Fazio To Be Consultant On 2020 Olympic Course?

C.H. Alison's Kasumigaseki, host to the 2020 Olympic golf competition, appears to be headed for a carving under Tom Fazio's reliably-lamentable classic era renovation knife, reports Joe Passov.

Architect Tom Doak, far more likely to be sympathetic to master designer Alison's work, had helped the club determine a composite course for the 2020 games. But it was Fazio's work at Augusta which got him the job.

“We haven’t signed the deal yet,” Fazio told Golf.com, “but we’re expecting to get this done within a few days.”

Fazio wouldn’t comment on specific changes, stating only that he would undertake an evaluation of the entire 36-hole property before proceeding on both short-term and long-term alterations. Club officials, however, are confident that Fazio, who serves as Augusta National's consulting architect, will take the project in the right direction.

“We will be making improvements, not big, big changes,” said Kiichi Kimura, president of Kasumigaseki. “[Fazio] has a great reputation, as we know from his role at Augusta National. He emphasized that he would respect what we have here. He will balance the natural feeling here with the improvements needed to challenge the best players.”

Ugh.