TPC Tuesday

I used to love Primo Max's band, especially when Keely Smith was singing with them.  What?  Oh, that was Louis Prima, my mistake.

It tunrns out that Primo Maxx is a plant growth regulator manufactured by Syngenta, and in terms of regulating the growth of certain greens at TPC Sawgrass, it's Mission Accomplished.  Rex Hoggard, who broke the story last week, files this update:

Reviews were mixed as players arrived on Monday at TPC Sawgrass, where the combination

of a cold and wet winter and the “misapplication” of a product designed to combat the wintery conditions has resulted in less-than-ideal conditions on some of the greens. 

Nos. 4, 11 and 12 were closed on Monday and will be closed again on Tuesday to all practice rounds as officials scramble to improve the condition of the putting surfaces before Thursday’s opening round at the circuit’s flagship event.

Three greens closed again today ain't good, and it certainly puts the rookies in the field at a disadvantage.  And as much fun as it is to tweak Commissioner Ratched, I actually don't think this will be a big issue come Thursday.  For that I'll rely on Steve Stricker, who knows his way around greens, and others:

“I don’t think it will have a huge impact on the competition,” said Steve Stricker following a practice round on Monday. “Cosmetically, they don’t look the best in some areas but there is plenty of room to put a good pin location.” 

Matt Every, who lives near TPC Sawgrass and plays the course regularly, said, “They are not that bad.”

They're finally having good growing weather down there, and the greens are reportedly looking better each day.  However, there will likely be some accommodations required, such as this:

The green on the par-5 11th hole was the most severely damaged of the putting surfaces, with a large portion of the back of the green recently re-sodded which will likely keep officials from using the traditional back right hole location.

Now what I like most about this story is this:

Although Tour officials have declined to reveal what the “product” was that damaged the greens, multiple sources told GolfChannel.com that it was Primo Maxx, a plant growth regulator that aids in root development. 

According to sources, the agronomy staff used the regulator on half of a practice putting green on the “player’s” portion of the range and not the other half. The half with the Primo Maxx was damaged while the other half without was not.

For the better part of a week we've been told that the green issues were partially the result of the "misapplication of a product," but not told the product involved.  Really, the CIA should aspire to such secrecy...  It's amazing we're allowed to know the players' scores 'cause, you know, that could reflect badly on some.   Just to be safe, how about we just give them all participation ribbons.

In tangentially-related TPC news, Shackelford use this Tom Doak quote as his header today:

Pete's original design was meant to be a low-maintenance torture track that would make the pros sweat, and draw out all of their heroic talents. But the Tour didn't like the idea of its home headquarters looking "scruffy," so they've Augustatized the course, even though I vividly remember Pete saying at the first event in 1982 that "everything here is the dead opposite of Augusta--on purpose.

People tend to forget how different the course was at inception, much more interesting in my humble opinion.  I wonder with the Opens at the rescruffified Pinehurst No. 2, along with the success of more natural terrain by designers such as Coore & renshaw, Doak and Gil Hanse, perhaps we might see them take TPC somewhat back in this direction, recapturing what Shackelford refers to as its Jack Sparrow vibe.