The First Look: WGC-HSBC Champions

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Tiger Woods was in a cheerful mood by the end of his topsy-turvy third-round 72 (3-under total) at THE PLAYERS Championship at a cool, blustery TPC Sawgrass on Saturday. He had reversed his front-nine slide with birdies at 12, 16 and 17, avoided falling victim to the 54-hole cut, and even enjoyed a belly laugh with his playing partner, Kevin Na, after both of them birdied the penultimate hole with short putts. “Kevin, he almost picked the ball out of the hole before it even got there,â€� Woods said with a smile. “And I had pretty much a kick-in, so I tried to emulate him as best I possibly could, meanwhile still trying to make the putt–I got to make the putt first, so I thought we had a good laugh about it.â€� Woods almost even managed to forget about his quadruple-bogey 7 at the island 17th hole the day before. Almost. The only player to win this tournament in May and March, Woods came here in search of his 81st PGA TOUR title. But he essentially took himself out of the tournament with Friday’s two water-balls on 17. He only found out later that after the first one he could have dropped on the path to the green. “Yeah, I talked to (Golf Channel analyst David Duval) about it last night,â€� Woods said Saturday after he salvaged a 72 despite hitting just 8/14 fairways and ranking deep in negative numbers in Strokes Gained: Putting, his worst stats of the week. “I didn’t realize that, where my ball had crossed, where my ball — I thought it had crossed on the green and just hopped over the back and that was it. Go right to the drop area.â€� According to the new Rules of Golf, though, he could have dropped a club-length from where he entered the hazard, as long as he kept the entry point between himself and the hole. That would have allowed him to putt or chip his ball up the path and potentially save bogey. MUST READS: Tiger Woods “At the very least, he cost himself three shots,â€� Brandel Chamblee said in a nighttime Golf Channel segment in which he, Duval and Frank Nobillo recreated the scene. “Unfortunately, I just didn’t know that’s where the ball had crossed,â€� Woods said Saturday, adding that he would have known he was entitled to drop on the path. “There’s no marshals up there and so it is what it is.â€� At least he got revenge with a tap-in birdie on 17, a five-stroke improvement over the day before, even if it will be remembered more for the comic moment he shared with his playing partner.  Na is known for the quick pick-up, but he and Woods had never played together in a tournament over the last 16 years Na has been on TOUR. Na putted first, from 4 feet, 5 inches, and chased his ball into the hole, nearly scooping it up before it rattled around in the white plastic insert. “I do that all the time,â€� said Na, who shot 78 (3-over), and will miss the 54-hole cut. “He’s seen it. I asked him, ‘You’ve seen it?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I’ve seen it but I’ve never seen it in person.’ And then he had a little one, kinda mimicking me. He didn’t get there fast enough. And you gotta use the left hand. He used the other hand. I’ll give him a lesson later.â€� In other Woods news, he said he will play in the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, March 27-31. “Well, I’m guaranteed to play three rounds in a couple weeks,â€� he said, “and so that’s basically like a tournament, and we’ll see from there.â€�

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The PGA TOUR shifts from Maui to Oahu this week, and while the state may be the same, the island change calls for a dramatically different style of golf. Gone are the sweeping elevation changes of Kapalua and in comes the flatter, European and Hamptons-inspired Waialae Country Club, home of the Sony Open in Hawaii. Waialae pre-dates Hawaiian statehood, was featured in a popular 1960s comedy flick, and has been part of the PGA TOUR schedule since 1965. That’s a lot of tournament film to study, but Waialae still packs a few new punches every January. 1. It pays tribute to legendary courses When golf course architect Seth Raynor and his then-associate Charles Banks crafted Waialae in the early part of the 20th century, they looked to some of the famous courses of the day for inspiration. Raynor designed the first hole, now a 488-yard par 4, with the “Road Hole” from the Old Course at St Andrews in mind. Like the 17th hole in Scotland, the first hole in Hawaii demands an approach shot into a shallow green with a deep bunker guarding in front. No. 7 at Waialae is a sibling of No. 6 at National Golf Links of America in Southampton, New York, one of the trademark courses of Charles B. Macdonald, Raynor’s mentor. Both par 3s play short – the back tees at National Golf Links stretch to 141 yards and the Sony Open hole reaches 162 yards – but both provide a layer