When a Bunker is a Hazard
June 1, 2006 by admin
It’s Jack’s annual get-together at his tournament this week, the Memorial being played at Murifield Village in Ohio, but from all the teeth-gnashing going on, you’d think the pros were playing a sun-scorched muni in the Mojave desert. Seems that Jack called the PGA on its threat to make the bunkers play more like hazards. What a concept! The bunkers on most tournament tracks are groomed to the point that they’re more of an inconvenience instead of the hazard they were meant to be over a 100 years ago.
Jim-the-grouch-Furyk felt slighted that the PGA of America, which has been discussing the bunker situation, didn’t consult with him first and was surprised that the pros didn’t get more a warning. Excuse me? For the kind of money these guys are playing for, I’d throw in a couple of alligators and perhaps a wild boar to make it even more challenging. As Nicklaus so aptly said, “I keep seeing [television] ads that these guys are good. So show me.”
Yes, the bunker rakes for Jack’s tournament are going to create wide furrows of sand and should you land in the middle of one, well good luck and I hope your putting stroke didn’t oversleep.