[Tom ORourke]

The Sebonack fairways look very wide and the course did not play really long, except for some of the par 4s. Would she struggle to win on a course with dog legs that rewarded flying the ball over bunkers, or working the ball around them? It looked to me, watching on tv, that she could pretty much play straight down each fairway. Maybe a tougher test for her would involve forced carries? But she still is going to one putt her way into contention.

[Wade Whitehead]

If architecture played such a small role in identifying the best player, what difference does it make?

WW

[Brent Hutto]

If the purpose of golf course architecture were to expose minute differences in the quality of play among the top 0.0001% of golfers in the world then it would not be a very interesting or rewarding endeavor, would it?

What proportion of rounds of golf are played during major championships on the men's and women's professional Tours? Golf courses and their architecture are best judged on their qualities during normal usage, not their applicability to a niche pursuit like television golf tournaments. All IMO of course.

[Jim Nugent]

If architecture played such a small role in identifying the best player, what difference does it make?

WW

When one player is so much better than the others, it doesn't make much difference if any.  Tiger in year 2000 is an example of that. 

You know, you could also take the opposite approach to this.  Let me use Tiger in 2000 as my example.  That year he was heads and shoulders above all other golfers.  He played two great courses -- Pebble and TOC -- and lapped the field.  He played a course considered much worse -- Hazeltine -- and had to fight for his life to win. 

So maybe the courses with great architecture DID identify the best player, while the one with lesser architecture brought more players into the fray.   

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