Great question, Tony!
I would guess that if #2 were built today AND:
--it was built by a relatively unknown architect (say Brauer, or Moran or even Ristola
)
--it was financed by a low key developer (oxymoron?)
--greens fees were in line with the "second tier" courses in the area
--there was no Golf Week raters weekend with free wine, women, ProV1x's and song (just kidding all you thin-skinned guys out there!).....
...then it would barely cause a ripple in the GCA universe.
#2 is a great example for this sort of thought experiment because it is so seemingly ordinary. No external eye candy a la TOC or Pebble Beach. Nothing obviously distinctive about the course vis a vis 100s of other courses in the Carolina sand hills.
Wihtout the massive hype such as has been attached to Shadow Creek and Sand Hills and Friars's Head and Pacific Dunes, I'm not sure if it would even make the GCA radar screen. Maybe a post or two from one of the locals, with 5-10 replies and then Page 2 oblivion.
Of course, if we all really know our onions, maybe 2-3 years down the road a Ristola or whoever, will visit the place and take his or her notes and make a declaration to all of us that this is really a "hidden gem" and then.......it might just sink below the radar screen for another 5-10 years.......
The real question is, is #2 that good, or are we just all smoking the exhaust of our and all our predecessor's hype?
I've only been there once, and I am not sure.