Bank of America Colonial - A look beyond the hype
IN: News | US PGA | Bank of America Colonial (2003) | Preview | by Bruce Young | 20 May 2003
To say the Bank of America Colonial has added interest this week is somewhat of an understatement but in order that we do not go over old ground and discuss the obvious, I will overview this week's event and try as hard as I can not to mention "her" name.
The Colonial, as it has been known over the years, has had several different sponsors but has always been an event held in the highest regard by those who have played in it. First held in 1946, the first two names on the trophy were those of one of the game's true greats in Ben Hogan. The course had been opened just three years earlier and at the completion of the war years it emerged as a new event on the USPGA Tour. Hogan's name became synonymous with the tournament so much so that the course would become known as Hogan's alley. He would finish second in 1948 to Clayton Heather and then win again in 1952 and 53 after his near fatal accident in 1949. His final win at the Colonial came in 1959. Hogan is to the Colonial what Byron Nelson is to last week's event although to be fair, Nelson won his event only the once when it was then known as the Dallas Open.
The course near Fort Worth has always been played at the John Bredemus designed course which was opened in 1933. Several others have had a go at it over the years in redesign or alteration work including Dick Wilson, Robert Trent Jones Snr, Jay Morrish and Bob Cupp and finally Keith Foster. It was the venue for the US Open in 1941 when Craig Wood took the title 1940. It was the first course in Texas to utilise bent grass greens and there was a lot of scepticism about the capacity of the bent to tolerate the summer heat. They survived, but in 1999 the greens were changed to a new strain of bent namely A-4 bent, a more heat tolerant species at which time other alterations were made by Keith Foster.
In 1946 when the event was first held there, its yardage of 7035 yards was likely considered one of the longer courses in the professional game. That it has stood the test of time without the addition of a great deal of length, it is now 7080 yards, is a reflection on its great strategic qualities. It is a golf course with many doglegs moving both ways and greens 20% smaller than the average USPGA Tour green. It requires great shot making as the list of winners would suggest.
Recent winners are Nick Price, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Olin Browne and Tom Watson, who in 1998 won his last of thirty nine USPGA Tour events here. Those five players winning with scores between seven and thirteen under on the par 70 layout.
The field for this year will not include Tiger Woods, in fact Woods has played just the once here in his professional career when fourth in 1997. It will however have Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Nick Price, David Toms, Justin Leonard, Scottt Verplank, Steve Flesch, Bob Estes, Jeff Sluman and Rocco Mediate amongst other leading players including of course you know who.
Australians Stuart Appleby, Peter Lonard, Greg Chalmers, Steve Elkington, James McLean, Geoff Ogilvy, Rod Pampling, Craig Parry (2nd here in 1995), John Senden and New Zealander Craig Perks, will keep our local interest going, that's if we needed any more interest in this fascinating event.
