The third hole will measure 195 yards on the card, about the same distance used in the Buick Invitational. With the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, it typically requires a long or medium iron down the hill into a breeze to a green that is protected by a bunker in the front. Anything long or left falls off the cliffs into a hazard.
Davis, senior director of rules and competition for the USGA, stumbled across a tee from 142 yards that might be even tougher.
"It not only sits at a different angle, it sits up in the air even higher," Davis said. "It should be dead into the wind. That puts them up in the air with a wedge shot, dead into the wind."
Davis said it reminded him of No. 7 at Pebble Beach, which is 107 yards and among the most famous holes in golf. Even though it's barely a sand wedge, it can be a brute for even the best players trying to get the right distance and trajectory.
"We plan to use it a couple of days," Davis said of the forward tee at Torrey Pines. "And when we go up, we'll be more aggressive with the hole location. It's not going to be a real easy hole with a wind into you."
The toughest hole locations will be front left (just over the bunker) and back left, where anything long will go into the hazard.
That might not be the only hole with a forward tee.
Even though the course will be the longest in history, Davis said it probably never will play its full 7,643 yards. The par-5 13th hole has three tees that make it play either 614, 599 or 539 yards.
One change to the 13th is a short cut of rough to the right.
The fear of playing that hole at 614 yards is an unexpected shift in wind, which could leave players with a 250-yard carry into the wind just to reach the fairway. Davis said there is a short cut of rough to the right for such situations, meaning players would only have to hit it 220 yards to at least have a chance at the second shot.
Article Source: golf.com
