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Sedgefield makes last-minute tweaks

Thursday, July 17, 2008
(Updated 8:01 am)

GREENSBORO - Golfers are always making last-minute changes to their game. Why can't a golf course?

Wyndham Championship officials are lengthening two holes at Sedgefield Country Club in an eleventh-hour attempt to give the course a little more teeth for next month's tournament.

After consulting with Carl Pettersen, David Toms and Billy Andrade - PGA Tour golfers who have played at Sedgefield - Wyndham officials decided to add 30 yards to the 14th and 15th holes by repositioning the tee boxes.

That means the par-4 14th hole will now play to 526 yards. The par-5 15th hole will be 572 yards. The course as a whole will be 7,190 yards.

Sedgefield's grounds crew began building the new tee boxes Monday - building them behind the old tee boxes - and rolled out the new sod Wednesday morning.

Tour officials signed off on the changes last month, but will have the final say Aug. 4 on whether the new tee boxes are fit for play, said Mark Dusbabek, a member of the Tour's competitions and rules staff.

"We'll see if the grass is growing in and how (the new tee boxes) work with the hole," he said. "We'll ask ourselves, 'Do the changes make it a better hole?' If the answer is yes to everything, then it's a go."

Tournament director Mark Brazil believes the changes will go beyond lengthening the course by 60 yards and add more strategy to each hole.

"I don't think guys will be able to come out the week of the tournament and just bomb it," he said. "They'll have to think a little more."

Brazil said he got help from watching some of the better junior golfers play Sedgefield at last month's Footjoy Invitational.

"We saw their club selections," he said. "It didn't surprise us, but it opened our eyes up to the fact that we could use some more space."

It's rare but not unheard of for courses to tweak their layout in the weeks leading up to a tour event. Pebble Beach did just that with the 18th tee box at its Poppy Hills course this year.

The Wyndham's first round is Aug. 14; practice rounds begin Aug. 11. That gives the new tee boxes just 26 days to take root and blend in with the rest of the course.

"It will take every single day between now and then to have them ready, but they'll be ready," Brazil said.

Keith Wood, Sedgefield's course superintendent, said the sod on the tee boxes will get plenty of water and fertilizer between now and Aug. 4. The sod "will tack down in three to four days," said Wood.

"Between us and Mother Nature, we'll be all right."

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

Joseph Rodriguez (News & Record)

Photo Caption: Sedgefield Country Club workers on Wednesday add an additional tee box on the 15th hole.

WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP

What: Greensboro's PGA Tour event
When: Aug. 14-17
Where: Sedgefield Country Club
Tickets: 379-1570 or wyndhamchampionship.com

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