of bunker troubles in front of a wide green. Raynor originally surrounded the entire green with sand as a further tribute to Macdonald, but today it’s only in the front. Waialae’s par-3 17th hole employs a “redan-style” green that was recently restored to Raynor’s original vision with a large bunker on the left and four smaller bunkers to the right of the green. Macdonald and Raynor were important figures in establishing the redan concept in the U.S., bringing it over from its origin at North Berwick Golf Club in Scotland. The par-3 fourth hole at Waialae, with its 55-yard green including a deep swale running across the middle, is said to take its shape from the Biarritz Golf Club in France. Unfortunately for Raynor, he never saw the full fruit of his labors, as he passed away in January 1926, one year before Waialae officially opened. 2. The front and back nines are flipped Hawaiian golf is primetime golf in the contiguous United States. And to make sure fans see the most picturesque views of Oahu as they watch the late-night action, the Sony Open swaps the front and back nine for tournament play. There are two notable reasons for the change. First of all, aesthetics: The back nine holes (front nine for members) best highlight the beauty of the Hawaiian sun setting in the west. Second, this affords the opportunity to use the par-5 dogleg left 18th hole (ninth hole for members) as a dramatic finishing hole. While the 18th only played 546 yards in 2021, a series of bunkers at the dogleg require a precise tee shot to set up a feasible second shot into the green. Last year, Kevin Na put his second shot through the green on 18 before getting up and down for birdie and a one-shot win. In 1983, Isao Aoki holed out for eagle from 128 yards to become the first Japanese player to win on the PGA TOUR. No matter what the contenders do on 18, it’s almost always entertaining. 3. It’s a mad, mad ‘W’ The most iconic feature of Waialae is the “W” formed by four coconut trees behind the 16th green. This formation is on purpose, and while it has only been around since 2010, its history goes back more than 50 years. In 1963 – two years before the debut of the Sony Open – Stanley Kramer’s “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” debuted in theaters, and it featured one of Hollywood’s all-time star-studded casts with Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle and Sid Caesar, among others. The film’s plot revolved around a group of individuals racing to uncover $350,000 hidden under a W-shaped tree in the fictional California city of Santa Rosita. Waialae member Ethan Abbott estimated he was around 9 or 10 years old when he originally saw the movie. His boyish enthusiasm about the film never left him, and as an adult in the 2000s, he started lobbying the course to create its own W. After some initial pushback, Waialae relocated four trees from the hundreds on the course, planting them behind the No. 7 green for members. The entire alteration cost $3,500 and came from a gift already earmarked for a project on the course. While the trees are tricked into thinking they are growing straight, they now form one of golf’s iconic images, with the “W” appearing on Waialae merchandise and earning the club a series of national landscape awards. Weddings have even become common at the “W,” a prime photo opp spot for golf enthusiasts. But did Abbott hide any cash under the trees? That remains unknown. 4. Justin Thomas has the course record In 2017, Justin Thomas arrived at Waialae directly from a victory at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. He backed that up with an opening-round 59 at Oahu, a new course record, surpassing Davis Love III’s 60 in 1994. Thomas started on the back and book-ended his round with eagles on No. 10 and No. 9. At age 23, Thomas became the youngest player to ever shoot a sub-60 round. Along with the 18-hole record, Thomas proceeded to set the 36-hole, 54-hole and tournament records at the Sony Open, finishing at 27-under 253 to beat Justin Rose by seven strokes. The Sony Open was Thomas’ third of five wins en route to his 2016-17 FedExCup title. 5. It’s a flat track The Sentry Tournament of Champions field climbs as high as 510 feet above sea level at the Plantation Course at Kapalua. At Waialae, players can leave their hiking boots back at the hotel. The Oahu course has an elevation change of roughly 10 feet. While Waialae includes features unique to Hawaii – coconut, monkey pod and kiawe trees, along with Pacific Ocean views – water hazards are minimal and 83 bunkers span the grounds. Breezes can play a factor, but after the mountains and unexpected winds of Kapalua, Waialae presents a more subdued atmosphere. The last three Sony Open champions are Kevin Na, Cameron Smith and Matt Kuchar, which suggests ball-striking and putting are more important than distance on this classic course.

