Wide-open fairways leave even the best courses defenceless

With an overall length of 7,179 yards, The K Club is just 30 yards longer than the south course at Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio. Last weekend, Per-Ulrik Johansson won the Smurfit European Open with an aggregate of 267, whereas Greg Norman captured the World Series with 273 at Firestone. Interesting?

Both events were rain-affected. In fact, the organisers at Firestone where, incidentally, the par is 70, considered it prudent to permit players the advantage of preferred lies. Why then the disparity in the scoring?

Before tackling that question, it may be appropriate to point out that strange things have also happened at Firestone. In the World Series in 1990, Jose-Maria Olazabal set a stunning course record of 61 on the way to a record aggregate of 262, when winning the title by no fewer than 12 strokes.

"That is now accepted as an aberration," said USPGA Tour official Dave Lancer yesterday. "People still shake their heads at what Olazabal did on that occasion. Normal scoring was done by the runner-up, Lanny Wadkins, on 274."

Incidentally, Olazabal went on to achieve a unique double in 1994. That was the only occasion the tournament has taken place on the North Course, which meant that with an aggregate of 269, Olazabal became a winner of the World Series on both of Firestone's courses.

So, whatever the venue, really low scoring can happen, as Curtis Strange proved with a 62 at St Andrews during the Dunhill Cup and Bernhard Langer illustrated at Portmarnock with a winning aggregate of 269 in the 1987 Irish Open. But the situation at The K Club, where Langer won with 280 in 1995 and Johansson was successful on 277 last year, was not quite that simple.

The events of the weekend were significant, not least for the fact that The K Club will be a serious contender for the Ryder Cup, should the biennial showpiece come to this country in 2005, as expected. And prior to this scoring blitz, it would have been considered a highly appropriate examination for the ultimate test of matchplay. Now, the uninitiated will be entitled to wonder.

As with the case of Olazabal at Firestone in 1990, one could be tempted to dismiss Johansson's performance as simply another aberration. Without the Swede in the field, wouldn't a score of 15-under by second-placed Peter Baker have been quite acceptable? Possibly.

But it is clear that in setting up tournament courses, European Tour officials are being over-protective of their members. One recalls the Irish Open at Mount Juliet, where it was decided not to use the back tee at the 474-yard 18th because of the lack of run on the ball.

When questioned as to why they had decided to use the medal tee (446 yards), a European Tour official explained: "We don't want to see players using wood for their second shots at a par four." Interestingly, there were no complaints during the US Open last June when Langer, among others, had to do precisely that at some of the longer par fours at Congressional.

Arnold Palmer designed The K Club as a long, demanding layout of championship standard. And he would have received no argument on that point when it was opened in July 1991.

But with wide-open fairways, as they were last weekend, and the latest in titanium technology, players were not only driving the ball beyond any trouble, but they were permitted considerable latitute before encountering any rough.

During the second round, I had a brief exchange with the owner, Michael Smurfit, who was out watching the action. "It's too late to do anything about it now," was his comment about the width of the fairways, acknowledging that even the most sophisticated of greenkeepers can't grow six-inch rough overnight.

In marked contrast, the fairways at treelined Firestone were decidedly tight by European standards. "They would have been around 30 yards, on average," said Lancer. Indeed one of the television commentators referred to the 392-yard 17th narrowing in to 25 yards at driving distance, so prompting players to take threewood off the tee.

European Tour officials may argue that they did not anticipate such calm, holding conditions. Rather than cutting the fairways back prior to the event, however, would it not have been prudent to allow the rough to grow until a clear picture of the likely weather had emerged?

By their own admission, Europe's leading professionals are not noted as straight drivers of the ball, hence their lack of success in the US Open and the USPGA Championship. The USPGA, incidentally, was held twice at Firestone, in 1960 and 1966 when aggregates of 281 and 280, respectively, were returned by the winners, Jay Herbert and Al Geiberger.

Where top-level tournament professionals are concerned, overall length is no longer a solution to the improvements in club-and-ball technology. The only real defence for a golf course lies in tight fairways, punishing rough, well-protected greens and difficult pin placements. The K Club last weekend would have earned about a 50 per cent rating for these criteria.

Wear and tear have prompted designers to make greens increasingly bigger, so that they can incorporate more pin placements. This means that players are being offered very generous targets, especially with short irons in their hands.

Professionals are aware that if officials were sufficiently mean-spirited, they could make The K Club virtually unplayable. But nobody wants that. It is time, however, that officials started looking at a happy medium as an acceptable option.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods completed his first full year as a professional by finishing fourth behind Norman at Firestone. During those 52 weeks, he has won six tournaments and earned $2.74 million on the USPGA Tour, apart from his overseas earnings.

For Norman, the winner's cheque of $396,000 pushed him through the million dollar mark in the US for a record fifth time since 1990.

The top-10 in the US money list are (US unless stated): 1 Tiger Woods $1,949,920; 2 Justin Leonard $1,401,536; 3 Steve Elkington (Australia) $1,240,411; 4 Ernie Els (South Africa) $1,176,608; 5 Jim Furyk $1,161,681; 6 Phil Mickelson $1,121,990; 7 Brad Faxon $1,093,505; 8 Greg Norman (Australia) $1,086,256; 9 Davis Love $1,080,398; 10 Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) $1,077,587.