What Byron Nelson Deserves

D.A. Weibring’s phone bill probably doubled or tripled last week. The man behind the spectacular renovation of the TPC Four Seasons course was playing in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in Savannah, Georgia and couldn’t attend the coming out party for his latest creation back in Texas at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.

Steve Wolfard the lead architect and Josh Peters the talented young design associate on the TPC Four Seasons course maintained almost a continuous telephone and text dialogue with D.A. throughout the weekend. “What’s the feedback?” D.A. would ask? Like an expectant father stranded hundreds of miles away, D.A. wanted every detail.

Several days earlier D.A. had been on the property working with PGA officials and an army of agronomists on the final touches. The Weibring/Wolfard design called for a clean, manicured fairway look around the greens and bunkers to create interesting playing options, however there were a couple of places where the young grass might not tolerate a tight fairway cut, so the PGA recommended letting those areas grow out, at least one more year. “Preparing a golf course for a PGA Tournament is a major undertaking, especially a young golf course.” D.A. noted. “Our job is to make sure that the course plays the way we intended it to play.”

After the course work the media interviews started and went on until nightfall. D.A. had already told the story a thousand times over the last 18-months, and before the week was over he would tell it a thousand more. “Some jobs are business, but this is personal.” He would say. “Byron Nelson deserved our best.” On Tuesday afternoon he spent time with Peggy Nelson talking about the changes and telling her how he hoped that Byron would be pleased. Peggy smiled knowingly and gave D.A. a hug.

Practice rounds had started Monday before the Tournament, but that’s not Tournament golf, and in all truthfulness, no one really knew how the golf course would play. Unlike most of today’s golf course renovations, D.A. had not felt the pressure to so call “Tiger Proof” the course by lengthening it; in fact the new course was a mere 200 yards longer. The design strategy was to present Tour players, as well as amateurs, with options in order to make them think; should I pitch or should I putt; do I play a cut or a draw? “The easiest thing in the world is to make a golf course hard.” D.A. liked to say. “The goal is to make it challenging for players of all skill levels. Golf is a game and it ought to be fun.”

Looking over the lush fairways and greens of the new TPC Four Seasons course early Thursday, it was hard to understand what D.A. was worried about, and as the rave reviews of the course compounded one golfer after another, it was clear that all of his team’s hard work had paid off spectacularly.

By the end of the week the results were in and the cumulative scoring average at the newly-redesigned par-70 TPC Four Seasons was 72.028, compared to 70.237 a year ago. For the week, just 12 players finished with under-par scores. The final-round scoring average was 73.066. The par-4 third hole played the toughest at 4.396, while the par-5 seventh hole was the easiest at 4.690.

Of the six past champions of the EDS Byron Nelson Championship who competed this past week, 2000 winner Jesper Parnevik enjoyed the best finish with a tie for 13th showing. The others included 2007 champion Scott Verplank (tie for 61st), 2006 winner Brett Wetterich (missed cut), 2005 winner Ted Purdy (tied for 35th), 2004 champion Sergio Garcia (tied for 19th) and 2002 victor Shigeki Maruyama (72).

As you know by now, Adam Scott birdied the third extra hole from 48 feet to edge out Ryan Moore for the win. But what you may not know is that just about everyone from Masters champion Trevor Immelman to EDS Byron Nelson Championship winner Adam Scott had nothing but praise for D.A.’s handy work. And, the word on the street and around the PGA Tour is that the EDS Byron Nelson Championship is back, and nobody could be happier than D.A. Weibring and Byron Nelson.