Tournament: Dean and Deluca Invitational
Course: Colonial Country Club
Course Stats: 7,204 Par 70
Course Architect: John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell (1936)
Course Features: Colonial Country Club is a classic among American courses, and the PGA continues to pay tribute to the aging, yet still difficult track. Colonial CC is the longest running host course on Tour, dating back some 70 years to the days of Ben Hogan and Sam Snead. Hogan won in consecutive years at Colonial, on two different occasions before finishing with five total wins, which is why Colonial is often affectionately termed “Hogan’s Alley”. Colonial was the host course for the 1941 US Open, won by Craig Wood, who happens to be the pride of Lake Placid, NY and the namesake for one of my favorite muni-tracks while I’m on vacation each summer.
Colonial was designed by John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell and opened for play in 1936. It is unique among Texas courses due to the fact that its original benefactor was determined to see Bent-Grass succeed in the stubborn Texas climate. That did not work out so well though, and today the course boasts Bermuda fairways and greens. Colonial is a Par 70 with only two par 5’s, and will be stretched to 7,204 yards this week. This marks the second week in a row that the host course features only two par 5’s, and if there is one constant we’ve seen it is that it leads to a very diverse leaderboard with respect to skillsets.
The course is very much a parkland design, featuring tree-lined fairways, constant dog-legs and more than enough hazards to test the game’s best players. I enjoy it from the strategic sense, as there is no pretentiousness to its design. Everything is in front of you, and offers multiple lines off the tee which makes course management a priority. Much like the TPC Four Seasons (last week’s host course), Colonial has the reputation of a ball-strikers golf course. Part of that reputation stems from the fact that Texas golf courses use wind as a primary course defense, and ball-strikers are typically the players who are able to take advantage in windy conditions.
With that said, both the TPC and Colonial have seen trends emerge in recent years that place heavy emphasis on opportunistic putting. Players are not necessarily hitting a ton of fairways and greens, what they are doing though, is taking advantage of green-light pin placements and making a high percentage of putts in the 10’ – 20’ range. This should ensure that there is a very tight race to the finish, and I think there is a great chance we see another week with the best players in the tournament battling it out.
1st Round Matchups
Sergio Garcia (-110) over Jordan Spieth
Jason Dufner (+110) over Matt Kuchar
Kevin Kisner (-110) over Tony Finau
Marc Leishman (-135) over Billy Horschel
Futures
John Rahm (+1050)
Sergio Garcia (+1350)
Marc Leishman (+3250)
Phil Mickelson (+4000)
Emiliano Grillo (+4800)
Ryan Moore (+5500)
Si Woo Kim (+7500)
Charlie Hoffman (+8000)
