WGC: NEC Invitational
21 Aug 2002 - 25 Aug 2002Sahalee Country Club, Sammamish, WA
Sahalee is by far the tightest course that we will play on Tour all year. The fairways are lined with huge trees that put a premium on keeping the ball in play off the tee. Most of the holes feature slight doglegs that will force players to hit fairway woods and irons off the tees. This week unlike most on Tour accuracy and not distance will be key to success. With the course set up the way it is I expect the field to be very bunched up allowing plenty of players a chance to win.
Mike and I both commented that Sahalee reminds us of some of the courses we played growing up in Ontario with it’s tree lined, tight fairways and fast greens. Mike enjoys this type of golf course where you have to maneuver the ball between trees and bunkers. It lets you use your imagination instead of just hitting it as far as you can.
The greens at Sahalee are in perfect shape. There are a lot of subtle breaks that make it difficult to read putts correctly. We are spending some extra time this week getting used to the greens. Mike putted very well last week at the PGA Championship and hopes to continue that trend this week. The par 5’s should provide many birdie and eagle opportunities, as they are all reachable in two shots. The par 3’s are very challenging here and par on them is a good score.
We are looking forward to this week and then heading back to Canada for the Air Canada Championship and the Bell Canadian Open.
