World Golf Champ -where?

[Steve_Roths]

Okay, imagine you are Tim Finchem for a day.  Where would you play the 4 Wold Golf Championships?

1. Cape Kidnappers
2. Hamilton
3. National Golf Links
4. Machrihanish

[Bob_Huntley]

Augusta National

Royal Melbourne

Muirfield

Morfontaine

[ForkaB]

TPC-Sawgrass
TPC-West
TPC-North
TPC-East

[Geoffrey_Walsh]

Merion

Royal County Down

Hirono

Durban

[Clay Huestis]

Match Play - Sunningdale (and move it to the week after the British)

WSoG - Durban, and move it to the start of the season, helping push back the West Coast swing a little bit

AMEX year end - Pine Valley

WC team silly season - Hirono, tap into big Japanese mkt

[Chris_Clouser]

I agree with the WSOG idea that Clay mentions below.  Maybe incorporate Australia in the mix some how and get rid of the Mercedes though I do love the course when it is on TV.

Combine the Match Play with the Wentworth event and move it around to other Heathlands courses like Walton Heath, Sunningdale and Woodhall Spa.

Then take the AMEX and World Cup to other areas around the world like Japan, Argentina, China or somewhere really in the middle of nowhere like Canada!  

They should make it an unwritten rule that no more than one event per year is on American soil out of the four.  Unless we consider the US to be the world.  The only problem with this is that the golfers that drive the sponsors will not show up to probably half of the events unless strongly encouraged by Finchem.  You just have to look back to the Match Play in Australia a few years ago.  That proved to be a disaster for the tour and also turned me off to several of the top players of today and showed how spoiled they really are.  When was the last time that golfers like Tiger, Phil, Toms, DiMarco and Love ventured out to play in the Australian and South African Opens.  To me that is one reason why they will always pale in comparison to the players from the era before them.  They are not about seeking out the best competition around the world and truly helping the game grow.  They are about what suits them the best.  I'm curious how many of the top stars will venture to the British Open or take Funk's cue from last year and stay home to play in the BC Open or whatever event is that same week over here.  

[Tony_Chapman]

And, coming in 2007

1. Sand Hills
2. Wild Horse
3. Prairie Club
4. Dismal River Club

 

Just make sure none of them are during football season!!   Speaking of which, they are expecting 65,000 for the Spring Game tomorrow.  

[mark chalfant]

St. Georges or Capilano     Canada
Noordwik  or Hague     Holland
Durban   Africa
Monterey Peninsula (Strantz) or Firethorn (Dye)     USA

[Bill Gayne]

Chris,

You need to start your bashing of tour players with Australia's own Adam Scott who blew-off the centenary Australian Open. If we're taking names lets put Darren Clarke on the list. He's blowing off the Irish Open this year to play a Barclay's sponsored event in the US. The desire to make money is not limited to Tiger, Toms, Phil, Dimarco, and Love.

[Tony_Chapman]

Firethorn (Dye)     USA

Mark - I'm curious about this one?? Why?? Not that I wouldn't love it if Tiger came to Lincoln!!

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Where is this year's Irish Open - is it a course worth playing?

OT - I suspect there's be a big entry for the ladies' equivalent if it were played at Dyke (a course near Brighton).

[JohnV]

Where is this year's Irish Open - is it a course worth playing?

Carton House GC in Kildare.

[Philip Gawith]

Looks like Mark R applying for a visit from the PC police!

Separately, nice to see so many people think so highly of Durban Country Club.   Instead of commending the pro's to go visit, why not go yourselves?! A bit far from the States admittedly.

Has anyone ever posted pictures of Durban CC on GCA? If not, I could task my father who has time on his hands and is a member, but uses it criminally seldom.

[mark chalfant]

oops....I forgot  Asia / Pacific basin

Kawana or Naruo in Japan


and further south Royal Melbourne, Barnbougle, or Parapamu
by Alex Russell in NZ

[Jason Topp]

Leaving all logistical considerations aside:

Dornoch
Royal Melbourne
Cypress Point
Pine Valley

[Mark_Rowlinson]

We've been visited by the thought police before: French Lick and El Prat are simply too fecund a pair to leave unseparated.  

Seriously, Durban CC seems world class from what I've read in print and seen on the internet and we ought to have a decent account of it here on GCA, along with what?  Royal Jo'berg, Royal Cape, Mowbray, Houghton, Humewood, Port Elisabeth, Wanderers?  And what of the modern courses, Fancourt (4), Sun City (umpteen), Wild Coast and so on.  How do they compare with contemporaneous developments in Australia and New Zealand?

I don't suppose the quality of course will determine the make up of the field.

[Jfaspen]

Team Event: Crystal Downs
Matchplay: Cypress Point Club
NEC: Valley Club
Other: New South Wales

Make it a tour de Mackenzie.

[Phil_the_Author]

1- Bethpage Black
2- Carnoustie
3- Hirono G.C.
4- Cape Kidnapper's G.C.

I would instruct those responsible for course set-ups that they provide 4 as distinctly different as possible for each day of the tournament, including varying tee locations.

I would also tell them to make the courses play as difficult as possible. The best should be tested to the utmost.

[mark chalfant]

Tony, i mentioned Firethorn because I find the routing and the land very appealing. It would be neat to include rod Whitman's 9 for one round. On Dyes course the strech from 11
through sixteen is full of character and challenge.#5 and #9
are great two shotters on the outward half.

I realize that tour execs and sponsors dont view Lincoln as glamorous as Lacosta or torrey Pines. however id like to see more events in the true heartland ( not Chicago or St. Louis).
Remember how many turned out when they had the Senior Open in Iowa. Anyway, id like to see a tourney on an inland Dye gem with fescue waving in the breeze !

[Michael Wharton-Palmer]

Royal Melbourne

Muirfield...or...St Andrews

Pine Valley.....or ...Merion

Royal Durban

[Tony_Chapman]

Tony, i mentioned Firethorn because I find the routing and the land very appealing. It would be neat to include rod Whitman's 9 for one round. On Dyes course the strech from 11
through sixteen is full of character and challenge.#5 and #9
are great two shotters on the outward half.

I realize that tour execs and sponsors dont view Lincoln as glamorous as Lacosta or torrey Pines. however id like to see more events in the true heartland ( not Chicago or St. Louis).
Remember how many turned out when they had the Senior Open in Iowa. Anyway, id like to see a tourney on an inland Dye gem with fescue waving in the breeze !

Mark - You and me both!! I think Dye's Firethorn is way underappreciated. There is a wonderful story on Mr. Youngscap in the Sunday World-Herald (www.omaha.com but you have to register). It bascially says that without Firethorn (it's now 20 years old), we wouldn't have any of the new great course in the midwest right now. I think that's right.

Lord knows that if Firethorn didn't make, he would have never built Sand Hills. The story mentioned how he brought Dye to the property and Dye told he had no clue how they would build the course (they had no money at the time), but that Pete had to take the commission because he knew if he didn't that someone else would screw up the greatest piece of land he ever saw!!

Dye still claims, I believe, that holes 11-15 is the greatest stretch he ever built.

Thanks for giving the Huskers some love!!