Is the shorter golf course really a thing of the past on the PGA Tour?
Doesn’t seem like it. Roughly 7000 yards and a par 70, Colonial Country Club is playing fast and firm this week. And while Patrick Sheehan made a run at 59 on Thursday, Colonial is just as apt to punish someone who’s just a step off. Insert my good buddy Steve Flesch – the defending champion birdied the first hole and then boarded the bogey train and couldn’t get off. The man who’d posted 8 straight rounds of 69 or better here finished with 79 on Thursday. His scoring average at Colonial was better than Ben Hogan’s. And Hogan won five times. Go figure. This place is no “gimme.” Do we just like to see how far guys hit it? Sure – we love length. Kenny Perry hit driver and 6-iron into the 1st hole which is a par-5. And Perry joined many in hitting driver and sand wedge into the finishing par-4 18th. I must admit that I don’t like a finishing hole that requires just a wedge in to win the tournament – but it does provide for some drama. Colonial is all about “working the ball.” That’s a goo
