Devil certainly in the detail at windswept Whistling Straits
To some there are defining qualities in the natural beauty and rugged sparseness of links courses like St Andrews while others appreciate the colour and the majesty of Augusta National, the venues for two of this yearâs four major championships.
Both courses have hosted countless major championships and are steeped in tradition. Both have proven their credentials time and again.
And what about this weekâs venue Whistling Straits in Wisconsin? Yet another links-styled golf course, designed by one of Americaâs truly great architects Pete Dye. So what makes Pete Dye so unique? Well firstly, he is old style in that he doesnât use charts, preferring instead to hop up on a bulldozer and shape the courseâs holes from the vision he has for them in his head.
Crazy as that sounds in todayâs sophisticated world, Dye has produced many âclassicsâ in his time, from TPC Sawgrass to Harbour Town and of course this weekâs venue Whistling Straits.
Once he had decided that a links-type course was the best fit for a site that runs along Lake Michigan, Dye set about doing what he does best moving sand and dirt. The end result was probably his most adventurous piece of work to date - a dramatically beautiful venue which rewards the shot-making skills of a professional while also affording the resort golfer a realistic chance of hitting plenty of fairways and greens.
The âdevil is in the detailâ they say and never has this been more true than at Whistling Straits. This week the golfers will face a stunningly visual but balanced golf course full of elevation changes. On a notoriously windy venue, its nice to see that Dye has accommodated a âground gameâ option on some of the holes in play but thatâs where the generosity stops as Whistling Straits pin positioning can determine that the course plays dramatically different from day to day and even hour to hour so the players need to demonstrate the necessary flexibility in their game plans.
Whistling Straits has a record of producing great champions in Vijay Singh in 2004 and Martin Kaymer in 2010 and I can see the same happening this week. Although not a hugely long course at 7,500 yards, the course places a premium on accuracy off the tee box and will favour the longer hitters like Johnson and McIlroy but personally I think that it is a bridge too far for the Irish this week, in that Graeme McDowell is only beginning to find some form again and on a golf course that doesnât suit his game strengths a top 10 finish would represent a good result.
PĂĄdraig Harringtonâs form is so indifferent I simply cannot se him being consistent enough to be competitive and I feel that Lowryâs exertions last week will take their toll in what promises to be a very testing week.
The great unknown is McIlroy but an in-form McIlroy playing at 85% of his ability is good enough to win. I think his attitude is great and if in contention then watch out but surely he has too much ground to make up on a field that is competitively much sharper than he is.
This is an ideal course set-up for the likes of Henrik Stenson as he is both accurate off the tee box and hits loads of greens in regulation but the question remains can he get âout of the wayâ of himself enough this week to win.
The same could be said of Dustin Johnson and to a lesser extent Tiger Woods but for me this week represents a great opportunity for Jason Day to win his first major championship. His impressive victory in Canada where he birdied the last three holes to win in regulation may just have given him the impetus to mentally turn an average year into a spectacular one but what has been the impact of so many missed opportunities in major champonships?
Much like Montgomerie and Westwood and so many other great players before him there are no major championship guarantees no matter how stellar your professional career has been. Whistling Straits will give nothing away this week. Nor will the field. Any gains will be hard earned, so Day must shape his own destiny and must make his own luck.
It promises to be a great four days viewing.
