Harrington baffled by US 'big hitters' myth

PÁDRAIG HARRINGTON isn't the only one left scratching his head when he hears that the course at Valhalla - named after the great hall in Norse mythology where the souls of Vikings feasted and celebrated with the gods - has been tweaked to favour the so-called longer hitters on the US team for next week's Ryder Cup in Louisville, Kentucky.

Sure, the USA has in its ranks JB Holmes, who perennially contests with Bubba Watson for the distinction of being called the longest hitter on the US Tour, and also Anthony Kim, who consistently gets it out over the 300-yard mark from the tee.

But the conception that Europe is a team of short and accurate hitters is, well, a little off the mark.

As Harrington puts it, "If you're looking at our team, Paul Casey's well inside the top-10 in driving stats. I mean, there's only one player on their team, JB Holmes, that's outdriving Casey.

"Casey's easily the number two and then (Henrik) Stenson is as long as Casey. Robert Karlsson's long. I consider myself up there as well. (Soren) Hansen's a long hitter. Lee Westwood's a long hitter. (Sergio) Garcia's long. I don't see this short hitters (theory) as an obstacle to us."

Word has it that the US captain, Paul Azinger, and course superintendent Mark Wilson have attempted to set up the course so it gives the Americans "home-field advantage". The fairway landing areas have been widened around the 300-yard mark, mostly by extending the first cut to a minimum of 12 feet and up to as much as 50 feet.

Yet, if the Americans are to have a "home-field advantage", it could well turn out to be in the greens, which will be significantly faster than those at recent Ryder Cups at The K Club (2006), Oakland Hills (2004) and The Belfry (2002), where Europeans outplayed their opponents.

Following the 2004 Senior US PGA Championship (won by Hale Irwin) at Valhalla, Jack Nicklaus, the course designer, began an extensive course renovation that was completed in 2006.

Four greens - the sixth, eighth, 11th and 16th - were completely rebuilt and all 18 greens were regressed from Penncross to Penn A-1/A-4 creeping bentgrass blend to allow for considerably slicker surfaces, akin to those on the final day's play at Brookline in 1999, when the USA last won the Ryder Cup.

In addition, nine new tees were added - at holes four, five, eight, 10, 16 and 17 - to stretch the length of the course to almost 7,500 yards. In a comprehensive renovation, Nicklaus also added 24 new bunkers at the first, fifth, seventh, 15th, 16th and 17th holes, while thousands of shrubs and trees were removed to improve visibility and make movement easier for spectators.

Dwight Gahm (pronounced "Game"), a prominent Louisville businessman and golf enthusiast, and his three sons - Walt, Gordy and Phil - originally commissioned Nicklaus to build the private golf course on 486 acres of rolling terrain approximately 20 miles east of Louisville. The course opened its doors for play in 1986 and was named one of the top three new private courses in the US in 1987, the first year it was eligible.

Valhalla, which has since been purchased by the PGA of America, remains the top-ranked course in Kentucky and one of "America's 100 Greatest Courses", according to Golf Digest magazine.

The signature hole is the par-four 13th, which - ironically, given the notion the set-up favours the US - measures just 355 yards, with players required to play only an iron off the tee before hitting an approach to an island green built on boulders.