The T-Word Noticeably Absent In Dissecting Doral's Datedness

With impressively low scoring for a course once dubbed the Blue Monster that's been renovated multiple times over the last 15 years to accommodate the impact of bulging biceps, I naturally expected someone to come to the course's defense when some of the lads are hitting 350-yard plus shots with regularity. But I couldn't find much, other than comments suggesting the outdated nature of the course explaining why Doral can't keep up with today's personal trainers.

Lawrence Donegan on Rory McIlroy expressing a little frustration that his 65 got him no where Saturday.

"A resort course," McIlroy called the layout after his round. This was not meant to be a compliment and the Northern Irishman threw in another adjective: outdated. "They definitely need to do something with it," he said.

When a professional golfer complains about a layout it can be taken as read that he has just endured a torrid day. This was not the case with the world No1, who made his comments after signing for a seven-under-par 65 and a tie for ninth place – a great score and a good position by any measure but it seems McIlroy is measured differently these days, even by himself.

To his credit, Rory didn't dare try to play architect in a post round question follow-up:

I have no clue about course design, so I couldn't start to tell you what they could do differently.  But yeah, that's one of the things that I'd like to see here, if they just overseeded it, I think it would be a lot better golf course.

Jeff Rude chalked the scoring up to ideal conditions and soft greens.

The track meet at Doral can be explained by ideal scoring conditions during the past two days and soft, flat greens. Justin Rose, co-second at the moment, said his understanding is Doral has the “easiest greens to putt we have all year.”

Hence, they’re making golf look easy.

Steve Elling talked to Gil Hanse a bit more about his plans after a few days of talking to The Donald as well as contestants in the WGC.

Looking ahead, one of the biggest visual differences will come on the green complexes. There are large areas of thick Bermuda rough between the greens and edges of bunkers, and those will be largely erased. The greens will get bigger, and the collars will shrink, meaning more traps will come into play on tight pin placements.

Rather than just stretch the holes with new tees, Hanse said he focused on producing a variety of attack angles by moving bunkers around, both in the fairway and around the greens. God forbid that players have to actually think rather than just whale away, huh?

"I think the way to make things more difficult is to give them more options and get away from just the muscle-memory style of play," Hanse said.

Down the stretch, the revision on the par-4 16th could prove entertaining in future years. A lake will be expanded, bringing it to the edge of a green that will be drivable in one big tee shot for some, if the wind is right. This cutting off the dogleg and gunning for the green off the tee will need to carry the ball about 290 yards to carry the relocated lake.

The laughably easy first hole, a downwind par-5 that players have been reaching in two with wedges for their approach shots, will have a creek fronting the green and will play closer to 610 yards. This week, it's listed at about 513.

The highlights: