saw first-hand at the 1991 Ryder Cup how differently the course can play. The wind blew from the southeast during the practice rounds but came from the opposite direction once the competition began. “All of the finishing holes, which had been downwind the day before would suddenly be played against a stiff breeze,” Dye wrote. “At the par-3 14th, the competitors were hitting 2- and 3-irons where the day before they had used a 7 or 8. At 18, what had been a 5- or 6-iron approach shot downwind to the green now became a long-iron or rescue club shot.” 4. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (PART 2) Alice Dye played an integral part in many of her husband’s designs. Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course is no exception. A ridge of sand dunes blocked views of the beach, so Alice convinced Pete to raise the fairways six feet so golfers could see over the sand. “You’re building a course right next to the ocean but the golfers can’t see it!” she said. They used the sand dug out from lakes and pockets around the course to raise the fairways. “Thanks to Alice, golfers can enjoy watching the tide roll in and out, experiencing the beautiful Kiawah island coastline,” Pete Dye wrote. Improving the views also increased the course’s exposure to the wind, and some of the dramatic drop-offs increased the penalty for off-line shots. “It does look like a links golf course, there is no question about it, but the difference is many of the greens are built up into the air, where you can’t really run the ball on,” said David Feherty, who played the 1991 Ryder Cup at Kiawah Island. “When you are faced with a shot that you have to keep the ball down (because of the wind) but you have to get it up in the air to make it stop, that’s really the difficulty.” 5. RORY’S ROMP The PGA Championship also visited the Ocean Course in 2012. Rory McIlroy won by eight shots. He broke Jack Nicklaus’ record for largest winning margin in the PGA and became the only player besides Tiger Woods to win multiple majors by eight or more shots since World War I. McIlroy’s PGA win came a year after he won the U.S. Open by eight shots. Winning at Kiawah got him back to No. 1 in the world. He was the youngest player to win two majors since Seve Ballesteros (Tiger Woods was about four months older when he won his second major). McIlroy was two back after shooting 67-75 in the first two rounds but his closing two rounds of 11-under 133 (67-66) was best in the field by three shots. He finished the rain-delayed third round Sunday morning, making birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to take a three-shot lead. No one got closer than two strokes the rest of the way. He was bogey-free over his final 23 holes. “It’s been great to win my first major last year and to back that up with another one this year; I can’t ask for any more,” he said after the win. “I just want to keep working hard, keep practicing, and hopefully there’s a few more of these in my closet when my career finishes.” McIlroy arrives at this year’s PGA on a winning note. He was victorious in his last start, the Wells Fargo Championship, to end an 18-month winless drought. It was his 19th PGA TOUR victory. After winning two majors before turning 24, McIlroy has won just two in the nine years since. Both came in 2014, when he won The Open Championship and PGA in a span of three weeks. He’s also won two FedExCups and a PLAYERS championship. 6. 2012 STATS Rain took some bite out of the Ocean Course in 2012 but it was still the second-most difficult course on TOUR that year. Only the Olympic Club, host of the 2012 U.S. Open, played harder. Kiawah Island played to a 74.6 scoring average. McIlroy was the only player to shoot more than 5 under par for the week. Only 20 players finished in red figures. The back nine played to a 37.7 average – nearly two strokes over par – in 2012. Five of the course’s six hardest holes were on the back nine. Four of them came in the final six holes. Starting with the 14th hole, the course turns back toward the clubhouse, so there’s a potential for players to face five consecutive holes into the wind to close their round. Kiawah Island’s two back-nine par-3s – Nos. 14 and 17 – were two of the 10 hardest par-3s on TOUR in 2012. The par-5 11th was the sixth-hardest par-5 that season. And the 18th hole was the second-hardest finishing hole of the season. “Fourteen and 17 are very long, very difficult par-3s,” Adam Scott said in 2012. “But they kind of sit right in with the whole back nine. It’s all difficult.” 