Ben:
It's a very good observation. I do think the strategy here is to hit the ball as far as you can, because even if the shot is blind, you want as little (meaning, 8-9-wedge vs. 5-6-7 iron) club in there as possible because the green is small and well-trapped on the right side (and at last year's Mid-Am qualifying tournament there, the left side of the green was heavy with hay; less so this year at the Amateur). That green, narrow but somewhat deep, has a ridge in the middle running from left to right, so alot depends on the pin of the day, and how you approach something into the green.
I will say, the contouring of that fairway (and it's as severe as anything out there) funnels a lot stuff down to a semi-bowl on the left side, leaving that blind shot. The fairway speed slot is severe -- as severe as anything I've seen, really (and I stood next to Russell yesterday who had an absolutely brutal approach into 12 yesterday because his ball got hung up in the light rough on the downslope of the speed slot. He could barely stand up with his stance, and had no chance of stopping even a wedge on the green). I'd like to see if there is any way to figure out whether you could leave a ball on the right side of that fairway with a non-blind shot in, with a run-up option there for pins in the front half (the pin yesterday was three paces off the front -- really tough!).
A great hole, one of the best ones out there. It got into the heads of some players.