PGA Tour heads south of the border this week

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When Travis Alley arrived at the Tahoe Mountain Club in Truckee, California, in 2007, he had a feeling he wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. When Brandon Harkins would end family visits to the Lake Tahoe area, he always knew he’d take advantage of opportunities to return. RELATED: How it works: Modified Stableford | Preview: Barracuda Championship Both men were correct, so it’s no surprise they’ll be in attendance this week when something familiar (the beloved Modified Stableford format) and something new (Old Greenwood) anchor the 22nd annual Barracuda Championship. Alley, now the Director of Golf at the 36-hole Tahoe Mountain Club, and Harkins, a member of the Korn Ferry Tour who was on the PGA TOUR in 2017-18 and 2018-19, are not shy about their passion for this mountain resort approximately 200 miles from San Francisco. “It’s a golf club that is also a ski club,” Alley said. “It’s a ski club that is also a golf club.” As for Old Greenwood, a Jack Nicklaus design that opened in 2004, “I think it’s a phenomenal layout for the Stableford format,” Harkins said. While Alley — a 2007 graduate of the PGA Golf Management program at Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina — certainly spends far more time at the Tahoe Mountain Club than Harkins, the native of Walnut Creek, California, embraces every visit. “Growing up in Northern California, we had a house in Tahoe, so it’s a special place for me,” said Harkins. And nearly every visit to the Tahoe area involves a stop in at the Tahoe Mountain Club, where a second course, Gray’s Crossing, was designed by Peter Jacobsen and opened in 2007. It’s Old Greenwood, though, that Harkins has played perhaps 20 times. “I like the layout and it’s always in nice shape,” he said. “There are some tricky holes, but there are also some great risk/reward holes where you can gain some points in a hurry.” Does his experience at Old Greenwood, which will be hosting the Barracuda Championship for the first time, make him a popular sounding board for players seeking insight and any chance for an edge? Harkins laughed. “To be honest, not many players have reached out to me,” he said. “But a couple of guys who know I’ve been there quite a bit have asked about it and whether or not they should put the Barracuda event on their schedule? His answer? “The same for everyone – absolutely,” said Harkins. Players likely will be accustomed to the usual elevation advantage, as they had the same thing at Montreux Golf and Country Club in Reno, Nevada, for the first 21 years of this tournament. “Being at 6,000 feet, the ball will go far,” said Alley. “Players will have some short par 4s they can drive (the 357-yard eighth; 345-yard 11th; 396-yard 16th), and there’ll be a lot of opportunity to make up ground,” said Alley. “But, at the same time, there’ll be opportunities to lose it, too.” It’s as good a time as any to remind folks that the Barracuda is that one tournament where players want to be on the “plus” side after their scores are recorded. Last year’s champion, Collin Morikawa, finished at +47, winning by three over Troy Merritt, in this event where points are awarded for birdies, eagles and albatrosses, and subtracted for bogeys, doubles, or worse. Alley suspects the shorter par 4s will yield big points and the par 5s (the 631-yard second; 578-yard sixth; and 551-yard 12th) will, as usual on the PGA TOUR, be reached in two shots to set up eagle attempts. “But the par 3s are nasty out here,” he said. “They have very difficult greens.” Therein lies an aspect of Old Greenwood (at 7,390 yards, it will play to a par of 71) that will be recognized by those players who have a familiarity with Nicklaus golf designs; the greens are expansive with demanding undulation and an assortment of hole locations. Players may also draw a connection between a few of the holes at Old Greenwood with some iconic holes elsewhere in the world. The 187-yard, par-3 seventh, for instance, has a Redan green and might evoke thoughts of the famed 15th at North Berwick in Scotland, the original Redan. The short, 357-yard, par-4 eighth features a series of six bunkers that surround a green tucked to the right, which is the mold of No. 10 at Riviera. Then there’s the 18th hole, a demanding 451-yard challenge that moves gently uphill, reminiscent of the closing hole at Nicklaus’ beloved Muirfield Village. As for the other features that will catch your eye – from the towering pine trees, or the series of streams that connect four lakes on the expansive property, or possible sightings of wildlife – that is a tribute to the breath-taking mountain setting. It will scream for you to take a deep breath, relax, and simply meander among nature – and most days Alley and the resort guests can do just that. But right now, things are moving quickly at the Tahoe Mountain Club. Winter snow pretty much melted away by late March “and since then we’ve never let our foot off the gas,” said Alley. “We’ve looked forward to seeing something like this and it’s exciting to see it all come together.”

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