The Course Report
TPC Summerlin
About TPC Summerlin
Hello Vegas. Hello Nevada. The PGA Tour starts the “Vegas Swing” at TPC Summerlin as the golfers will compete at the Shriners Children’s Open.
TPC Summerlin is a course that is beneficial to those who are driving the ball well. Golfers who end up in the fairway will have plenty of short irons and wedges leaving players with plenty of scoring opportunities.
Now this course is not as simple as some of the courses we see early in the fall swing. There are water hazards and native areas leading to penalties and some big numbers. Still, there are more opportunities to get really low versus the blow-up potential.
The narrative this week is the fact that so many golfers that play in this tournament live in Las Vegas. In addition, we have seen UNLV alumni win at the Shriners. Names include Kevin Na and Ryan Moore. Other golfers that have found success here include Maverick McNealy, Charley Hoffman, Garrick Higgo and Adam Scott. Other names of note in the field is UNLV graduate Harry Hall, and Las Vegas residents Charley Hoffman, Doug Ghim, Aaron Wise, Joseph Bramlett and Wyndham Clark. You could potentially expand on this narrative by only focusing on players that live or have played their college golf on the west coast.
The course looks like it is long because of the yardage, but in truth, plays a lot shorter thanks to the thin desert air. This does leave the opportunity for some of these par-4’s to potentially be reached in one. It is more than likely that touts are going to assume that playing bomber’s isn’t necessary here, if that is the case a contrarian build would be focusing on bombers who are also elite ball strikers.
This course opens the flood gates for scoring as we have seen winners often well below 20 under par. You’re going to need to be dialed in on approach and able to compete with a hot putter. Leaving any scoring opportunities on the green could cost a golfer on Sunday.
Architect: Bobby Weed and Fuzzy Zoeller (1992)
Greens: Bentgrass
Green Size: 7,400 sq. feet (Large)
Stimpmeter: 11.5 to 12 – Avgerage
Length: 7,255 – Par 71
Water Hazards: 4 come into play
Bunkers: 92
Weather Forecast
Approach Shot Distribution
Past Winners
Saying that Im was dialed in on Sunday is a massive understatement. He was so good that no one was even close to catching him atop the leaderboard.
Im had 7 birdies over an 8-hole stretch leading to a dominate tournament victory.
Laird defeated Matthew Wolff and Austin Cook on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff when he made a birdie from 15 feet to locku p his first PGA Tour title since 2013.
Kevin Na nearly fell apart as his three-shot lead on the back nine disapeared. A triple bogey on the 10th hole, and a bogey on the par-5 16th almost led to one of the most histroic losses on PGA Tour.
Yet, a par putt on 17 and a luck that Cantlay hit bogey on the same hole led to a playoff win for Na.
Patrick Cantlay was close to becoming the frist player to win back-to-back tournaments in Vegas in the last 20 years, but DeChambeau had other plans.
An eagle putt from just inside 60 feet on the 16th hole carried him toa 5-under 66 and a one-shot victory over Cantlay. This was Dechambeau’s 5th win on the PGA Tour.
Cantlay won the Shriners in a playoff for his first victory on Tour.
Most of Cantlay’s career had been derailed by a back injury at this point, so the fact that he finally competed on Tour was a victory in itself.
It took a 3-man playoff, but Johnson beat Louis Ossthuizen and Marc Leishman by shooting a 15, 1 under in a four hole playoff.
Johnson was a surprise win as just the week before his prep came in Illinois at the John Deere Classic. This was Johnson’s second major win, and his first Claret Jug.
Entering with a six-stroke lead over the field, McIIroy went from dominant to just hanging on. Still, no golfer ever got withing two strokes the entire day, and he held his composure despite struggles off the tee and on the greens.
In winning, McIIroy became the seventh wire-to-wire winner in Open Championship history.
After winning the Scottish Open the week prior, Mickelson birdied four of the last six holes and became the Open Champion.
To this point, Phil had come close to winning, but had often doubted his abilites on links style courses.
Els began Sunday 6 shots back, but still clinched the vicotry after Adam Scott imploded.
Els’ 68 was a comeback of epic proportions when you consider the fact that Scott was still winning by 4 strokes on the 15th tee.