The INTERNATIONAL
04 Aug 2005 - 07 Aug 2005Castle Pines Golf Club, Castle Rock, Colorado
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Last week, I had the fortune of spending three days in St. Andrews, New Brunswick where they hosted the Barrett East Coast Amateur. Mike's manager, Dan Cimoroni and myself went up for the event and spoke to the participants and did a clinic. What a great event for amateur golf in the Maritimes. The people of New Brunswick are some of the most friendly people I have ever met and the facility at the Fairmont Algonquin is second to none. I would like to thank everyone from the event for having me there and especially Bill Barrett for a great time.
Now it is time to get back to work and I am really looking forward to this stretch of golf. Mike spent four days last week working with his instructor, Mike Wilson and is feeling very confident. Things are looking up for the rest of the season as all it takes is one win on the PGA Tour and people will forget about the last few months. The one thing I would like to say to Mike fans is be patient. Mike is working very hard on his game and I expect he will be at the top of the leaderboard in a very short time.
This weeks event in Colorado is a difficult place to play and caddy. With the elevation at 5000 feet above sea level the general rule is to take 10 percent off on all yardages. On top of that, you have a very hilly golf course making club selection very difficult.
The course here is generally one of the best conditioned courses on tour. This year it is not quite as good as years past but it is still in very good shape. The Denver area has not had much rain in the past few weeks so they have had to water the greens frequently making them soft and very receptive to well struck irons. It should be very exciting for this type of format. The International is conducted under a Modified Stableford points system. So instead of getting a medal score like 68 or 72, a player earns points for each birdie, eagle or double eagle he makes. Pars are worth nothing, and points are subtracted for bogeys or worse.
This tournament is really for the guys who can make lots of birdies and are quite aggresive. There is more advantage in making four birdies and four bogeys then making 18 pars.
This course has the only par 5 on tour that is under 500 yards. The 17th is a great hole for the Stableford system as lots can happen and there can be some big changes coming in.
There are a lot of birdie chances on this course as it really doesn't play that long due to the elevation and the heat.
Predicting the winning score here is difficult but if the wind doesn't blow we may have a new tournament record.
Thanks for reading.
Brennan
