AT&T At Trinity Forest Draws Decent Enough Field

The PGA Championship’s move to May and lush inland golf, when combined with Trinity Forest’s eccentric Coore and Crenshaw links-style design, would seem to make it an easy stop to pass up.

Bill Nichols reports that while the field is not at the level it was when last played in Irving, the field is better than last year (5 of world top 50), headlined by Brooks Koepka, who liked what he saw on television last year.

"He told me he really liked how the course played on TV," said Nelson tournament director Jon Drago. "He said it looked like a lot of fun."

Word of mouth and the PGA Tour's schedule change, with the Nelson immediately preceding the PGA Championship, has strengthened the field. An influx of Europeans created the largest spike.

The Nelson field will feature 14 of the top 50 players in the World Golf Ranking: No. 3 Koepka, No. 19 Patrick Reed, No. 22 Marc Leishman, No. 28 Hideki Matsuyama, No. 31 Rafa Cabrera Bello, No. 33 Alex Noren, No. 36 Jordan Spieth, No. 40 Henrik Stenson, No. 42 Kiradech Aphibarnrat, No. 43 Lucas Bjerregaard, No. 45 Justin Harding, No. 46 Branden Grace, No. 48 Charles Howell III, and No. 50 Thorbjorn Olesen.

The normally firm and fast course was slowed down last year to ensure players were not turned off by the bold design features. Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch wasn’t a fan of that move and pleads with the PGA Tour to not dumb down the setup. However, this spring the weather has made it nearly impossible to present such a course, with more potentially violent storms expected Wednesday.

The course, while maybe not television friendly, is sensational. If you didn’t see it, Geoff Ogilvy filed a fantastic video tour last year that should remind you of its merits.