Golf commentator Smylie Kaufman has been discussing Castle Pines Golf Club, which tested the world’s best players at last week’s BMW Championship.
Castle Pines was the longest course in PGA Tour history and hosted a pulsating finish as Keegan Bradley ran out the unlikely winner after only just making the field.
The FedEx Cup top 30 now move on to the Tour Championship. Scottie Scheffler will start with a two-shot lead over Xander Schauffele as he hunts down golf’s most lucrative prize.
Kaufman – already in Atlanta – however, has looked back at last week’s event and praised the second playoff venue.
Smylie Kaufman loved BMW Championship course at Castle Pines
Speaking during the latest edition of the Smylie Show, Kaufman admitted Castle Pines “had everything”.
“It just had everything,” Kaufman said. “We are going to get into USGA talk a little later in this episode. But when we talk about different things, we can do to golf courses to make them more challenging.”
Kaufman then claimed he had never seen such confusion from the world’s best players from 160 yards and in.
He added, “With this golf course, 12 under was a hell of a tournament by Keegan Bradley because I saw every shot in the fairway inside 160 yards when guys were hitting wedges from 160. I’ve never seen guys stand over shots being more confused about what to do.”
PGA Tour venues should learn from the BMW Championship
Bradley winning the BMW Championship on 12 under was the perfect end to the tournament.
12 under indicates that it was an extremely tough test, which did provide opportunities to score. Too often, PGA Tour venues are picked apart by the game’s elite players, with scores of well below 20 under required to claim victory.
Fans, of course, want to see birdies, but there has to be some level of jeopardy involved.
Castle Pines’ rough and firm greens made life challenging for those who were not at their best, and the golfing world needs to see more of that on the PGA Tour.
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