Cameron Champ: I just play them (the par-5s) as aggressive as I can. Obviously, the key is getting it in the fairway. Some of the par 5s are pretty narrow. I usually play my best whenever I stay aggressive and that’s what I try to do on the par 5s. Out here it just depends on the pins. Sometimes I don’t even care if I’m in the rough, it doesn’t really matter. I’ll just try to position it off the tee. If the pin’s far left, I’ll play the right side. And like I said, I’ll take it in the rough being up there hitting driver. So that’s kind of how I look at it this week. For me, the par 5s out here are key. I feel like I have to birdie those with my length, and some of the chances I can have at them, those are key for the rest of the week.
Joseph Bramlett: It just feels like northern California golf to me. The grass is what I grew up on. I love the trees. When trees frame holes for me, that is just — always helps me kind of strategize. It feels comfortable. And the greens are really demanding so you’ve got to hit it in the right spots, you’ve got to manage your speed. It’s the type of golf course that if you play well, you can get it going pretty low, but if you hit a few bad shots, you’re penalized for them.
Brendan Steele: The difficulty on this course is definitely on the greens. You have to be careful where you leave it. They’re quick and got a lot of slope. If you get on the wrong side you’ve got no chance. As the week goes on it’s going to firm up. If you’re out of position it’s going to be almost impossible to hold the greens, as it was last year. I think even though there are some shorter holes that they’re really good strategically because they have areas where you can’t be always. So if I’m going to lay up here I need to lay up left so I can come in this way, or you have the tree in your way, or there is a bunker on the other side. If you’re hitting good shots you can score well, and if you’re not hitting good shots it’ll penalize you a little bit.
Webb Simpson: Our strategy’s always been the same here off the tee, but we did have a look at the winners here are guys who tend to be really good drivers of the ball even though it’s a short golf course. So we just thought fairways are premium. As firm as this golf course is, it’s already one of the shorter ones we play. It’s playing even shorter, we’re going to have plenty of wedges into these greens, scoring clubs and the guy who plays well, wins, or comes close is the guy who’s making a lot of those 8- to 12-footers.
Emiliano Grillo: The course asks you to be aggressive a little bit, but you have to be very smart out there. If you play smart you can score well. Out here you got to play well off the tee. You got to play from the fairway. If not, you can get some bogeys out there. I think the main key is staying patient and hitting some solid shots.
Chez Reavie: You have to shape it both ways out here. You have holes you want to hit a fade and holes you want to draw it on, then you’ve got some gnarly bunkers out there so you’ve got to dictate what your shot shape is. It’s nice. A lot of it is just controlling your distance off the tee as well.
Justin Rose: This is a golf course where you have to drive it well. If you do drive it well around here, you set up a lot of birdie chances. The par-5s are all within range and then there are a lot of par-4s where you have wedges into the green. That’s why you see guys going low. Also a tricky course. Has its subtleties. You got to put the ball in play. There are some doglegs. Pretty narrow off the tee. It’s kind of the course if you play well you can go low. It’s going to find out our if you’re not on your game.
Jon Rahm: It’s tight off the tee and you need to hit good iron shots. If you put it in the fairway, though, you’re going to be able to score. You have short irons into the greens and when you have short irons, you have some good options. It all starts off the tee, especially when the fairways are this fast and that’s why it’s a challenge.
Sang-moon Bae: Honestly, I really like this course because it’s a classic – always classic courses you need really good iron shots for second, really narrow, small greens, a lot of undulation. So I drove it pretty good, but iron shots were really, really good, and that’s why I made a lot of birdies this week.
Jason Dufner: They’re a little bit tricky, they’ve got a lot of slope on them, a little bit of poa annua in the afternoon, so tomorrow look forward to having some nice smooth greens at least for the first nine holes. This is my fourth or fifth time playing so I kind of know what to expect on the breaks, but they’re a little tricky. Staying below the hole is obviously pretty key.
Justin Thomas: Poa annua’s not very good in the afternoon and it was very, very bumpy. I felt I had a lot of putts that would have gone in on good greens that just kind of bounced out.
Troy Merritt: I can get it around here. I don’t need that many drivers, it’s a position golf course. Sometimes being in the rough with a good angle’s better than being in the fairway.
Phil Mickelson: I think a lot of guys struggle with the poa annua greens, which is a grass that I grew up playing so I’m very comfortable on the greens. When you grow up and spend most of your time back east in Florida on the bermuda, this is a very awkward surface to putt on.
Beau Hossler: You can hit driver pretty much on every hole here if you want to. With that being said, the way the course is playing, it’s very firm, even in the morning it was firm, and you get pins that are kind of tucked or three, four paces on the green. If you’re not hitting into the greens from the fairway, you have no chance of stopping the ball. Even from the fairway it’s challenging as well. I think you kind of have to pick your spots. I don’t think you’re going at the flags that often out here. Like I said, if you can get some mid-range putts, the greens are rolling nicely and you can make them. Then try and take advantage of the par 5s just like any golf course.
Kevin Streelman: It was just really cold. The ball was not traveling this morning really until we made the turn did I feel like I hit my wedge over 125 yards. Same thing the guys had the day before, so there’s really big extremes on cold to hot. It’s supposed to be 90 this afternoon and it was sweater weather when we woke up. So just got to add a few clubs during the morning.
Maverick McNealy: Poa annua is my favorite putting surface and even as it gets bumpy I think it plays to my strength. My strength is speed control with the putter and the bumpier and faster poa annua gets, which I’m sure it will towards late in the day this weekend, that plays right to my advantage. I’m comfortable on these lies, and I know how the ball flies in these conditions.
Martin Laird: With the course not being the longest golf course to play, there’s some tight pins on the front of the greens that some guys just can’t get to if you don’t hit it high. And you know, I hit it high. So coming in with mid irons, coming in landing soft is definitely a big advantage as opposed to maybe hitting a slightly longer club and coming in a little flatter.
Will Zalatoris: I think really this course is very tight so I’ve been trying to shape honestly the driver a little too much. As long as you hit fairways out here, there’s a lot of birdie chances. When I’m out of position just find a way to get it on the green with how firm it is and just save par, and I’ve done a nice job of not getting myself in bad spots. So I’m trying to take advantage of my length as much as I can, especially with how firm this place is, just try to get it out there and take advantage, especially on the par 5s.
Photo courtesy of the Northern California Golf Association