Leaderboard: DeChambeau leads Northern Trust

The host venue for this week’s The American Express is one of the most unique on the PGA TOUR. PGA West’s Stadium Course was built by a World Golf Hall of Famer who added a California ethos to his groundbreaking style when he built this course out of the desert. Like its predecessor, the second Stadium Course also had a controversial debut. It was so hard when it was played 35 years ago that TOUR players petitioned to have it removed from the schedule. PGA West’s Stadium Course may not be as intimidating as it once was, but Dye’s trademark tricks still promote drama, especially on the course’s closing holes. “We’re just giving (the pros) the opportunities to hit great golf shots,” Dye once said. He viewed his penal designs as a canvas for the world’s best players to truly display their skills. The Stadium is one of three courses in use this week but the only one that will be played multiple times, including in Sunday’s final round. Here are 5 Things to Know about the Stadium Course at PGA West. 1. ‘THE HARDEST DAMN COURSE’ Dye was given simple instructions when tasked with building the Stadium Course at PGA West. “Build the hardest damn golf course in the world,” developers Ernie Vossler and Joe Walser told him. Dye had already shaped TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course out of a Florida swamp, earning him a reputation as an iconoclastic architect who built demanding layouts that required pinpoint precision. TPC Sawgrass debuted as the venue for THE PLAYERS in 1982, and its difficulty drove players mad. A short time later, Vossler and Walser asked Dye to enact a similar transformation on the opposite coast, creating another stadium design in the desert of California’s Coachella Valley. Dye accomplished his mission. PGA West’s Stadium Course was deemed the hardest in the nation when it opened. Its course rating of 77.1 was the highest ever given by the United States Golf Association. This reputation earned the Stadium Course the 1991 Ryder Cup, though that competition was later moved to another Dye design, Kiawah Island in South Carolina, because of concerns about hosting an intercontinental competition in the Pacific Time Zone. 2. TRANSFORMATION IN THE DESERT The Stadium Course is famous for its dramatic features, including steep slopes and penal hazards. The course belies the property’s original state as a flat parcel of desert. Dye wrote in his autobiography that the “featureless, barren acreage” was the “worst piece of land we ever started with.” The sandy soil allowed Dye to mold a memorable course from the ground. Working in the desert was like playing in a giant sandbox. Dye sculpted a course where water comes into play on nearly half the holes, and there’s more square footage of sand than putting surface. “Length alone would not be the ultimate test for the new course, but I believed strategic hazards, deep bunkers, difficult angles across fairways, slightly offset greens, parallel lakes and desert plants, when combined with cross-current winds, could provide the type of course Joe and Ernie expected,” Dye wrote in his autobiography. 3. THE REVOLT The Stadium Course’s debut as a TOUR venue in 1987 proved that Dye had done his job. Raymond Floyd called the course “spiteful” and “hateful.” Tom Watson said he was “sick and tired” of Dye’s radical designs. “It requires you to execute shots that no sane golfer should be expected to play,” Watson added. Famed Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray wrote that “you need a camel, a canoe, a priest and a tourniquet to get through it.” California native Al Geiberger once said playing PGA West was like working through the stages of grief. Expecting positive reviews from the TOUR pros, Dye instead was “lambasted with personal, cutting remarks to the effect that I had lost my mule-headed mind,” he wrote. It didn’t help that the first round was hit by cold weather that only made conditions more difficult. Things didn’t get much easier by Sunday. The 73.97 final-round scoring average was almost unheard of for the friendly setups of this pro-am tournament, where red numbers are the norm. It was only a matter of weeks before TOUR professionals petitioned to have the Stadium Course removed from the rotation of courses for the event that was then known as the Bob Hope Classic. Dye called the petition “absurd.” “The professionals forget that the whole idea of a Pete Dye golf course is to require players to hit a wide variety of shots,” Dye said. “I’ve always felt that a good player who’s playing well wants to play a difficult golf course because he knows the winner won’t be someone who can just out-putt him.” Lee Trevino, known as one of the best ball-strikers in the game’s history, also defended the course during the telecast of the 1987 Hope. “There’s been a lot of controversy about PGA West this week. Some pros say it stinks, it’s a monster, it’s unfair,” he said. “Well, I want to ask you, what makes a golf course unfair? Is it unfair because you have to hit the tee ball down the middle of the fairway and good iron shots into the green? Or is it fair because you can hit the ball all over the parking lot and make birdies? You be the judge of that, but if you ask me, if for the last 20 years we would’ve played golf courses like this one, maybe some of (you) that won a lot of golf tournaments wouldn’t have won as many.” It was nearly three decades before the Stadium Course returned to the TOUR schedule. While it continued to host tournaments like the Skins Game and Final