Thomas to golfers: Grant more access to media

They could only share a laugh while looking over their creation and realizing how far it had come. Hosting one of the PGA TOUR’s top events was not the goal when they started the renovation of Long Island’s Glen Oaks Club. But there they were, standing on the scaffolding behind the 17th green, mere weeks before the club would host THE NORTHERN TRUST — the first event of the 2017 FedExCup Playoffs. “Craig turned to me and said, ‘Never in my wildest imagination would I ever think we’d be getting ready for a TOUR event,’â€� said course designer Joel Weiman. Craig Currier is Glen Oaks’ superintendent. He has some experience preparing courses for prestigious events. He was hired at Bethpage Black for the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Opens. Currier came to Glen Oaks a year after the second Open, lured to the private club to lead a dramatic renovation of a tired, tree-lined course. Some golf enthusiasts refer to Glen Oaks as “the Augusta National of the northâ€� because its wide fairways flow into each other, the deep hues of green dotted by bright white bunkers. Of course, the Alister Mackenzie design down in Georgia holds an incomparable place in the sport. Weiman insists that they weren’t trying to copy one of golf’s most famous courses, but Glen Oaks’ crisp, clean look is the inspiration for the comparisons. Stewart Hagestad has played both Glen Oaks and Augusta National. He was the low amateur at this year’s Masters (T36) and played Glen Oaks in the 2016 Metropolitan Open, finishing 11th with a 54-hole score of 7-over 217. He called Glen Oaks’ conditioning “pretty elite.â€� “They really nailed the aesthetics,â€� said Hagestad, winner of the 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur. BK Sweeney’s Parkside Tavern is a watering hole just outside the grounds of Bethpage State Park that advertises “family-friendly dining and delicious, hearty foodsâ€� on its website. It’s where Howard Smith went to meet the man he wanted to lead Glen Oaks’ transformation. Smith, a longtime Glen Oaks member, was the club’s president. Currier’s reputation, as the man who prepared a municipal course for two U.S. Opens, preceded him. They had never met, but Smith was able to procure his phone number and arrange a meeting. “I had heard, ‘If you want to hire the best, hire Craig,’â€� Smith said. “Based on that, I told myself that I had to give it a try. It was a process. I was doing a lot of selling on Glen Oaks and trying to convince him that going from a public course to a private course … would be a great next step. I guess I was appealing.â€� Currier grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York, which gave him an appreciation for hard labor and long hours. A small private club, The Cedar Lake Club, was adjacent to the family farm. He started working on the course as a teenager. “I think my dad almost pushed me away from farming, told me I should do something else,â€� Currier said. “After growing up on a dairy farm, almost any job you do seems easy.â€� He worked at several clubs, including two winters at Augusta National, before becoming the superintendent at Bethpage in June 1997, months after the U.S. Golf Association announced it was taking its biggest tournament to the course. The $2 million Rees Jones renovation to toughen up the Black Course started two months later. It was a dramatic renovation that transformed a run-down municipal course into a worthy host of a major championship. “Craig had a reputation as being one of the best, certainly in the Met Section, but also the nation, based on what he had done with Bethpage,â€� Smith said. “I just saw the passion. I saw how dedicated he was. I saw his love for what he does.â€� Smith saw that dedication first-hand while he was playing Glen Oaks on a dreary Sunday. He spotted Currier, who had yet to accept the job, scouting the property. “He came somewhat unannounced, but he walked all 27 holes by himself, envisioning what he could do on each hole,â€� Smith said. What did Currier see during that visit? “It was like walking through a forest,â€� said Currier, who became Glen Oaks’ superintendent in 2010. “I’m not going to tell you I loved it. I liked the greens. Every hole looked the same to me. It was really tight. Literally, if you hit it off the fairway, you were punching out sideways. “They were looking to turn over a new leaf so to speak and re-do the whole place. It looked like a great challenge.â€� Long Island is home to some of the best courses in the United States, including Shinnecock Hills, the site of next year’s U.S. Open and the National Golf Links of America. Even the local courses that aren’t built on links land use fescue to create a rugged look. Glen Oaks wanted to do something to differentiate itself. “A lot of the courses in the area have a lot of native fescue, like Bethpage Black, a big, rugged golf course,â€� Currier said. “We were certainly trying to separate ourselves a little bit with a real clean, elegant, sharp, manicured look.â€� Said Weiman, “We couldn’t do Shinnecock better than Shinnecock, or National Golf Links better than NGLA, so we went 180 degrees in the opposite direction.â€� Weiman called the course’s metamorphosis a “bold transition.â€� Mother Nature helped the process. Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy a year later removed approximately 1,000 trees from the property. “The golf course was very tight, narrow and nondescript,â€� Weiman said. “It didn’t have a lot of memorable holes. It wasn’t very strategic by any stretch. We opened it up, created angles and options and gave each hole its own identity.â€� Weiman estimates that 30 percent of the property’s bunkers were removed, but the ones that remain were strategically placed to make players take risks to open up the best angles for playing the hole. The wide fairways encourage players to be aggressive and hit driver. Weiman uses the fifth hole, a dogleg-left par-4, as an example. Before the renovation, players had to nearly snap-hook their tee shot to keep it in the fairway. With the trees gone, fairway bunkers were built on the inside corner of the dogleg. Now players can take a risk by trying to carry those traps, or they can play safely to the right of them, leaving a longer approach. There is no rough between the fairway and bunkers. Short grass leads directly into the sand traps, and connects green complexes to the next hole. It’s a look that is reminiscent of that famous course down in Georgia, and shows how dramatically Glen Oaks has changed. Although Currier provided input with the strategic design elements, his main contribution, according to Weiman, was “to always push the envelope. In each instance, his first thought was grounded in the impact to the overall golf experience – not the impact to the future maintenance program.