Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2019 - 17

TPC Twin Cities
As the PGA Tour returns, local legend Tom Lehman
readies the TPC Twin Cities for the event.
* BY JOSEPH OBERLE *
G
mngolf.org
olf and Minnesota are a great combination.
Last year, the PGA of
America announced that the Ryder
Cup will hold a repeat engagement
at Hazeltine National-the firstever
U.S. course to accomplish that
feat. Now, the PGA Tour returns to
the Twin Cities-for the first time
in 50 years. From July 4-7, the TPC Twin Cities course hosts
the inaugural 3M Open, and some of the best golfers in the
world have signed on to play. For local golf fans, it's a mustsee
event.
" It's a huge honor for Minnesota, " says
Hollis Cavner, CEO of Pro Links Sports
Management, the firm running the event.
" For years, everybody said they wanted a
tournament here, and it took a long time to
get one. We finally found the right date and
jumped on it. It's summertime, it's part of
the Fed-Ex playoffs race-there is so much
excitement going on. "
Cavner has worked for more than 10 years
course since 2001, compiled a winner's scoring average of
17-under par for the three-day event. In fact, David Frost
won by seven strokes in 2010 with a total of 191 (a record
25-under par). That course setup, which was intended to be
a birdie-fest for the fans, would have to be stiffened with the
PGA Tour pros coming to town.
" We did a really good job designing a golf course for its
purpose-for the public to enjoy it, " says Lehman, the player
consultant to Arnold Palmer's architecture firm on the original
design. " The fairways are nice and wide, the greens are
big, it's pretty looking. You have to play good golf to shoot a
to bring a PGA Tour event to Minnesota.
When the week of July 4 opened up, he
grabbed it. He enlisted local golf legend Tom
Lehman, president/designer of Lehman Design Group, to
prepare the course for the event.
" It's kind of a mixed feeling for me, " Lehman says. " Missing
the opportunity to play in Minneapolis on the Champions
Tour is kind of a bummer. But getting all the top players in
the world there for a week in July more than makes up for
that. It's an exciting event for Minnesota golf. "
Readying the TPC Twin Cities course for the Tour pros
was one of the biggest concerns at the outset. The 3M
Championship, which had determined champions at the
Lehman says the
renovation goal
was to maintain the
ample space for
the average golfer
while making tee
shots significantly
more difficult for
the pros.
good score, but there is room to miss and recover.
" To challenge the best players in the world
is a different story; I'm not really sure any
course is capable of that at this point. The
guys are so good-they hit it so far and have
such amazing short games. I don't know if
you can do anything to safeguard against
that. But I think the things that we did will
make the course stand up a bit more. We're
still going to see some low scores, but it will
require some better driving in order to shoot
those low scores. "
Lehman says the renovation goal was to
maintain the ample space for the average
golfer while making tee shots significantly more difficult for
the pros. He left the fairways generous where the members
hit the ball and tightened them up further down the fairway.
The TPC fairways are 50-60 yards wide, and Lehman's team
narrowed them to 32-36 yards in certain places and changed
some angles to create tougher shots. Approximately 200 trees
were also added to the course.
The plan called for additional rough on the course, so
the bentgrass was removed near the fairways and Bermuda
bluegrass planted that will reach 3-4 inches high along the
Summer 2019 MINNESOTAGOLFER
17
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Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2019

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