Imagine building 26 golf courses at the height of the golf development bubble, with nine figures in public pension money — in an effort that now loses money year after year. Welcome to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.
In theory, 12-hole designs should be cheaper to play, build, and maintain. But in the staid industry of golf course development, there’s been no rush to test the theory. The minds behind Sweetens Cove are ready to change that.
For Cohen Trolio, the 2019 U.S. Amateur wasn’t gratifying because of his run to the semifinals. It was gratifying because his success proved that the process he’s followed throughout his career is working.
With a secure future and a standalone date in hand, the Sanderson Farms Championship has a chance to keep its novelty while also becoming more than just a novelty.
“I’d like people to take away that my emotions are pretty good starting out here,” Bhatia said. “If I have my A-game, I feel like I can win out here. This week, I had a C-game.”
In all the youth-heavy field at the Sanderson Farms Classic, you’d be hard pressed to find a more different pairing than Maverick McNealy and Braden Thornberry.
“When I was standing up on 18, I needed to hit a really good drive. I said, ‘Well, why don’t we just hit a really good drive? Just go ahead and do it. You’ve been hitting driver well all day.’ … You can step up and hit the shot you need to, if you just allow yourself to.“
The tension between preserving the Sanderson’s identity and attracting top-50 players isn’t going away. But for 2019, at least, that tension has been allayed.
“I think it’s a necessary evil now. There are some events where the money is kind of secondary — like, whatever purse Riviera was at, they’d still get a great field. But there aren’t many Rivieras out there, right?”
“At first, we felt like the higher the score, the better. But if you watch golf on TV, you want to see people make birdies or you want them to make double bogeys. Anything in between is kind of dull.”
The Sanderson Farms Championship slogged through decades of small purses, weak fields, and year-to-year insecurity. Those days are gone — for better or worse.
“My dad always wanted me to play against people who were better than me. So when I was 12, I played in the 15- to 16-year-old group. When I was 13, I played in the high school group. … So I guess playing with the older people wasn’t that weird. It kind of feels weird now, not feeling young.”