â€� Currier was dedicated to creating a truly unique facility in Long Island. Now Glen Oaks gets its opportunity this week to shine. “We were running with a bold vision,â€� Weiman said. “He never said, ‘That’s too much, that’s over the top.’ He was always willing to take the challenge, and that’s why it’s so spectacular now. That was the attitude, that the sky’s the limit.â€�

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* * * BREAKING NEWS * * * We interrupt Segment 4 of PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf for the Olympics. Officially dubbed the Olympic Men’s Golf Competition, it is not an official event on the PGA TOUR, so it does not contribute to the fantasy game at PGATOUR.com. Segment 4 will resume with next week’s World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. But you already knew that, so that’s not all. RELATED: Power Rankings | PGATOUR.COM Expert Picks The real breaking news is that PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf is undergoing a renovation for the 2021-22 PGA TOUR season. The bones of the game as you know it today will remain the same. They include roster construction of up to four starters and two bench players per round, as well as limited starts per golfer per X-number of Segments. The refinements are many but they are being introduced to simplify and improve gamer experience. So, if you’re inclined to be overwhelmed by change, you’ll be fine. It begins with a fresh interface. There will be a familiarity to it but design upgrades will make it more intuitive. Once you learn the basics, it’ll be easier to navigate. The most notable modification is that ShotLink no longer will be used to measure performance. So, no shot-level data will be gathered. Only actual scores and bonus points will be tabulated. Scoring per hole will resemble what you’d find in DFS, which was, in part, derived from Modified Stableford scoring. The FedExCup points bonus at the conclusion of the tournament will remain 10 percent. By eliminating ShotLink, real-time fantasy scoring and its completion after a round and a tournament will be faster, plain and simple. Save Monday finishes, obviously, the days of waiting until Monday afternoon every week for confirmation that everything is buttoned up are over. If you participate in a league, your experience also will be enhanced. Roster comparisons, sending invites and other concepts will be seamless and, again, more intuitive. In addition to finer detail to much of the aforementioned, other tweaks and performance upgrades also will be baked into the platform. I’ve seen the mocks and they’re impressive. This evolution was made possible largely because your opinions and feedback have been heard. Too often gamers or users of anything digitally consumed can’t feel or quantify how their voices make a difference. I experience the same in my own pursuits away from the gig, so I get it. Well, I’m here to tell you that your voice has mattered, and it’s not unprecedented in my tenure. The tech team, as I’ve often referred to it, went to work and on your behalf. I’m still digesting what I’ve learned in the short period of time I’ve known about what’s coming, so it’d be presumptuous to predict how ownership philosophies and game play will be affected. In due time, gang. Until then, it’s back to regularly scheduled preview material next week! PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf RETURNING TO COMPETITION Si Woo Kim … Sidelined since withdrawing during his first round of the John Deere Classic with a sore back. It’s been the through line of the career for the 26-year-old. Can’t help but wonder if it could complicate matters if he fulfills his military conscription in his native South Korea. Unless he medals at this week’s Olympics, he’ll be required to register by age 28. Sungjae Im also is pursuing the same dispensation, but he’s only 23, so he could have another chance in Paris for the 2024 Games if he doesn’t medal in Tokyo. NOTABLE WDs Jon Rahm … Tested positive for COVID-19. Just prior to the news, he announced that he wouldn’t be competing in next week’s World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, but the commitment deadline for the season’s final WGC isn’t until this Friday at 5:00 p.m. ET. So, it’s reasonable that he’d change his mind and compete. Bryson DeChambeau … Also tested positive for COVID-19. POWER RANKINGS RECAP – 3M Open Power Ranking Golfer Result 1 Louis Oosthuizen T2 2 Dustin Johnson MC 3 Emiliano Grillo MC 4 Tony Finau T28 5 Bubba Watson T51 6 Luke List T58 7 Hank Lebioda WD 8 Charl Schwartzel T2 9 Ryan Moore MC 10 Matthew Wolff T39 11 Robert MacIntyre MC 12 Stewart Cink MC 13 Mito Pereira T6 14 Steve Stricker MC 15 Dylan Frittelli MC Wild Card Patrick Reed T34 SLEEPERS RECAP – 3M Open Golfer Result Brandon Hagy MC Wes Roach MC Roger Sloan T16 Cameron Tringale T16 Erik van Rooyen T58 BIRTHDAYS AMONG ACTIVE MEMBERS OF THE PGA TOUR July 27 … Jordan Spieth (28) July 28 … Will Gordon (25) July 29 … Harrison Frazar (50) July 30 … Graeme McDowell (42); Justin Rose (41) July 31 … none August 1 … none August 2 … Jonathan Kaye (51); Brian Davis (47) Visit BetMGM.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ years of age or older to wager. CO, IA, IN,MI, NJ, NV,PA, TN, VA or WV only. Excludes Michigan Disassociated Persons. Please Gamble Responsibly. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-522-4700 (CO, NV, VA), 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI), 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, PA & WV), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), Call or Text the Tennessee REDLINE: 800-889-9789 (TN), or call 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN).

