Getting ready

Published 5:00 am Monday, August 17, 2009

SUNRIVER Firm and fast. The words are often used together to describe the condition of a professional golf venue.

In its third year as host of the Jeld-Wen Tradition, one of five major championships on the Champions Tour, Sunriver Resorts Crosswater Club will be a little more of both firm and fast than in the two previous years.

Sunriver Resorts golf maintenance staff and the Champions Tour have been performing a program at Crosswater for two years: applying top-dressing and removing thatch from the fairways and greens. The program was enacted to allow water to drain from Crosswaters playing surfaces, allowing the ball to roll farther off the tee and on the putting area.

And if the weather cooperates this week, the course should be perfect for a major championship, says Joe Terry, who is in charge of the Champions Tour advance team charged with setting up Crosswater for The Tradition.

Its getting right where we want it, says Terry, who sets up the courses for each of the Champions Tours five majors championships. Unless Mother Nature deals us a lot of water, we should be faster and firmer.

Firmer, faster golf courses tend to be a better test of golf.

When greens are soft, high-level professionals such as those playing at this weeks Tradition play more aggressively because they know the greens will hold their approach shots.

And with slower fairways, pros will use driver more than they would under faster conditions because they assume the ball will not roll through the fairways and into Crosswaters dense rough, which Terry describes as similar to a half-stroke penalty.

You have to think a little bit now, Terry says. You just cant put the tournament in the hands of the long beaters. You have to hit 3-woods, hybrids, to keep from getting the ball through the fairway running out to the rough, which is very penal here.

Central Oregons finicky weather has cooperated so far, too. Last year, temperatures soared to near 100 degrees during tournament week, forcing Crosswater crews to water the grounds more than usual, which slowed the course.

This year, weather conditions leading up to the tournament have been generally mild for days.

The weather has been excellent, says Jim Ramey, director of golf course maintenance at Sunriver Resort. The fairways are in excellent shape right now, and they are playing pretty firm and fast right now. A nice little rain (last Wednesday) night is excellent. It will stay cool for a couple of days then warm up. Its been good.

Crosswater will play at about 7,500 yards, making it one of the longest Champions Tour venues.

Fred Funk, who has average length off the tee, won the Tradition in 2008 at 19 under par. Twelve others in last years field scored 11 under or better.

So Terry sees no reason to change the yardage this year.

I dont look for ANY changes, Terry says. We havent made any changes to tees. We have not built any tees or moved them forward. Looking at last years scores, my goodness, we certainly cant look at making it play shorter, even though we are dealing with senior players.

Same goes for pin locations this week, he says.

Looking at the golf course setup, weve pretty much dialed in what are the best and most ability-testing hole locations, Terry says. We will probably be pretty close to the same areas (as last year). We might tweak em since (the players) are so good, and the firmness of the greens will have an effect on that. So we may see a little change in scores, but every time I say that, the good players just get better. I think our players really do respond to the challenges.

One of Terrys other responsibilities is setting up tee times for the playing field, though each players specific times will not be announced until Tuesday.

The first and second rounds, set for Thursday and Friday, will tee off at 8:20 a.m., with each player starting on the par-4 first hole. Play in the first two rounds, which will be televised on The Golf Channel, is expected to finish at about 5 p.m., Terry says.

The weekend rounds are scheduled to begin at 8:15 a.m. from both the first and 10th tees, with the leaders teeing off on the first hole. Play on Saturday and Sunday is expected to be completed at 3 p.m. each day to accommodate NBC Sports, which will be broadcasting the final two rounds live.

The split tees for the final round should help the course meet the two-hour window for NBC coverage, Terry says.

If its a live broadcast and its on network television, those windows are very clearly defined, Terry says. So those plans have to be in place.

And how will Crosswater look on national TV?

The golf course looks really good right now, Ramey says. Hopefully the players will really enjoy it out here. Our greens are rolling nice, the fairways are in beautiful shape. Im pretty happy with things.