Dustin Johnson inside the numbers at Sentry TOC

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Davis Love III got his hands dirty before this year’s RSM Classic. Love’s golf-course architecture firm, Love Golf Design, led a dramatic renovation of Sea Island’s Plantation Course. Love didn’t just peer at the project’s plans. “Pete Dye told me you’re not a golf course architect until you get on the equipment and build it yourself,â€� Love said. And that’s what the World Golf Hall of Famer did, hopping on a bulldozer to shape some of the sharp angles and old-school features that will be on display this week during the PGA TOUR’s annual visit to Sea Island. The Plantation Course will be used, along with the neighboring Seaside layout, on Thursday and Friday. The RSM’s weekend rounds will be played on Seaside. The Plantation Course’s new look is a blast from the past, drawing upon the course’s history and other attributes common to golf’s Golden Age designs. Plantation is the oldest course at Sea Island. The Walter Travis design opened as a nine-hole course in 1928, shortly before the Seaside nine that was designed by Harry Colt and Charles Alison. “We like classic design,â€� Love said. “We feel like this is a historic resort and it needs a historic-looking course.â€� Plantation’s historic feel had faded after nearly a century of play and a renovation in the late 1990s. This latest renovation draws upon the designs of architects like Travis, Seth Raynor and C.B. MacDonald. Those men designed some of Love’s favorite courses, including Chicago Golf Club, Mountain Lake in Lake Wales, Florida, and two courses in Charleston, South Carolina: Yeamans Hall and Country Club of Charleston. It was a collaboration between Love, his brother Mark, and Scot Sherman, an architect with Love Golf Design who worked closely with Dye for many years. They replicated those classic courses by creating sharp angles and straight lines, producing a look that was distinctive from the neighboring Seaside course and its big, bold bunkering. The renovated Plantation course also offers more of the scenic views that its neighbor is known for. The new course is flatter – many Golden Age designs were built on flat ground – and brush was cleared to offer more views of the Atlantic Ocean and St. Simons Sound. Some of Plantation’s new greens are squared-off instead of round. Flat bunkers with vertical grass faces were built. Railroad ties provide a stark delineation between grass and water. Grass mounds known as “chocolate dropsâ€� were placed on several holes.  A Principal’s Nose bunker, inspired by the one at St. Andrews, was built on the 10th hole and odes to other old-school template holes, like the Redan and Punchbowl, were built at Plantation. These features are evident from the start, as the “chocolate dropsâ€� are visible from the first tee and the new green evokes the Biarritz design that was often built by Macdonald and Raynor. Railroad ties front the second green. These long, wooden boards are often associated with Dye’s designs, but it’s a concept that he got from his travel to Scotland. It’s another look Love enjoys, as he’s won five times at the Dye-designed Harbour Town and twice at TPC Sawgrass, which host the RBC Heritage and THE PLAYERS Championship, respectively. Plantation’s third hole is a par 3 inspired by the Redan green that has been replicated many times over. Love looked at pictures of the Redan at Yeamans Hall as he drove a dozer on this hole. Some other notable features are the Thumbprint green on No. 11 and Punchbowl on 13. The thumbprint, like the 18th hole at the Old White TPC, has a central bowl, as if someone pressed their thumb into the center of the putting surface. A Punchbowl green is lower than its surrounds, obscuring it from view while also allowing shots to funnel onto the putting surface. The renovation also created some new closing holes. Travis designed the 14th hole as a par 5, but it was later divided into a par 4 and par 3. This most recent renovation returned the 14th to a par 5. The large, central bunker is another feature typical of Macdonald and Raynor courses. It forces players to choose between four potential lines off the tee: left, right, short and long. The 15th and 16th holes from the original routing were brought back. Fifteen is a short par 4, while the 16th is a short par 3 with a double-plateau green and penal pot bunker. The course will finish on a par 5 that features chocolate drops, railroad ties and flat bunkers. “It’s a great example of all the features which influenced us in one place,â€� Sherman said.

