Ai Miyazato was surprised by the news about a major change in the Safeway Classic, the Portland-area LPGA Tour event of which she is the defending champion.
Miyazato, visiting the Hillsboro Boys & Girls Club to help promote the tournament Tuesday, was told by a reporter that the tour had decided to change the ninth hole at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club’s Ghost Creek course. The hole had been played as a 474-yard par-5 in the tournament’s first two years at the North Plains course, but will play as a 375-yard par-4 when the tournament is contested Aug. 19-21.
“Oh, really? That’s a shame,” Miyazato said. “No. 9, that was my favorite hole because it’s hard to put the second on the green because of the water, so I feel it puts a lot of pressure. But maybe a par-4 is going to be good.”
Tournament executive director Rob Neal said several factors went into change, starting with the fact that the ninth was designed as a par-4 – its normal par in public play — with a pond to the left of the green and creek to the right of the fairway.
When the Safeway Classic moved to Pumpkin Ridge in 2009, the LPGA Tour converted the ninth into a par-5 and created an unusual stretch of three consecutive par-5s – the eight, ninth and 10th – that could potentially create huge scoreboard swings during the final round. In 2009, M.J. Hur made two birdies and an eagle in the stretch to key her victory.
“I thought that was interesting,” Miyazato said. “We’ve never had that before.”
But having three par-5s in a row also created big logjams as players waited to try to reach greens in two shots, creating long waits on the tee boxes.
“There were definitely some pace issues,” Neal said.
Last year, veteran Juli Inkster had to wait 30 minutes to tee off on No. 10 Saturday. As she waited, the 50-year-old Hall of Famer attached a weight to her 9-iron and took some swings to loosen up, and a TV viewer who saw her do so on the Golf Channel called in to report that Inkster had violated a rule. Inkster, who would have been tied for second place going into Sunday, was disqualified after her round.
The downhill eighth, which played at 507 yards the last two years, will be pushed back to 566 yards, making it a three-shot hole for most of the field. Overall, the course will play 6,512 yards and to a par of 71.
Mike Tokito
The Oregonian
7/12/11