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If the national amateur golf stage never fazed Jim Wiechers, the reason was simple. Just to fare well locally in the San Francisco area in the 1960s, Wiechers had to compete against the likes of a rising teenage star named Johnny Miller, future PGA TOUR winners such as Ron Cerrudo, Bob Lunn and Dick Lotz, and a legendary veteran named E. Harvie Ward. That accomplished, Wiechers knew he could more than hold his own in the deep end of the pool. Which he did with distinction. Wiechers won the 1962 U.S. Junior Amateur, the 1964 Western Junior, the 1966 Western Amateur, and finished second, one shot behind Marty Fleckman, at the 1965 NCAA Div. 1 Championship. That Wiechers, who died Monday night at the age of 74, failed to carry that winning touch over to a 12-year PGA TOUR career that featured 32 top 10s, none of them victories, surprised Cerrudo, but never seemed to unsettle his friend. “If it did bother him, he never showed it,” said Cerrudo. “He was just a good person. He’s the only person I know who never had a disparaging word spoken against him.â€� Susan Wiechers confirmed that her husband died at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, California, after a four-month illness. Born in Atherton, California, on August 7, 1944, Wiechers was a young teenager when he got swept into the rabid amateur golf circle that engulfed the Bay Area. “We got to know each other when were 15,â€� said Cerrudo, “and we were always together.â€� Wiechers, Cerrudo and two other Bay Area players who later became PGA TOUR members – Bob E. Smith and Ross Randall – traveled the country playing the biggest amateur tournaments when they were 20 and 21. “One summer, every passenger in our car won a big tournament,â€� said Cerrudo. As had been Bay Area icons such as Ward, Ken Venturi and Tony Lema years earlier, Wiechers, Cerrudo, Smith and Randall were backed by the famed Eddie Lowery. “We were so blessed to have competition like that,â€� said Cerrudo, now the director of instruction at the Daniel Island Club in Charleston, South Carolina. “We heard so much about guys in the Northeast, when we finally saw them, we said, ‘Hey, we have 25 guys back in the Bay Area who are better than these guys.â€� Wiechers didn’t have to take a back seat to any of them, said Cerrudo. “He was one of the world’s greatest putters inside of 5 feet. We always said if he could put his putting with my driving, he’d have won a bunch.â€� As it was, Wiechers’ playoff loss to Bob Goalby in the 1969 Robinson Open Golf Classic was his best PGA TOUR finish in 277 tournaments. Later in ’69, Wiechers did win the West End Classic in the Bahamas, but that was an unofficial event. He played in the 1976 Masters, four U.S. Opens, three PGA Championships, and three PLAYERS Championships. His best season was 1973 when he earned $74,807 for 33rd place, his highest finish on the money list. But to Cerrudo, whose own PGA TOUR career included two wins while running virtually concurrently (1967-1978) to his friend’s, Wiechers “was a very steady player who just quietly got the job done.â€� Having followed Cerrudo to live at the Silverado Resort & Spa in Napa in the late 1960s, Wiechers loved the area and got into the wine business upon leaving the PGA TOUR. But eventually he returned to golf as an instructor, then as coach of the men’s and women’s teams at Napa Valley College. “He was very talented . . . an amazing player,â€� Miller told Marty James of the Napa News. Another onetime resident of Silverado, PGA TOUR Champions standout Scott McCarron, considered Wiechers a mentor. “I used to practice with him. He and Ron Cerrudo would be over at my parents’ house on Friday evenings for dinner and tell us stories about the TOUR,â€� he told James. “Jimmy Wiechers was really the guy that got me thinking, ‘Hey, I could someday play on the PGA TOUR as well.’â€� Wiechers, who was a member of the Santa Clara University Hall of Fame, is also survived by a daughter, Erica; son-in-law Jason Kuykendall; grandson Evan Kuykendall; a brother; and two sisters.  

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