TOUR Insider: Harbour Town short, but still a challenge  PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent Golfers just completed play last week in the 2007 Masters. This week they begin playing for a spot in the 2008 Masters.  Ernie Els finished T7 at Hilton Head last year.
With the restoration of an automatic berth in the Masters Tournament for all PGA TOUR winners during the FedExCup season, the upcoming Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head, S.C., offers another dynamic worth keeping track of in addition to FedExCup points and cash (both of which also get you a ticket to Augusta National Golf Club). There are easier places to win than Harbour Town, however. Sure, there is only 6,913 yards to traverse on the low-lying course designed by Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus. Sure, there is only an inch of rough. There are only 45 bunkers and flattish greens. Nevertheless, while this week's site is one of the shortest courses on the PGA TOUR, it remains a viable test, ranking the fourth-hardest course two years ago and was ranked 24th last year, still in the upper half of all TOUR layouts. Among those that played easier were Nemacolin's Mystic Rock Course, home of the 84 Lumber Classic, at 7,550 yards and Shell Houston Open's Tournament Course at Redstone Golf Club, which measures 7,457 yards. Claustrophobic driving areas lined by tall pines, waste areas and water hazards leave only 27 acres of playing area and narrow fairways. The greens possess subtle breaks -- when you hit them; they are the smallest greens on the TOUR, roughly 3,700 square feet. Sure, the winner usually finds a way to make a score, but three of the last five champions only needed a score in the 70s the final day to triumph and two of them -- Justin Leonard and Peter Lonard -- shot 73 and 75, respectively, on the way to victory. Augusta isn't the only place where accuracy is at a premium. Worth Knowing Despite shooting nine strokes better in 2006 than he had the previous year, Jim Furyk was runner-up for the second year in a row last year at the Verizon Heritage. Good omen? Well, Tom Weiskopf, Chip Beck and Steve Jones twice finished second and David Frost was runner-up three times, and none of them won. Furyk has been 15th or better the last four editions. Fred Couples said the Masters might be his only start this year. His chronically bad back has hurt so much that he hasn't even undergone therapy on it since it blew out again at Pebble Beach. He is looking into a new fitness routine that could allow him to return later this year, though he might even wait until '08 to play again. "Something has to happen to where I can feel better, because this has gone on long enough," he said after making his 23rd straight cut at Augusta National, tying the record held by Gary Player. "I have to find something because I won't come back and be mediocre. Why do it? I can go surfing instead." Major champions tend to thrive at Hilton Head. Of the previous 37 winners of this event, only nine are without a major championship to their credit, however, six of the last 10 haven't won a major, including the last three. Davis Love III has won the Verizon Heritage five times, and four have come after playing in the Masters (the exception is his first, in 1987). He has finished no better than tied for 15th (in '03) in the Masters in the years of his other victories at Hilton Head. But in the two years he finished second in the Masters, Love done no better than 68th the following week. Love's practice of winning in South Carolina after less than stellar Masters performances is actually a tournament trend. Only twice in the last 30 years has a player finished in the top 10 -- even the top 5 -- and then went on to capture the Verizon Heritage. Bernhard Langer won the 1985 Masters and Verizon Heritage back-to-back. Tom Watson tied for second and fifth, respectively in the 1979 and '82 Masters and then won at Harbour Town. With that in mind, maybe Ernie Els can soothe his Masters disappointment this week. The Big Easy missed the cut at the Masters to break his string of 46 straight tournaments in the money. At Harbour Town he has posted six top-10 finishes in eight starts, including a couple of third places. He seeks his first TOUR title since the '04 WGC-CA Championship. Langer remains the only player to win the Verizon Heritage after winning the Masters Tournament. Others have found a trip to Augusta is a great warm-up for Hilton Head. Until Aaron Baddely's victory last year, Bob Tway, in 1995, was the only player to triumph at Harbour Town without playing in the Masters the prior week. Loren Roberts, the 1996 champion, is making a rare PGA TOUR start, his first of the year, in fact. The Champions Tour player has missed the event only three times since 1984. |
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