Stage of Q-School, the course didn’t reappear on TOUR until the 2016 American Express. Advances in everything from agronomy to architecture, fitness to technology, have better equipped players to face challenges like those presented by the Stadium Course, which have become more commonplace. While still a challenge, the course is no longer considered controversial. “It says that the combination of technology and players has moved substantially over the course of 30 years,” said the famed architect Tom Doak, who started his career by working for Dye. “It also says that many architects have reacted to that and built very difficult courses, in reaction to what they saw on TV.” 4. FAULT LINES Like the first Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, Dye built a memorable finishing stretch for the second edition. He called PGA West’s final three holes “maybe the most difficult finishing holes I’ve ever built.” “It’s hang-on-to-your-hat time when you turn back toward the clubhouse,” he said. Like TPC Sawgrass, PGA West finishes with a risk-reward par-5, island-green par-3 and water-lined par-4. The par-5 16th, named San Andreas (after the large fault that runs through the state), features a deep greenside bunker that Dye said may be “the deepest greenside bunker this side of Mars.” He intended to build an unforgettable bunker, but it developed a bit by accident. Dye told the bulldozer operator to keep digging until he hit water. “I don’t know if he thought I was kidding or not,” Dye wrote, “but his bulldozer finally found water at 22 feet, and we leveled it off at 20.” Vossler was skeptical about the deep sand trap. Before it was filled in with sand, he dumped a pile of sand at the bottom of the deep ditch and said Dye could keep the bunker only if he could hit a shot onto the green from down there. “Tossing me a sand wedge, Ernie challenged me: ‘If you can get it on the green from there, then the damn bunker’s all right with me,’” Dye wrote. “I used my flip-wrist sand wedge swing and safely elevated the ball up to the green site. … Just think of all the fun golfers would have missed if I’d left the ball in the … sand.” The bunker became famous when Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill couldn’t escape it during the 1987 Hope, finally opting to throw his ball out after several unsuccessful attempts to extricate it with a sand wedge. “There were those who thought the depth of the bunker was ridiculous and unfair,” Dye wrote. “Writers of note believed I had gone off the deep end.” 5. ISLAND TIME Dye believed a strong 17th hole is an important feature for any golf course. “Even though 18 is the finishing hole, I have focused more on the 17th because I always feel that it sets up the closing drama for 18,” he wrote. He created the world’s most famous 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, but he wasn’t excited when asked by the developers and PGA TOUR Commissioner Deane Beman to replicate it in California. They believed an island green was a necessity if PGA West was going to earn its desired reputation for difficulty. “I was afraid that if I built another island green,” Dye wrote, “both holes would end up losing their uniqueness.” He acquiesced but made sure to add unique elements to the hole that would be named Alcatraz after the island prison in San Francisco. PGA West’s 17th would play from an elevated tee, unlike the flat version in Florida. Rocks, instead of railroad ties, lined Dye’s second island green, to help it fit in with the mountains that surround the course. PGA West’s island is larger than the original, as well, to accommodate a longer tee shot. PGA West’s 17th has a scorecard yardage of 165 yards, compared to 137 yards at TPC Sawgrass.

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On Tuesday afternoon in the locker room of the CareerBuilder Challenge, Zach Johnson made an observation aloud to no one in particular. “I’ll tell you what’s crazy,â€� Johnson said. “A lot of guys I’ve been paired with on Thursday and Friday have gone on to win that week. Either I’m incredibly motivating or they’re just incredibly good.â€� In Rounds 1 and 2 of last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii, Johnson was paired with Patton Kizzire. On the sixth hole of sudden death, the longest in Sony Open in Hawaii history, Kizzire emerged victorious over James Hahn. The win at Waialae Country Club, his second on the PGA TOUR, came in his 66th start and came just three starts after his maiden victory at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. As such, Kizzire became the season’s first two-time winner and jumped to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings. A towering figure that strikes the ball with the smooth style and grace of Ernie Els, Kizzire’s Tuscaloosa, Alabama roots lend to a deep and slow Southern drawl and demeanor that parallels his effortless swing. Until this season on the PGA TOUR, Kizzire’s ascent into golf’s upper echelon was more of an amble than a stride. It could be said that contentment trumped commitment. After graduating from Auburn University with a business degree in 2008, Kizzire lacked the tenacity and discipline a career in professional golf requires. “Yeah, I was a little bit stuck in college, but I think that was all part of the deal,â€� Kizzire said. “I kind of got a little bit of that out of my system and was able to move on and start being a little bit more serious about the profession and I think it all kind of just gelled together at the right time.