7. THREE’S COMPANY Kiawah’s 14th hole was inspired by the famed Redan hole at Scotland’s North Berwick. The elevated green on the 238-yard hole runs diagonally from right to left, with a green that runs away from the player. A deep bunker guards the left side of the green. Only 39% of the field hit the green in 2012. “Only the back-left portion (of the green) is visible from the tee,” Dye wrote. “The green demands a high shot when the pin is located on the front, but when the pin is located on the back, it demands a low trajectory shot that will land on the front of the green and roll down to the back.” It’s the first of two terrifying par-3s that come in Kiawah Island’s final five holes. The Ocean Course is one of several Dye designs that ends with a 5-3-4 finishing sequence. Think TPC Sawgrass and PGA West. The 17th on both of those courses features an island green. Kiawah Island’s 17th hole isn’t an island but it’s much longer than its more famous siblings and still requires a tee shot that carries water. Like Dye’s original island green, at TPC Sawgrass, Alice Dye gets the credit for Kiawah’s famed 17th, as well. “There wasn’t going to be a lake on the … 17th but Alice felt we needed a dramatic element at this point,” Dye wote in his autobiography. “Since players of Ryder Cup caliber can handle bunker shots with ease, to make a realistic challenge, we dug an eight-acre lake that stretches from the tee to the offset green, which runs away from the player diagonally to the right and is nearly a double size at 10,000 square feet.” 8. CALC’S COLLAPSE The 17th hole was made famous by Mark Calcavecchia’s shank in the 1991 Ryder Cup. It was part of a collapse that sent an emotional Calcavecchia to weep in the sand dunes, away from the tumult of the Ryder Cup’s final holes. He started hyperventilating and almost passed out from the stress of possibly costing his country the Ryder Cup. “I flipped out a little bit,” he said. “If we didn’t win this thing, I wouldn’t have played golf for a long time.” He was 4 up before playing the final four holes in 8 over par, including triples at 15 and 17. His tee shot at 17 quickly dove into the lake, coming nowhere near land. He then missed a 2-foot putt for double-bogey that would have won the match. “I tried to hit it too low,” Calcavecchia said. “I played the ball too far back in my stance.” The United States won only after Bernhard Langer missed a 6-foot putt on the final hole of the final match, against Hale Irwin. Had Langer made his putt, the teams would have tied and Europe would have retained the cup. Langer’s miss gave the United States its first win since 1983. Two years earlier, Calcavecchia stood on the 18th tee of his singles match all square with Ronan Rafferty. Calcavecchia didn’t finish the final hole after putting two balls in the water. The teams finished tied, allowing Europe to retain the Cup. After the 1991 Ryder Cup, Calcavecchia told his wife, “I don’t want to be part of this competition anymore. It got to the point where … it was too much.” 9. PASP-TIME Kiawah Island was built with the Bermudagrass that is common in the Southeast. It was changed to a seaside-friendly strain of paspalum before the 2012 PGA Championship, making it the first major played on that surface. Paspalum is better suited for the wind, salt and sun of an oceanside setting. It also has no grain, which makes for smoother greens and a ball that sits up in the fairway. In 2012, Scott described the grass as slightly slower than Bermuda, but “very consistent.” McIlroy described it as “sticky.” “It just really grabs the ball,” he said in 2012. “Even if you get the greens firm here, the ball is still going to grab on this grass. … You can be aggressive with your chip shots and aggressive with your wedge shots, too.”