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Once you’ve rearranged the furniture in your living room, it can be pretty much impossible to know when to stop. The allowance to be creative breeds fresh perspective that inherently doesn’t have an endpoint, even for the disciplined. When it comes to redesigning golf courses, layers of other influences come into play, but it also requires a break, if for no other reason than it’s time to play. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look | Inside the Field When Jack Nicklaus announced that his most recent redesign of Muirfield Village Golf Club – otherwise known as the natural gathering place at his home – was his last, it doesn’t mean that he’s done molding and shaping the possibilities virtually, imaginatively. It just means that he’s given the manifestation of his process his last, best shot (which assumes that he really is done molding and shaping). In its debut last year, the latest iteration of Nicklaus’ beloved track in Dublin, Ohio, stood tall in testing PGA TOUR membership as host of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, albeit with one curious anomaly, and likely a one-timer at that. It’s explained in the course review below. POWER RANKINGS: THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY WORKDAY Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Marc Leishman, Mito Pereira and 2018 Memorial champ Bryson DeChambeau will be among the notables reviewed in Draws and Fades. When considering the challenge of Muirfield Village over time, it’s always been a progressive experience tee to target, but it’s not as simple as classifying it as a second-shot track. While Nicklaus has conceded room to miss off the tee, the course tips at 7,533 yards, so muscle is rewarded. (Overall distance is down 10 yards because the par-5 seventh hole will play no longer than 582 yards this week.) At the same time, the most penal of the rough begins at four inches high, so respect and thoughtfulness when sizing up each hole is required. Still, the 120 entrants of this limited-field invitational need to step up and hit golf shots on approach. Bentgrass greens average just 5,000 square feet, and they’re annually the slickest surfaces outside the confines of Augusta National Golf Club. On second thought, that’s not true, at least it wasn’t last year. New greens at Muirfield Village ran 12 feet on the Stimpmeter last year. That’s a common expectation on most courses utilized by the PGA TOUR, but they were measurably slower by comparison to pre-redesign when readings of 13 feet and beyond were collected. As a result, three-putt avoidance was at an all-time low of 1.52 percent, third-lowest among all of 51 courses during the super season. (The previous record for the course was 2.21 percent in 1998. The stat has been recorded in earnest since 1992.) That dropped average putts per round by exactly 1.00 (to 27.99), and the conversion percentage inside 10 feet climbed in concert, but most other familiar measurements to define how it went were in line with history. The learning curve of the new greens served as a counterbalance. To wit, putts per greens in regulation and average distance of putts converted historically will not reflect the modifications. But now, with an additional year to mature, and with cooperative conditions, the governor can be lifted. After a blast of early summertime heat, a front bringing rain and cooler air will make its way into the region midweek. The tail end of it will be gone on some time on Thursday, so the turf should be receptive for the opening round. Dry weather is forecast thereafter, daytime highs might not touch 80 degrees and wind shouldn’t be an issue. Per the new norm, the winner will receive 550 FedExCup points, a three-season membership exemption (or one-year extension to a maximum of five seasons) and a three-year exemption into THE PLAYERS Championship. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws and Fades WEDNESDAY: Pick ’Em Preview SUNDAY: Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Rookie Ranking * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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