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Bubba Watson, fresh off a PGA TOUR-best third victory this season, will try to keep the momentum going at his adopted second home as he joins fellow Greenbrier property owner Phil Mickelson atop the marquee at the famed West Virginia resort next week at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier. Outgoing champion Xander Schauffele also faces a title defense against such threats as THE PLAYERS Championship titleholder Webb Simpson and Kevin Kisner, who lost a Greenbrier playoff to Danny Lee two years ago. FIELD WATCH With Mickelson, Simpson and Kisner among the late additions, the field features five of the top 12 in the FedExCup points chase, and seven of the top 35 in the current world rankings. Chase Seiffert, who parlayed a Monday qualifying berth into a share of ninth at the Travelers Championship, gets a second bite by virtue of his top-10 finish. He was a Florida State teammate of U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka. All seven former winners are in the lineup, seeking to become the first to stamp his name a second time. Former Oregon standout Norman Xiong, winner of the Haskins Award for college excellence, tees it up in his first TOUR event as a pro. Sam O’Dell, fresh off his fourth West Virginia Amateur title, is in on an exemption along with former Marshall golfer Davey Jude. FEDEXCUP Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES Watson, whose Travelers Championship title came from six shots off the pace, hopes to carry the momentum into the West Virginia mountains. Though 14 of his 16 rounds at The Old White TPC have been in the 60s, he’s still seeking his first top-10 finish. Mickelson tees it up for the fifth time at The Greenbrier, though last year was the first time he got to play the weekend. Robert Streb tries again after runner-up finishes in each of the past two editions. He was one shot behind Schauffele last year and part of the four-man playoff won by Lee in 2016. No 54-hole leader at The Greenbrier has managed to close out the final day. Three of the seven winners have come from at least four shots back – Jonas Blixt (2013), Ted Potter Jr. (2012) and Stuart Appleby (2010). Up to four berths to the Open Championship are available for players among the top 12 not already booked for Carnoustie. After Sunday, just one berth will be left for the John Deere Classic’s top non-qualified finisher among the top 5. COURSE The Old White TPC, 7,286 yards, par 70. Now in its second century of use, Charles Blair Macdonald’s 1914 design lives on after a restoration that followed West Virginia’s massive floods two years ago. Several holes were inspired by renowned layouts in Macdonald’s native Scotland, particularly No.8’s sloped “redan� green that resembles the 15th at North Berwick. Also, No. 13 recalls Prestwick’s “Alps� hole and the 15th imitates “Eden� at St. Andrews. The Old White’s 18th was the setting for Sam Snead’s final hole-in-one in 1995. The PGA TOUR arrived in 2011, promptly making noise as Appleby’s closing 59 propelled him to the first Greenbrier Classic title. The course is one of five layouts at the resort, named for the Old White Hotel that stood on the property for more than six decades. 72-HOLE RECORD 258, Stuart Appleby (2010). 18-HOLE RECORD 59, Stuart Appleby (4th round, 2010). LAST YEAR Schauffele emerged from a daylong battle with Streb and Sebastian Munoz to notch his first career victory, striping a wedge to 3 feet at The Old White’s par-3 finisher for the deciding birdie. Three weeks after gaining notice with a tie for fifth at the U.S. Open, the California rookie used a closing 67 to wipe out a three-shot deficit. Playing one pair ahead of his rivals, Schauffele’s tee shot at No. 18 drew a roar noticeable on the 17th green, where both Streb and Munoz missed birdie attempts. The duo also failed to birdie the 18th, leaving Schauffele one shot clear of Streb (69) and two ahead of Munoz (72) and Jamie Lovemark (69). Not only did Schauffele become the seventh come-from-behind winner at The Greenbrier in as many editions, it was the fourth time the tournament had been captured by a rookie. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 3:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE:Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (featured groups), 3:30-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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