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HOUSTON - Brooks Koepka's health is no longer an issue. His driver was a problem at the Vivint Houston Open, however. Koepka struggled to hit fairways in the first two rounds at Memorial Park after switching to a new driver. After barely making the cut, Koepka changed back to the old club and charged up the leaderboard. "The first two days that driver was terrible, just flat out. I don’t know why we switched," Koepka said. "It's a shame. I know I would have won it if I just would have stuck with it." Koepka shot 130 in the final two rounds of the Vivint Houston Open, the second-lowest weekend score of his career. A chip-in birdie on the 72nd hole gave him a second consecutive 65. He finished in fifth place at 8 under par, five shots back of winner Carlos Ortiz. RELATED: Final leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Carlos Ortiz, Vivint Houston Open Koepka isn't the only runner-up from last year's Masters who will head to Augusta National with some momentum after a close call in Houston. Dustin Johnson tied for second with Hideki Matsuyama despite struggling with his putter on the weekend. Johnson and Matsuyama finished two back of Ortiz, who birdied two of the final three holes. Like Koepka, Johnson made a run after a poor start at Memorial Park. Johnson, making his first start since the U.S. Open, made five bogeys on his first nine holes of the tournament en route to a first-round 72. He was 13 under par in the next three rounds, shooting 66-66-65. He will rue several missed birdie opportunities on the back nine Sunday. Johnson failed to birdie the drivable 13th and the par-5 16th, the latter after leaving himself just 208 yards for his second shot. He missed a 7-foot birdie putt on 17 and a 21-footer on the final hole. Johnson hit 16 greens Sunday but missed all but one of the seven putts he faced from 10-20 feet in the final round. Outside of the 60-foot birdie putt he made on the 11th hole Sunday, Johnson lost strokes on the greens over the weekend. Johnson, the reigning FedExCup champion and World No. 1, has now finished first or second in five of his last six starts. A sixth-place finish at the U.S. Open is his lone exception. Koepka was actually one shot outside the cut line with five holes left in the second round, but made two birdies to make the weekend. He played his final 27 holes in 9 under par, hitting 13 of 19 fairways in that span. "If you’re going to drive the ball in the fairway, you’re going to have a lot of scoring opportunities," Koepka said. Koepka started Sunday six shots off the lead but came out swinging. He made five birdies on the front nine to pull within one of the lead. He birdied the 13th hole to reach 9 under par, but bogeyed two of his next four holes before making birdie on 18. Koepka, who has struggled with injuries this year, still collected just his third top-10 of this calendar year. After withdrawing from the FedExCup Playoffs and U.S. Open because of his ailing hip, Koepka declared this week that he feels "as good as ever." Now he heads to Augusta National with his health, and his old driver back in the bag.

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Welcome back folks! Nothing like easing into the New Year with views of humpback whales, rainbows, mountains and the Plantation Course at Kapalua. As is the tradition on the PGATOUR to start the new calendar year, the winners-only Sentry Tournament of Champions will open the batting. Beginning a run that will take us all the way to the TOUR Championship, it’s time to knock the rust off and bunker in for the second part of the 2021-2022 season. All who are eligible minus Rory McIlroy means 39 players will tee it up this week at the Coore-Crenshaw design on Maui. The Plantation Course will host all four rounds (no cut) as it has since 1999 but this will be the third edition after the 2019 post-tournament renovation. The last two years have seen both extremes at Kapalua. The 2020 edition was hit with severe winds and rains and posted the second-highest winning total. Last year, the weather was non-existent and the scoring was the second lowest on record on Maui. The Plantation Course is defended by the wind and its routing up and down the coastal terrain. The fairways are the widest on TOUR (almost 45 yards on average) and the TifEagle Bermuda greens the biggest targets to hit (over 8,000 square feet on average). There will be wind that blows but the good news is there will be ample room to move it and recovers. Errant shots will find almost three inches of Celebration Bermuda, which will make recovery and scrambling shots challenging to get close. Playing at Par-73 at 7,596 yards, the Plantation Course has 93 bunkers and zero water penalty areas but has plenty of canyons, ravines and trouble if shots are errant. There are only three Par-3 holes but each of the last five winners have finished in the top eight in scoring on these short holes. With massive fairways and massive greens, those gaining the most shots into and on the greens will factor this week. Of the last 17 winners 14 have been in the top seven in Strokes-Gained: Approach. Remembering this is a resort course (and Par-73) scores should be in the low 20-under range as usual if the weather cooperates so it’s not a week to grind out pars. Birdies will need to be circled and circled frequently! Combining the wind and elevation changes minus the use of personal green books (new rule in 2022) suggests that the experienced, elite talent should rule the roost this week. Harris English, the 11th consecutive American to win, returns to try and join Geoff Ogilvy and Stuart Appleby as the only players to defend the title. 