Royal Melbourne universally respected
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2011 The Presidents Cup | Preview | 15 Nov 2011
Both Presidents Cup teams today had their first official look at Royal Melbourne in preparation for this week’s event at one of the iconic layouts in not only Australian golf but golf worldwide.
There have been suggestions over the years that the composite layout designed in the 1920’s by Alistair McKenzie and Alex Russell and built byMick Morcom had been overtaken by the passage and time but the reaction by most of those who experienced the setup for this week’s event put paid to any such thoughts.
Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker are the only players in this year’s US side to have been part of the only loss by an American team in this contest, that defeat coming at Royal Melbourne in 1998. It is clear however that they bear no grudge with the course.
“I think that Alistair McKenzie came here decades ago and gave Melbourne some of the best golf in the world and Royal Melbourne is certainly one of the golf courses that rises to the top,” said Mickelson.
“We are very fortunate to play here. It is in great shape and the greens are very firm and challenging and it reminds me of Augusta years ago when the greens were quick and this firm.
“Even though it is not the longest of courses it is very challenging and it is very hard to get it close and make birdies. The golf course is playing so differently to it was back then (in 1998). The firmness of the greens is the big difference and if we look back to 1998 it was really before the golf ball had a huge jump in distance.
“The par 4s may be reachable but they are really not drivable,” responded Mickelson when asked about the advantage the Americans length might offer on the reachable par fours. “It’s more important to set up your approach shot, get the correct angle, given that the ball won’t stop as quickly, angles are much more important this week, much like a British Open where you want to have the ability to land the ball 30, 40, 50 feet short and let it release back to the hole.
“So getting the ball actually on the surface of holes that are reachable is not really feasible. Creating better angles and shorter shots here is probably more important than trying to get it on.
“I think because most of the guys have come down here already, travelled to Asia, parts of Asia, parts of Australia to play and compete and get adjusted to the time as well as get their game sharp, I do expect the U.S. Team to put on a good challenge.
“Certainly I would expect them (the Internationals) to be the favourite because of their home course knowledge, as well as the home course support, but we are going to try to make a good run.”
“It is a great course,” said Steve Stricker, “It is kind of like a British Open course but it also reminds me of Metropolitan when we were here in 2001. (Stricker won the Accenture Match Play at Metropolitan that year)
“We have to adjust on a weekly basis and it is no different this week than any other week when we just have to adjust to the conditions. You have to pay attention on the greens as they are really fast but so are the Internationals but they have a little bit of advantage having played here in previous years.
Tiger Woods was the centre of attention during a media conference session where four players were interviewed concurrently.
“Yeah, it’s a different routing than what we played in ’98. Even though they got new grass on the fairways, it’s still playing fairly quick. The greens are very quick.
They are probably more firm than they are quick. And there’s definitely a lot of run out on the greens, and we have to be paying attention to that quite a bit this week.
Woods was asked about the differences between now and the 1998 match-up and how the US Team can avoid the same result. “Well, we have had more guys playing this time of year than we did last time. Most of the guys have taken time off after THE TOUR Championship and didn’t really play. You know, some of the guys have been playing either in Oz or they played in Singapore or playing in Fall Series events. At least the guys have been playing this year, than in ’98.”
When asked about Greg Norman’s desire to build resolve into his team, Woods was quick to respond. “We don’t have to do that. We just go out there and just play. The last time I checked, low score still wins. That’s the whole idea is to go out there and play every game with your partner. You figure out who your partner is, figure out if you’re playing foursomes, what your strategy is going to be, what we are going to do off the tees, balls. Fourball, just go get it and just go post a low number.
“Freddie has been great as a captain at Harding Park and he’s been great this week. I’ve been very fortunate to have some great captains in my Presidents Cup career, Jack and Ken Venturi. Three different ways of going about it but three relaxed atmospheres as well.
Amongst the Internationals only course record holder, Ernie Els, survives from the winning side that year.“It’s great to be back here it is a great golf course and they had those greens so fast and firm so it is very different golf than we are used to but I have had some great tournament here in the past and obviously 98 was a great year for our team so it is really nice to be back.
“I know for a fact winning on a certain golf course when it is as tough as this golf course it is always nice to have a little experience on it and if our team has any advantage on it is the fact that a lot our players have played this golf course and won and done well here.”
“In the past we have had our weaknesses in the foursomes which has cost us as we have always come back in the better ball and the singles so we need to get it going in the foursomes.
Adam Scott was another of the International side and now as the leading world ranked player after last week’s Australian Open his opinion was perhaps even more sought after than before.
“Royal Melbourne is certainly one of my favorite courses in Australia, and you know, it’s the unique Sandbelt style of this region, something that we all love playing. You know, it’s playing very, very nicely at the moment. I think it’s in fantastic condition.
“The greens are exceptionally firm. It’s probably just because they are fairly new still after the rebuilding of them. So you know, I like the way it’s playing. It’s just good to be out there and playing on a fantastic golf course.
“As I said they were extra firm this week and they are firmer than I’ve ever seen them. They will just have to watch the speed. If it blows, you know, they can’t afford to get any quicker than they were today, but there’s also a fair chance of getting some rain this week, too, so I wouldn’t like to see them slow them up too much, because if the moisture gets into them, they will slow up anyway.”
It appeared the issue between Steve Williams and Tiger has all but died the natural death it deserved to have but he was asked the question about playing against Tiger.
“We’ll just see what happens with the pairings come out I guess. If it is right thing, if Greg thinks it’s the right match to put out there, just go out there, like I said and try to win a point. I don’t think there’s too much point worrying about it. I have to play four hard matches and none of them are going to be easy.”
The teams will again be on course tomorrow as they begin to focus in on their respective pairings for the opening foursome encounters on Thursday. Unlike the Ryder Cup all 24 players get to play the opening two days of competition while on Saturday there are 5 matches of foursomes and five of fourball.
There is a great buzz about the place as the opening tee shot draws closer. The favourites the Americans appeared to be on paper a few weeks ago seems to have been replaced by a growing optimism and groundswell of opinion by those attending the event in their respective categories towards an International victory.
As we know however opinion polls count for little but the apparent edge the US team has in terms of world rankings could be upstaged by a determined and well led International side.
After all, a star team can often upset a team of stars.
Just two more sleeps and it is all on.
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