PGA Tour stars can’t hide feelings about decline | Sports News

Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry and Billy Horschel have all lamented adjustments made to PGA National in recent times because the course hosts the Cognizant Classic.

The Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, course boasted a popularity as one of essentially the most brutal assessments on the PGA Tour, significantly after Jack Nicklaus carried out a sequence of renovations, together with the creation of the notorious “Bear Trap.” But the problem the course poses has waned since its Bermuda grass was overseeded with ryegrass.

The change was made to make the course more aesthetically interesting with more lush fairways, and though it has made the duty of taming PGA National simpler, many gamers consider the overseeding has detracted from the match’s id.

The grumbles about the grass coincide with growing frustration over the decline of the match previously generally known as The Honda Classic, with none of the world’s prime 25 concerned this week.

Eight-time PGA Tour winner Horschel closely criticized the adjustments final 12 months, and he aired his frustrations again on social media this week, arguing that course setups needs to be managed by the tour, moderately than the golf equipment internet hosting tournaments. “One thing going forward that we need to do is make sure we have complete control of the setup of all Tour courses,” he said.

Koepka, making his third start on tour since quitting LIV Golf in December, summed up why the overseeding has had such a profound impact on scoring.

“Chipping across the greens has gotten a lot simpler,” the Palm Beach native said. “I positively assume that [scores] will likely be decrease simply because of the overseed. I feel you noticed final 12 months with Jake, these scores are positively attainable. Not saying anyone goes to do it this 12 months. They very properly may, nevertheless it’s positively gotten simpler.

“It was always a little bit, not sketchy, but anybody that knows or lives down on the East Coast knows that Bermuda isn’t exactly the easiest thing to chip off of, especially when it’s been trampled down over plenty of days, and it’s a little grainy into.

“But now no less than you may get beneath the ball and have good contact with it. It makes chipping a lot simpler.”

Lowry, who lives in nearby Jupiter, made clear that he is not a fan of the changes to the grass composition. He said: “It’s most likely going to play simpler, which I do not like. I’d want to see it – look, I’m a member of a few programs down right here, and all Bermuda, and the golf programs this time of 12 months are unimaginable. The Bermuda golf programs down listed below are unbelievable.

“I feel like it’s going to look great on TV. It’s going to be lovely and green. It’s going to be amazing. But I probably would like to see a bit more of the old traditional setup. It is what it is this week, and you just have to deal with the cards you’re given.”