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GREENSBORO — Ask each of the 156 golfers at Sedgefield Country Club how they'd like the course setup for this week's Wyndham Championship and you'll likely hear 156 different answers.

Corey Pavin, who ranks 209th (also known as last) on the PGA Tour in driving distance, wouldn't mind seeing some of the tees moved up and the hole locations placed to favor his ability to shape a shot around Sedgefield's soft doglegs.

By contrast, Bubba Watson, the PGA Tour's longest hitter, wants the tees and pin locations stretched to their outer limits. Give him wide landing areas 300 yards down the fairway and you'll hear no complaints from him. Oh, and if it's not too much trouble, shorten Sedgefield's par-4, 374-yard eighth hole for at least one day so Waston can try to drive it.

And so it goes.

"We've all got our own philosophies about how a course should play," said PGA Tour veteran David Toms. "And, sure, everybody thinks it should be set up to please them and their game."

It's Robby Ware and Steve Rintoul's job to try to please Toms, Pavin, Watson and everyone else this week. And by "everyone else" we mean golfers, fans and Sedgefield members alike — even the corporate suits taking in the golf from behind those tinted, air-conditioned skybox windows.

"It's our job to combine the competition aspect of golf with entertaining the fans," Rintoul said. "We need to remember we are in the entertainment business."

Ware and Rintoul are two of the tour's 16 rules experts who travel the country each year, making sure each PGA Tour event goes off and, more importantly, finishes without a hitch. The duo won't be hard to spot this week: They're the ones who will be driving around in a cart, radio in hand, waiting to be summoned for a rules interpretation.

Lesser known is the work Ware, Rintoul and others invested in setting up Sedgefield for the Wyndham leading to today's first round. That work actually began months ago, when the tour's 11-person agronomy staff visited Sedgefield to check on the condition of the rough, fairways, bunkers and greens.

Late last week, tour officials began roping off the course and pounding out-of-bounds and hazard stakes into the ground. Mark Dusbabek, a former NFL linebacker who joined the tour as a rules official three years ago, pounded all the boundary stakes into the ground — including three stakes behind the first tee.

Dusbabek can't recall a tee shot ever ending up behind the first tee, but stranger things have happened.

"Whoever thought Tiger would hit his drive onto the clubhouse at Firestone," said Dusbabek, referring to Tiger Woods' infamous shot two years ago at the Memorial. "You always have to ready for anything."

On Tuesday, Rintoul and Ware showed up at Sedgefield and began walking the course. Ware covered the back nine, Rintoul handled the front. They studied each green complex looking for the four best hole locations — front right, front left, back right, back left — that will be used during the tournament. Both men were mindful of the wear and tear each green received in the days leading to today's first round.

There were two pro-ams at Sedgefield this week and countless more practice rounds. Since all golfers use the same path to exit the roped-off greens, Rintoul likes to place his Thursday and Friday pin locations in those areas to get those bruised portions of the greens out of the way. "You don't want to get to the weekend and have guys putting on a beaten-up part of the green," he said.

Both men are careful to avoid becoming repetitive with their pin placements. Too many hole locations in the same front-right portion of the green, for example, might favor a golfer with a high fade. And they're careful not to make the course too easy.

By having golfers tee off in the back of the tee boxes or placing the hole locations on the back of the green, tour officials can make a hole play differently from one day to another. One day Sedgefield's tricky par-3 seventh hole may be reachable with a 7-iron. The next day that same hole might have golfers pulling a 5-iron out of the bag.

"The key is to mix it up," said Rintoul a former PGA Tour player. "It's good for the golfers and the fans who want to see different shots."

That's right, even the fans are factored into the setup.

Before he designated his pin placements at Sedgefield's heavily undulating ninth hole, Rintoul sat in the grandstands and skyboxes surrounding the green. He wanted to make sure the corporate sponsors could see the holes. Rintoul actually takes it a step further and tries to have the golfers putting toward the fans if the hole allows for it.

"They're the ones paying for the tournament and making the whole week possible," he said. "Why not let them feel like they're on top of the action?"

Rintoul said the birdies — and a few eagles — will come this week. Wednesday's steady drizzle will have Sedgefield playing a little longer than it's 7,117 yards, but the greens should be soft and receptive.

"It's a magnificent course with a lot of possibilities to it," Rintoul said. "We want to bring out all those qualities that make it so wonderful."

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