Friday At The 2010 Players

I don't want to be too hard on PGA Tour players criticizing a course because the greens are too soft, but I'm going to anyway.

Jerry Kelly after his 66 Friday, Sam Weinman reporting:

"There's no excuse for the greens. This is the fourth year," Kelly said, referencing the 2006 redo of the Stadium Course that introduced Bermuda greens. "They're soft. They're spongy. They don't keep them short enough. I'm disappointed in the way this thing is set up."

While acknowledging that the region endured one of its harshest winters in memory, Kelly said he still preferred the old layout that made many of the recovery shots he attempted on Friday an impossibility.

"I know it's a tough winter, but I was hoping they could stress these greens a little more," Kelly said. "It's a shame. I'd rather play on mud and dirt like we used to sometimes rather than play on a first cut. This is slower than the old fringe. I just remember what it was. It was really tough to get at some of these pins."

Kelly, though well intentioned in wanting firmer greens, is way off base.

Tiger was asked about the greens and the use of the SubAir green drying system (the indiscernible portion of the question):

Q. Why is it (Indiscernible)?

TIGER WOODS: Probably don't want to turn the switch on.

Q. If no one turned the switch on then, are you surprised that they didn't?

TIGER WOODS: Very surprised. We're holding 5-irons and shots on 8 with 3-irons are holding. You would think that they'd be a little bit more springy than that.

A couple of things.

First of all, SubAir is a bit misunderstood in its ability to quickly suck moisture out of greens, particularly when the environment above ground is a sauna with humidity in the 70% range.

Furthermore, I have a few sources who say the SubAir is a constant problem here at TPC Sawgrass and has never worked as well as hoped.

And even if the SubAir works beyond their wildest dreams, the most important part of the equation involves the winter of 2009-10. The greens are weaker than normal due to positively awful growing conditions, requiring a great deal of fertilization to get full coverage for this year's Players. That means they also have to be treated a bit more gingerly come tournament time by superintendent Tom Vlach.

Yes, it'd be great to have firmer greens, which I believe will come with Saturday's rolling and drier weather forecast Sunday. But the TPC Sawgrass should also have healthy greens after tournament week (and they are obviously quite good this week based on the scores). But is it really so awful to have great players like Lee Westwood posting low scores on a difficult course? No way.

That said, I spent most of my day writing or on 17, so the images are limited to these click-to-enlarge specials. And I really wish I had been there for this!

Look who is hanging out behind the green...(small textured ripple in the lake)