2020 and 2017 winner Justin Thomas is the only multiple winner in the field this year. Xander Schauffele was the last to set the course record, 62, in his final round come-from-behind victory in 2019. His gold medal in Tokyo punched his ticket into the field this week. The prize purse gets a very nice bump to $8.2 million this season with the winner taking home $1.476 million plus 500 FedExCup points to start the New Year in style. Recent Event Winners Stats Recent Winners 2021 – Harris English (-25, 267) Birdied the first playoff hole to win for the third time on TOUR in his 250th start. … Played in the final group on 21-under, setting the 54-hole low total. … Led by two after 36 holes. … T-1 after 18 holes (Thomas) after opening with 65. … Became the EIGHTH consecutive winner inside the top five after 54 holes. … Made only ONE BOGEY thru 54 holes. … Circled 26 birdies and one eagle. … Led the field in Strokes-Gained: Putting. … Won in his second attempt (T11) at age 31. … First win since Mayakoba in 2013. … Qualified for the event from the 2020 TOUR Championship (COVID-19 exception). … Entered the week on back-to-back Top 10 finishes and four from his last six starts. Notables in the field this week: 2020 and 2017 champ Justin Thomas (3rd) posted his FOURTH podium finish in just six starts. … Debutant Sungjae Im (T5) had no problem acclimating as he posted all four rounds in the 60s as he led the field in SG: Tee-to-Green. … 2019 winner Xander Schauffele (T5) collected his third straight top five here. … Bryson DeChambeau (T7) led the field in SG: Off-the-Tee and Bogey Avoidance (2 bogeys). … Collin Morikawa (T7) posted a pair of 65s and has T7 in back-to-back seasons. … Jon Rahm (T7) picked up his fourth Top 10 paycheck in four starts. … Daniel Berger (10th) was second in Ball-Striking and GIR. … 34 of 42 players were 10-under or better. … 34 bogey-free rounds. … Scoring average 69.315, easiest on TOUR last season. … Second-easiest Sentry on record (2003). 2020 – Justin Thomas (14-under, 278) Birdied third playoff hole to win for the 12th time on TOUR in his 141st start. … Began the final round in the last group one back. … Sat three back after 36 holes. … One behind after opening with 67. … Led the field in Par-3 scoring and continued the trend of the winner being in the top seven the last five years. … 24 birdies led the field. … Becomes only the fourth multiple champion (2017) since the event moved to Kapalua in 1999. … Third podium in five attempts at age 26. … Won twice and added three top 10 paydays in six events leading into the event. Notables in the field this week: 2015 champ Patrick Reed (P2) posted two of the three lowest rounds of the week (66) to make the playoff and ensure his third top two finish. … 2019 winner Xander Schauffele (P2) led after 54 and 36 holes but could not repeat. … Patrick Cantlay (4th) led the field in Proximity and was T4 GIR. … Debutant Collin Morikawa (T7) hit the second most fairways with 55 of 60 and posted all four rounds under par. … 2018 runner up Jon Rahm (10th) hit the top 10 in both Fairways and GIR. … First edition after post 2019 renovation. … Firm fairways and greens because of all new sod. … Wind blew 20-30 MPH with gusts at 40. … Lift, clean and replace the final 54 holes. … Highest winning score since 2007. … Just seven bogey free rounds. … Only six players 10-under or better. … 72.228 scoring average. 2019 – Xander Schauffele (23-under, 269) Made 11 birdies on Sunday to win by one and claim his fourth victory in 61 career starts. … Final round 62 tied the course record and was the lowest round of the week. … Sat five off the lead after 54 and 36 holes. … Was six back after 18 holes. … Largest final round comeback in history (5 shots). … Finished T5 or better in EVERY Strokes-Gained category. … Made 24 birdies, second to Thomas. … Played his final 54 holes 22-under. … Won on his second attempt after T22 in 2018 at age 24. … Won WGC-HSBC Champions in November and T8 at Hero in December leading in. Notables in the field this week: 2017 winner Justin Thomas (3rd) led the field in birdies with 25 as he was second in Fairways and fourth GIR. … Marc Leishman (T4) backed up his T7 from 2018 even with a triple and a double on the card. … Bryson DeChambeau (7th) was T3 in Distance of Putts made. … Jon Rahm (T8) followed his solo second in 2018 with another top 10. … Cameron Champ (T11) circled 22 birdies. … Final event before the massive Coore-Crenshaw renovation. … Scoring average 70.924. … 12 bogey free rounds. … 15 players 10-under or better. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2020-2021 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. Horses for Courses: Sentry Tournament of Champions

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