â€� In order to resurrect the fire he displayed in college that resulted in top honors at the 2007 SEC Championship, Kizzire relocated to Georgia to place serious focus on his game. “I guess it was just maturity kind of coming into play there,â€� Kizzire said. “I was living in Auburn and decided to move to St. Simons and really take it seriously and take advantage of the resources we have down there. I have my management group, great coaches, Davis Love III, Zach Johnson and Jonathan Byrd and all the other guys down there. We have a lot of competition amongst ourselves. So, I decided to take advantage of that. I was kind of kicking myself for not doing it sooner, but I think the time was right.â€� After making just one cut in six starts on the Web.com Tour between 2009 and 2014, Kizzire finished T21 at the 2014 Qualifying Tournament, good for fully-exempt status onto that Tour in 2015. In 23 starts, two victories highlighted 12 top-10 finishes and the money list’s No. 1 spot. In his rookie year on the PGA TOUR in 2015-16, Kizzire claimed five more top-10 finishes, including a tie for second in his first start of the season at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He posted a final-round, 8-under 63 to claim the runner-up finish. In his next start, he finished T4 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Responsibility was paying off handsomely. “The accountability factor was absolutely there in Sea Island,â€� Kizzire said. “I can’t say I do a whole lot of really tough stuff, but I stay on top of it. I try to stay in golf shape, I’m no physical specimen or anything, but my coaches and managers really hold me accountable. There’s also my wife. She’s a planner. I was never much of a planner, but I’ve learned that you’ve got to make a plan and execute it, and that’s been big for me.â€� That season, Kizzire advanced through the first two of four events in the FedExCup Playoffs, before finishing 82nd in the FedExCup standings. Kizzire began his sophomore season on the PGA TOUR in 2016-17 as he did his rookie year. At the Safeway Open, he finished just one stroke back of Brendan Steele at 17-under 271, good for solo second place. He would again advance through the first two FedExCup Playoffs events, before finishing 99th in the final FedExCup standings. Even though he finished lower in the FedExCup standings his second year on the PGA TOUR than his first, he knew he was burning. Stronger than ever before, the fire was back. “I knew I needed the kind of reigning in I get in Sea Island,â€� Kizzire said. “But, I guess I wasn’t disciplined enough to do it on my own. Just to have a taste of that…for them to give me a taste of that and make it part of me made all the difference. I started holding myself accountable after a while and that led to the progression.â€� On the PGA TOUR this season, that newfound, but rooted resolve has elevated Kizzire to unprecedented heights that not even he felt he was ready for. A week after finishing T10 and T4 at the Sanderson Farms Championship and Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, respectively, in his second and third starts of the season, Kizzire reached a mountain top. At the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, he made 10 birdies en route to an opening-round, 9-under 63 and the 18-hole lead by two strokes. With ensuing rounds of 70-66-67 to finish at 19-under 265, Kizzire held off a hard-charging Rickie Fowler to claim his first PGA TOUR title. “Yeah, to win in that fashion, with Rickie Fowler breathing down my neck, gave me a nice big head. It was pretty cool,â€� Kizzire said. “He’s obviously a world-class player, so to have it come down to he and I was what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to beat the best.â€� Three starts later, second- and third-round, 6-under 64s resulted in the eventual win in Honolulu. The Mexico win gave me the confidence to do it again at Sony,â€� Kizzire said. “The first win was like a big hurdle for me and the second win was a little bit more validation. I don’t really think anybody deserves wins, I think you just have to work for it and it just happens. It has all just been a part of the process.â€� So, now, with two wins in four starts and the No. 1 spot in the FedExCup, a lot more people are paying a lot more attention to the man who previously preferred to remain unaccountable and in the shadows. Anything else went against his grain. On Tuesday of this week’s CareerBuilder Challenge, Kizzire arrived on site at PGA WEST staring at a schedule that included a Titleist photo shoot, a clothes fitting, media obligations and time for practice. As smooth as is his swing and Southern drawl, Kizzire responded accordingly. After all, that’s precisely what commitment calls for. “I imagine I’ll be pulled in certain directions and have to manage that, but that comes with the territory and I’ll welcome that just like I welcome any part of being a professional golfer,â€� Kizzire said. “I’m just going to keep working hard. I want to get the third win. That’s all I want to do. I love playing golf. I love trying to get better and putting myself in uncomfortable spots. That’s all I want to do is just to be somewhere that I’ve never been because that gets me uncomfortable. That’s when I know I’m doing something right.â€� Although Zach Johnson is quite the motivator, he was clearly onto something when he suggested that it takes an incredibly good player to win on the PGA TOUR. But, the thing is, the most significant ingredient to being good is being dedicated.

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