Golf News | Course Changes for Ladies Event

The Kraft Nabisco Championship has been referred to as the women’s event parallel to the men’s Masters. This likeness can be seen in the time of year they are each held as well has the calibre of star and host courses. Between the two events taking place, many of the courses undergo minor adjustments and tweaking ahead of the arrival of the next competitors. Both the Augusta National and Mission Hills Country Club’s Dinah Shore Tournament Course were no exception to this.

These alterations can inadvertently become advantageous to one or more of the participants. It seems that the latest alterations will prove to do just that for Lorena Ochoa. It hasn’t gone un-noticed that she, without the alterations, has one of the most promising prospects going into this meeting. Ochoa celebrated a triple bogey in the third round of last years meeting. This however was after her tee shot was driven into the rough beyond the back left portion of the green. The area in which Ochoa was delayed, has been mown more closely because of the problems it was causing players.

The changes that have been made to the grounds include the reshaping of the bunkers, with some seeing an increase in over 50 percent in size. Also many of the bunkers have been shallowed out to remove steep grass faces and narrow fingers. This serves to make the traps more visible players, but also with the penalty of causing the ball to sit down more once in the sand. The fairway bunker on the 18th fairway is now closer to the fairway, but divided into two bunkers, each with higher lips, which will prevent players from using hybrid woods and long irons for lay-up shots.

Another hazard has been diminished, five trees have been removed.  Another has been thinned due to windy weather conditions forcing this safety measure. This will ease the game, as the hole, it was near proved to be one of the most difficult last year trees restricting the light needed by the players.

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