|
A ‘PICTURE POSTCARD’
VIEW (circa 1988): When Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort
opened in 1988,
it created the backdrop for a “postcard” view of Walt
Disney World as a golf resort –
the palm-lined entrance and the red-shingled, white
clapboard-sided elegance of the new resort in the background,
with golfers on the 17th tee of the Magnolia golf course in
the foreground.
When Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort opened in 1988, it
created the backdrop for a “postcard” view of Walt Disney
World as a golf resort – the palm-lined entrance and the
red-shingled, white clapboard-sided elegance of the new resort
in the background, with golfers on the 17th tee of
the Magnolia golf course in the foreground.
It was a picture-perfect view. Worth a thousand
words. A real “money shot” for a photographer.
How seemingly appropriate (or perhaps ironic), then, that
21 years later, a couple of PGA TOUR golfers
competing in the 2009 Children’s Miracle Network
Classic Nov. 12-15 will be doing some “shooting”
of their own on No. 17 … with $1 million at stake. The
picturesque and challenging par 4 is the final hole of the
inaugural Kodak Challenge, a winner-take-all competition that
has been tracking TOUR players’ performance on designated
holes throughout 2009.
Thirty Kodak Challenge holes – one each at 30 PGA TOUR
co-sponsored events – were determined before the 2009
season. For each player, his best performance on the
Kodak Challenge hole during a tournament has been recorded on
his “Kodak Challenge Scorecard.” For instance, at
the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill earlier this year,
No. 18 was the Kodak Challenge hole. If a player scored
two bogies, a par and a birdie on the difficult hole, his
scorecard for the Challenge would read -1, reflecting only the
birdie.
Golfers must play 18 of the
30 Kodak Challenge holes to be eligible to win. When a
golfer has played more than 18 of the holes, his scorecard
reflects his best 18.
So now it is coming down to a finish at Disney on No. 17.
Here, in the words of Disney Head Golf Professional and
Classic Chairman Kevin Weickel, is what the golfers face:
"From a peninsula tee 485 yards from the cup, a player
must split the fairway guarded on the left and right by water
and trees. In doing so, the key is proper positioning in
the fairway to gain the most advantageous angle for the second
shot, as the hole doglegs left to an elongated green.
Even with the biggest of drives, players will be left
with a mid iron of some sort to approach a green which slopes
from back to front with a tilt to the right – which is
guarded on the right by a bunker and beyond that by a mirror
lake. As the pin moves further back and to the right on
this green, birdie becomes an incredible challenge which has
baffled players for 39 years."
It adds up to a hole that has been the third most difficult
on the Magnolia course and sixth most difficult in the Classic
(including the Palm course) since the TOUR began keeping
hole-by-hole statistics in 1983.
In 1984, No. 17 played .346 over par to rank as the 36th
most difficult hole on the entire TOUR.
Par has been the norm for No. 17, with more than two-thirds
(68 percent) of players’ rounds including a 4 on the long
par 4. Another 17
percent of rounds have been over par, while players shoot
under par about 15 percent of the time.
Kevin Streelman is atop the Kodak Challenge leader board at
-16 – two strokes better than Nathan Green, J.J. Henry and
Bo Van Pelt. The
two-stroke lead means that if Streelman birdies No. 17, he
claims the $1 million prize.
If he does no better than par on No. 17, Van Pelt (the
only challenger entered in the Classic) still would need
an eagle to match his score.
How difficult a challenge might that be? Consider
these facts:
- There has not been an eagle on No. 17 in the Classic
since 1998.
- In those 10
“eagle-less” Classics (1999-2008), 2,966 rounds have
been played on the Magnolia course.
- But between 1983 (when
the PGA TOUR began tracking hole-by-hole data) and 1998,
there were four eagles on the hole during 3,325 Classic
rounds – one in every 832 rounds on average.
- Since record-keeping
began, then, there have been four eagles in 6,291 rounds.
Put another way: The historical odds are more than
1,500-to-1 against it.
Put yet another way: The odds are virtually twice as good
for a hole-in-one on the 170-yard No. 3, where there have been
seven aces since 1983 and eight since 1982.
Yet viewed still another way: Given that there hasn’t
been an eagle on No. 17 in nearly 3,000 rounds … “it’s
overdue."
If two or more players are tied in the competition at the
finish of the Classic on Sunday, there will be a
winner-take-all playoff for the $1 million prize. |
