Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2023 - 34

MGA NEWS
PGA, DP World Tours
Merge with LIV Golf
WINDSONG FARM
GOLF CLUB
9
North Course Plan
2
10
8
13
17
12
7
16
1
3
14
11
Lake
18
15
Lake
Starter Building
Putting Green
4
5
Parking
6
Parking
On June 6, 2023, the earth moved as the announcement
of a merger between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour
and the LIV Golf tour (run by the Saudi Arabia Public
Investment Fund) figuratively shook the world of
men's professional golf. The three respective entities,
which until recently had been at odds with each other
as rival tours and opponents in numerous related
lawsuits, announced plans to create a new world tour
designed to " unify the game. " PGA Tour commissioner
Jay Monahan, who just one short year ago decried LIV
Golf and subsequently suspended participating players
from the PGA Tour, is now singing a different tune
as the prospective CEO of the as-yet-named tour.
" The fracturing has been very difficult-it has
Windsong Farm's New 18
" How can we make this course different? " Windsong Farm challenged golf
course architect John Fought. The former U.S. Amateur champion and
PGA Tour rookie of the year (1979), who has been designing golf courses
for nearly 35 years, devised a 6,600-yard, par 70 " old world classic " adjacent
to Windsong Farm's original championship layout, located 20 miles west
of Minneapolis.
" I've never built a golf course with this much variety in hole lengths and
pars, " Fought says. The layout features six par 3s-some inspired by the Eden
hole at St. Andrews and the Dell hole at Lahinch-a Biarritz green 73 yards
long with a swale in the middle, and a Redan green, angled from right-to-left
with a deep bunker. The 13th and 16th holes share a double green, also reminiscent
of the Old Course.
But what really sets the new layout apart is the rhythm and the cadence of
the holes: the outward holes play as follows: par 4-3-5-3-5-4-5-3-4 (36), and
the inward holes play par 3-5-4-3-4-4-4-3-4 (34).
Fought, who visits the 120-acre project on a weekly basis, says the shaping
crew broke ground in early May and a project completion date is dependent
on the weather.
Fought, who designed Windsong Farm's original 18 with Tom Lehman,
Pumpkin Ridge in North Plains, Oregon, site of the 2003 U.S. Women's Open
(see story page 20) and The Gallery Golf Club (North and South courses) in
Tucson, Arizona, home of the World Match Play Championship, among others,
emphatically states that the new Windsong development is " 100 percent
different " from any course he has designed elsewhere.
Calling it a " pre-Golden Age, early golf classic, " Fought assures that
shorter is not necessarily easier. The unique routing around Fox Lake,
located across the street from the original 18 and clubhouse, features oldworld
charms such as blind tee shots and hidden landing areas, steep grassfaced
bunkers, tilted fairways and greens affording " corner hole locations "
hidden behind bunkers.
" You'll see things that you won't see anywhere else, " Fought declares.
34
MINNESOTAGOLFER Summer 2023
been a distraction for our fans, " Monahan told the
Golf Channel. " And to be able to say that we're now
on a path to unification-and, ultimately, for our
fans to think as we go forward over time to be able
to reunite and bring the best players in the world
together on the same stage, to be able to have a
partner that can invest back in the fan experience
(albeit in our tournaments all through our broadcast
agreements and arrangements), and be able to do so
in a way we're investing in the game throughout the
world-is very exciting. "
The announcement caught most stakeholders in
the game by surprise, chief among them, PGA Tour
players who declined the substantial Saudi money and
stood by the Tour as others defected for seven-figure
salaries. Rory McIlroy became the public face of the
PGA tour resistance and told reporters at the RBC
Canadian Open that he felt like a " sacrificial lamb " in
the wake of the announcement. Still, he looks forward
to what the new tour can become.
" Whether you like it or not, the PIF was going to
keep spending the money on golf, " McIlroy admitted.
" At least the PGA Tour now controls how that money
is spent. So, you know, if you're thinking about one
of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the world,
would you rather have them as a partner or an enemy?
At the end of the day, money talks, and you would
rather have them as a partner. "
How the new tour will be configured-for instance,
formats of tournaments, rules of participation
and location of events-was unknown (and likely
undetermined) at press time. What is known is that
Monahan will report to the new tour's chairman, Yasir
al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi PIF. Stay tuned
and don't expect the dust to settle on this seismic
shift anytime soon.
mngolf.org
http://www.mngolf.org

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