The link is here. From the article:
Mike Bodney, senior VP of the President’s Cup, rerouted the golf course so that nearly every match would at least arrive at the lakeside, if not play almost the entire stretch.
I won’t reprint the exact re-routing of the holes; you’d get more lost than the kids in “The Blair Witch Project.” But, briefly, the last five holes in the normal routing, all lakeside holes, will play as holes 10 and 12-15. Number 11 will be the normal par-3 8th hole. For the last three holes, the course will play the loop formed by hole Nos. 1, 7, and 9.
Personally, I detest cutting courses into composites or otherwise “bastardizing” – putting in artificial order – any golf course, especially for television or pecuniary ends, but it may work at Harding Park because the lakeside holes will be in play much more than otherwise and, more importantly, the finishing holes offer eagle opportunities. No. 13 is a drivable 336-yard par-4. Fifteen tempts the player into cutting off as much of Lake Merced as they dare, meaning some might turn this 468-yard brute into a drive and a wedge. Seventeen is another drivable par-4 at merely 344 yards. Finally, the short par-5 closer will be easily reachable at a paltry 525 yards. Some major championship par-4s have been longer. Moreover, a player could be 1-down at the 17th tee and conceivable go eagle-eagle to win.
Such a rerouting works for a team event based on match play. Momentum swings are the essence of a team competition. Stroke play events, such as those conducted by the NCAA, can’t replicate the excitement on a shot-by-shot, match-by-match basis as a head-to-head team competition.
We’ll bo re-capping events over the course of the weekend.
