The volatile nature of PGA National
By Bill Felber
Holes 11 and 16
No. 11: The 11th is a 444-yard par 4 with a pond protecting wayward shots left and a second pond fronting the green. On Saturday the pin was placed back right, about as far from any liquid as it could be situated. For Sunday’s final round, it was relocated back left, again a comparatively benign placement.
Based purely on the setup, the hole ought to have produced relatively similar results. It did not.
The Saturday field average firing at that back right flag was 4.38 strokes. Only eight players made birdie, 19 made bogey, and nine made double bogey or worse.
Yet just one day later – same hole, similarly friendly pin – the field lopped a third of a stroke off its score at 11. Granted, only seven players made birdie, but there were only seven bogeys, just three doubles, and no ‘others.’
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No. 16: The middle hole in the Bear Trap is a 429-yard par 4 guarded by the length of its right side next to the water and by the requiring approach shot over that same water. The pin was back left on Saturday, safe from the water but proximate to a bunker nobody wanted to be in because it would require an explosion back toward the pond. For Sunday’s final round that flag was moved to a safer location in the front center.
On this hole, unlike at No. 2, the field took full advantage of the Sunday break it had been given. Saturday’s play resulted in just eight birdies, more than offset by 20 bogeys, two doubles, and a triple. On Sunday, the same field produced 17 birdies against just nine bogeys and one double. The field average fell more than a third of a stroke, from 4.22 to 3.88.