BellSouth Classic provides great lead up to Augusta
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2004 BellSouth Classic | Preview | 30 Mar 2004
With the field for Augusta now firmly established, many of those eligible for The Masters will use the BellSouth Classic as the final chance to get their games in shape before the first major of the year.
Others are choosing to miss this week perhaps through superstition, or because they see their preparation for a major better suited by a week to relax and prepare away from the limelight. Many of those not qualified for Augusta will jump at the chance to play a very fine golf course and of course for the purse, which has jumped $US500,000 from last year to $US4.5 million.
The event has quite a history, although it has been known under several names since its inaugural staging back in 1967 when the New Zealander Bob Charles won the Atlanta Classic, as it was known then. It became the BellSouth Classic in 1992 and switched from its long time home, the Atlanta Golf Club in 1997.
The setup of the golf course at the TPC of Sugarloaf allows an excellent preparation for Augusta as the topography is similar, the greens are bent grass and are as quick and heavily contoured as Augusta’s and, as such, provide similar conditions to those they will experience next week. It is located just north of Atlanta in the area known as Duluth, about two hours drive from Augusta, another reason why playing here is considered by many.
For the first time in several weeks the field get to play on bent greens having moved away from the tropical climates of Florida. The greens here are sown in Crenshaw and Cato bentgrass although the tees and fairways are Bermuda grasses. The greens are expected to run at 11 on the stimpmeter although the contouring on the greens will make many of them run faster than that. In that regard many of the players who have played for the last month on Bermuda like to get the feel of bent grass under tournament conditions prior to hitting Augusta.
The course, the first designed by Greg Norman in the US, was opened to great fanfare in 1997 and was an immediate hit with the players. Norman will play this year for the first time since 2001, with just two USPGA Tour events behind him this season. For the second consecutive year, Norman will miss the Masters so this is a start that he needs if he is to fulfil the indication he gave a few months ago that he wants to play more on the USPGA Tour.
Last year Mike Weir missed the cut before going on to win the next week at Augusta so he is here again. He was runner up in 2001 so he has played well here but given the precedent missing the cut gave him last year, he will likely not mind too much if he does not make the weekend here.
Phil Mickelson is back and the 2000 winner has traditionally made this part of his lead up to the Masters. While that scheduling has yet to result in a win for him at Augusta, his regular good form there encourages him to continue this pattern.
Perhaps surprisingly, Adam Scott is here and for the first time. I say surprisingly as it is always difficult to follow up a win, especially one with the significance of last week, and perhaps with the benefit of what he now knows, he may have taken this week off to prepare away from what will be the significant limelight this week. Still, he is unfazed by most things, so he may yet do well here.
Padraig Harrington is also here after his near thing with Scott last week, but unlike Scott he needs tournament golf, having played only a few events this season. He missed the cut here last year but was 8th in 2002 enroute to his fifth placing at the Masters that year.
Other leading chances this week include Stewart Cink who always seems to figure here which is perhaps not hard to understand given that he is from the Duluth area and coming off a reasonable week last week at Sawgrass, he should do well.
Stuart Appleby has played just twice in recent years at Sugarloaf, finishing 10th in 1999. Appleby is trying to find the right formula no doubt to translate his current good form into a better performance at Augusta than has typically been the norm for him.
Other leading chances include David Toms, Chris DiMarco and Thomas Bjorn.
The defending champion is Ben Crane who won his first event here in 2003. He had a good start to 2004 but his form over the last few weeks has not been so good.
Other Australasians in the field, aside from Scott and Appleby, include Peter Lonard, Mark Hensby, Steve Elkington, Greg Norman, Grant Waite, Steve Allan and Andre Stolz.
