Behind the Green: Early debut for Champions

Local golf courses are making news these days. Here’s a look at a few in the headlines:

After 10 months of construction that cost $12 million, the TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course made an early debut this week — even before its overseed of rye grass had taken root on the course formerly known as the TPC Desert.

The early start was due to last week’s wildfires in Southern California, and so the first-stage PGA Tour qualifier that had originally been set for Carlton Oaks Golf Club in Santee had to be moved to the East Valley.

Why? I guess because nobody else had a clear tee sheet at the last minute. That, and the Tour had the luxury of not having to pay another course, as the Champions is all in the TPC family.

Bill Grove, the general manager at the TPC Scottsdale, said several variables played a role into moving the event, but the biggest was there was no other course that was open enough in terms of play to “embrace it.”

“To help out the players, the (PGA) Tour and the course over in California, it landed on this place, and the City of Scottsdale deserves a star,” Grove said. “It’s all about being a champion, and the City of Scottsdale certainly was that.”

The downside to the move was the rye overseed that had just been planted had to be mowed out after just six days. That could be a big bust if the TPC staff has to overseed again at considerable cost.

“We’ll evaluate that when we’re done with the tournament,” Grove said.

“Conventional wisdom says we might lose some overseed. But right now, (the overseed) is hanging in there pretty good.”

The bad news is that the original Nov. 15 debut of the TPC Champions has now been pushed back to Nov. 23. The good news is everybody who has played it so far seems to like the course even if the scores have been very low.

“They shot four (7-under-par) 64s the first day,” said Grove, noting the layout is playing at 7,100 yards. “But it’s playing a little fast right now, and this is the first two rounds of a qualifying tournament, where they’re going for all those par 5s in two (shots). A better indicator might be the final two rounds rather than the first two.”

GRAYHAWK VS. TPC CHAMPIONS

If the Fry’s Electronics Open is coming back to Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale in 2008, and perhaps in 2009, officials are certainly taking their time in making their final decision. According to the Thunderbirds, the civic organization which ran the recent Fry’s as well as runs the FBR Open each year, an announcement was expected “within 10 days.”

Well, technically, it’s been 11 days and counting. Word from “on high” is that the decision still is a week or two away. And apparently there has been talk of putting the tournament at the TPC Scottsdale Champions Course should Grayhawk fall through.

“We have some interest, most definitely,” Grove said of moving the Fry’s to the Champions Course. “That would be a great opportunity for our staff to put on ‘the dog’ one more time.’’

Whether Fry’s ends up at Grayhawk or the Champions Course, it must be more complicated than first thought. Had this been strictly a Thunderbirds decision, the future already would have been resolved.

One place it won’t go, however, is the TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, which hosts the FBR Open. The PGA Tour has a rule that only one official PGA Tour event can be played on a given golf course each year.

PAPAGO NATION

The battle lines have been drawn in the sand between the Arizona Golf Association’s proposal to pump $8.2 million into the renovation of Papago Golf Course and the Save Papago Golf coalition that opposes the AGA and its plans. But the battle for the jewel of Arizona’s municipal golf courses, which sits on the borders of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe, could end without a shot even being fired.

According to local golf sources, the AGA got the inside track and the eventual nod on the Papago renovation project because no other group that was interested in it did the paperwork — at least correctly! — in the request for proposal process. And the Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department still is standing behind the AGA, although several city officials have become uneasy over the “Papago problem.”

Both sides have some solid points in making their cases, and there is no doubt that Papago is in dire straits and needing a face-lift badly. But after all the pluses are weighed against the minuses, the guess here is the AGA will win out even though it should be very careful what it wishes for in taking on what is sure to be a complicated and highly political project that could easily last five to 10 years.

One thought keeps crossing my mind concerning the AGA and Papago, and it’s a huge consideration in the long run.

Remember what happened at Vistal Golf Club in Phoenix after the Thunderbirds spent $10 million renovating the old Thunderbird Country Club? That’s right, it went bust.

At the same time, one failure doesn’t guarantee another, so maybe this will all turn out for the best.