Welcome, PGA Tour pros. Welcome, and step into a strange, new world.
The Palmetto Championship at Congaree will offer a sharp contrast to the stages usually found at the weekly tournaments.
“There’s nothing like it on the Tour,” Kevin Kisner said in describing the Congaree course in the South Carolina Lowcountry that will test the pros this week.
“The golf course reminds me of playing in Australia,” Mark Anderson said.
“Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (of tournament week) here are going to be really cool,” Lucas Glover predicted. The pros “will have to learn the course.
“They’ve got to find out, ‘If I get it in this spot, how do I get it on the green? Which holes can I make birdie on? Which ones make par a good score.’ It’ll be interesting picking guys brains on how to play.”
Those three with South Carolina ties will be among the 156 players who begin competition Thursday. They and a handful of others will have an edge in terms of course knowledge in the tournament that was quickly cobbled together to replace the pandemic-canceled RBC Canadian Open.
Kisner, Anderson and Glover have been behind the gates at this private club in rural South Carolina — about 40 miles north of Hilton Head — and at least know what to expect. Putting that knowledge into productivity? Well, how they answer must wait.
Compounding the challenge for some players is Monday’s 36-hole qualifying for the U.S. Open. Those golfers lose a practice day on an unfamiliar golf course, and the energy required for Monday’s two pressure rounds could take a toll by week’s end.
Glover, a Greenville native and Clemson All-American who now lives in Florida, played 54 holes over two days prior to the RBC Heritage in April. The course is an easy commute for Anderson, who lives in Beaufort, and Kisner needs about 90 minutes to arrive from his Aiken home.
Those expecting a parkland course that resembles others built in the area by Fazio — those Berkeley Hall and Belfair, for example — will be shocked.
“A Tom Fazio course that in no way resembles a Tom Fazio course,” Kisner said.
Certainly, Congaree would not be mistaken for Fazio courses that dot the South Carolina Lowcountry. “Unique” is a favorite word of reviewers and elements of Pinehurst No. 2, Pine Valley and Royal Melbourne are incorporated in the puzzle that can stretch more than 7,700 yards.
“The golf course is pretty straightforward off the tee,” said Anderson, who spent his Monday at Hilton Head’s Long Cove Club striving to qualify for the U.S. Open. “The fairways are wide. But the green complexes are tricky. There’s sand everywhere.”
There’s no rough to challenge golfers, but balls tend to roll in firm and fast conditions — and no rough means wayward shots tend to end up in the sand.
Add run-off areas around the greens and sharp-edged bunkers and, Anderson said, “the course will play difficult.”
Kisner agreed the course will be more challenging than most Tour venues and expects the set-up to be shorter Thursday and Friday “just to get 156 players around. They’ll adjust (length) over the weekend.”
The beauty of Congaree “is just the way the course plays,” said Glover, who spent Monday in an Open qualifier in Florida. “It’s firm and fast, and you’re asked to play that way. (Fazio) did a great job with the ‘look.’ The native areas look like they have been there forever, which they have.”
Yes, but the designer and his crew moved sand — a lot of sand — on the old rice plantation site to establish the “look,” and they moved full grown trees into position.
“Over two days (and 54 holes), I hit every club in my bag, and that’s pretty cool,” Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, said. “You don’t do that on every golf course.”
Assuming that Mother Nature cooperates and Congaree remains firm and fast, different styles of play will be in vogue.
“If it’s firm and fast, the bombers will go over the trouble, and some of the shorter, straighter guys will be running the ball down the fairway,” Glover said. “You can pick how you want to play around here.”
Maybe the heavy hitters can drive over trouble, but “Congaree is not a bomber’s paradise,” said Kisner, noting the contoured fairways tend to funnel balls into trouble spots. His advice: Bring your best short game.
“The run-off areas and slopes around the greens will get your attention,” he said. “There are a lot of links characteristics.”
The course offers a smorgasbord of challenges. Both the fourth and 15th holes can be drivable par-4, should the Tour staff choose to set the tees up for risk-reward temptation.
“The par-3s are great and the par-5s are hard,” Glover said.
Indeed, the course has earned lofty rankings through reviews since its inception in 2017. Some rank it among Fazio’s best design.
Now the pros put the layout to the ultimate test. Expect Congaree to pass the exam with flying colors.
Watch: PGA Tour in SC at Congaree
Thursday-Friday: 3-6 p.m., Golf Channel
Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m., Golf Channel and 3-6 p.m., CBS