Brian Noonan made a five foot birdie on the first hole of the playoff with David Backus to win the Morris Williams Spring Championship. Noonan, shown here on the left with Backus, posted 79 in the second round after a day of very challenging conditions that produced high scores for the field. Craig Cyr, Josh Swanson and Jonathan Alden recorded the day’s lowest score with 76’s.
With a cool north wind of 15-20 mph, hard bumpy greens, and the course stretched to its maximum length, the players had their hands full and it became a battle of attrition where par was a good score on any hole. Some players managed better than others but in the end, the conditions and golf course were too much to handle.
First round leader Manny Bhakta followed up his opening round 70 with and 83. What a difference a day makes. Some players managed to keep it in the the 70’s but the field average score went from 77.85 to 82.49.
Click here for full field results.
There was much discussion about the condition of the course among players and golf course staff. What emerged was a picture of a perfect storm of conditions that produced less than desirable greens. After the redesign of the course, the growing season was short, the traffic on the course was much higher than normal and then we had a brutal winter that prevented any growth on the greens with a shallow root structure. The course will recover when growing conditions are favorable.
Having watched the redesign progress I was often asked what I thought of the changes. Aside from a few comments about hole design my most consistent comment was that I would reserve judgement until the course had a chance to grow in and it played like it should. I still reserve that judgement and am hopeful that the spring and summer provide the course with the opportunity to mature into what it can be.
