Last year in this space we were a little hard on Tampa. Neil led us off with an utterly depressing commentary that captured Tampa in all it’s glory, and then discussed the golf tournament within that context. Here’s a sampling:
In a book I recently read – The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, Tampa is used as the prime example of a city representing the decay of the greatest generation, the causes of the ’08 housing bubble, and what’s happened to the American Dream. Basically, everyone lives in suburbs that are half-full of over-leveraged families or half-developed with abandoned cluster castles. In this largely unplanned sprawl exists a public transit void, leading to a population addicted to finite/foreign oil, and the city itself is void of pedestrians and diversity (which leads to a lack of new ideas brought about by interaction and innovation in diverse urban areas). All in all, a pretty uplifting read, though I digress…The gist is that Tampa, with two and a half professional sports teams (the Bucs were relegated to fractional status thanks to the efforts of Greg Schiano), millions of rust belt transplants, a significant metropolitan area (2.9 million in 2011), and site of the most recent 2012 Republican National Convention, is a hot bed for three things: golf, lots of extremely old people, and a variety of strip clubs (more on those later). So you have a warm weather locale, with tons of old, conservative, white males who have the resources (over-leveraged or not) and time to play golf.
However, since the event really isn’t IN Tampa proper, I figured that was a bit harsh. Attempting a more upbeat theme this year. Here goes…
The Florida Swing is, in my inconsequential estimation, the most overrated stretch of the Tour schedule. The Honda doesn’t do it for me:
- Palm Beach oozes a generic geriatric vibe that pollutes the proceedings, and the course isn’t all that notable other than being really freaking difficult;
- Doral is an exhibition of blunt force/hypefest for a has-been resort that gets jet fuel dumped on it all day every day;
- Bay Hill is a celebration of all things Arnie (whom I adore) but I just don’t love the course and I openly loathe Orlando (sorry Golf Channel brethren, it ain’t personal).
However, I truly enjoy the Valspar, the gem of the Florida Swing and the St. Jetersburg area. Put plainly, the Valspar is the manifestation of substance over hype and grit over style (seriously, if one more tweet pops up on my feed regarding Trump presenting Rory’s 3-iron to him I’m going postal) – it’s one of the few tournaments a year that I can tune in and count on the telecast to be centered on golf, and said golf being covered in such a way that the rising stars are actually shown live (see: Jordan Spieth backing up his performance in Puerto Rico the following week in 2013; Gary Woodland’s first win in ’11; Streelman and Senden getting it done; DeLaet playing well every year; an annual WillyMac sighting; Scott Langley announcing himself last year, etc.).
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“Did someone say grit?”
The course certainly has something to do with it – a classic, fair layout with clean lines, great foliage, and a premium on ballstriking – how is that not the norm on Tour? However, beyond the venue, the general anonymity of the event surely feeds into what I like about it. In the eyes of the casual observer I’d imagine this week certainly doesn’t command much attention beyond tuning in for the back nine on Sunday. There’s nothing remarkable or spectacular, it’s just solid. Solid field. Solid venue. Solid coverage (since there’s not a whole lot NBC can really do to gin it up – more on this further on down the page). And in the words of Marshawn Lynch it just don’t get no better than solid.
Course
Innisbrook: Copperhead Course
Located in the relatively random Innisbrook Resort (a Florida resort near the beach without beach access? Hilarious), the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort is like the grown-up ballstriker’s version of Chuck E. Cheese. O.G. ballstrikers of Jim Furyk, Justin Rose, Kenny Perry, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood’s ilk don’t just show up at any random event for shits and gigs.
Designed by Larry Packard, Copperhead seems out of place in central Florida. Framed by trees, old school “lines,” smallish greens, and some subtle elevation changes that catch you off guard, this course demands accuracy and precision. At 7,300 yards it’s definitely not short, but I wouldn’t say anyone in the field is precluded from contending here, unlike last week. The formula seems to be fairways, greens, avoiding big numbers (the poop brown color will be out in full force on PGATour.com this week – there’s an inordinate amount of big numbers here) and keeping it between the proverbial mayonnaise and the mustard. It’s not really a birdie fest; it’s a tactician’s track (more Stanley Goodspeed than Kyle Stanley).
That thing is legitimately scarier than a hat-less Jim Furyk The big feature is the closing stretch of holes 16, 17 & 18, which is glossed “The Snake Pit.” A long-ass par-3 stuck in between two man-sized par-4’s, this stretch regularly ranks amongst the toughest on Tour. No word on how long it’s been named this: we like to pretend it was dubbed the (Trouser) Snake Pit after the ’11 event in honor of Woodland’s tour de force. The only thing holding this stretch of holes back is the mandatory and cringe-worthy nickname.
Vibe
There really isn’t a vibe, as this event’s been wronged by Corporate America in a variety of different ways. Consider the following: It started as The Tampa Bay Championship, an almost-silly season event in 2000 opposite the President’s Cup in the fall, was cancelled in ’01 due to 9/11 (it was to be played opposite the WGC American Express Championship), and returned in ’02 as the Tampa Bay Championship presented by Buick when Buick execs decided they weren’t sponsoring enough golf events (and probably because the demo’s for old people with disposable income for a new LaSalle in the region made them swoon). From ’03 to ’06 the event doubled down on being an almost unrecognizable car event as the Chrysler Championship (amongst other Chrysler events in Greensboro, Palm Springs, and Tuscon), playing in a vacuum the week before The Tour Championship (Florida, middle of football season – people probably didn’t even know this thing existed).
In ’07 Finchy finally saw the light and moved the event to the middle of the Florida Swing and Kirk Triplett brought his PODS swag to town in the the form of a two-year stint as the Portable On Demand Storage Championship (no word on whether spectators received free bucket lids). ’09 brought with it the advent of the Transitions Championship, which was essentially a week long celebration of Trevor Immelman and Kenny Perry. Transitions lasted four years, bailing out really hard in ’12. EverBank, a regional bank out of Jacksonville, magnanimously stepped in as a stopgap and essentially saved the tournament. Valspar came to the rescue last year, and we the fans get to learn about paint products in a city where huffing paint is probably pretty popular. And yet, somehow in the midst all of this title sponsor tomfoolery this tournament has always managed to pay a substantial purse. Much respect to the tournament committee – you’ve built the Valspar Championship into something enduring and worthwhile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgf9cCnK_iE
Last Year
One remembers a few firsts in life – first beer, first illicit sexual encounter in someone’s basement, first time stepping foot at Augusta National, first time experiencing “Spotlight Coverage” on Golf Channel.
That last one happened for me during this event last year. Swantek, Immelman, Byrum, BillyRay, et al. bombarded my television with trackman stats, fresh camera angles, strong takes geared toward serious golf fans, and the perspective inherent when you take a diverse cross section of talent and show dozens of guys play the same few shots. It was an eye-opening telecast that got me hooked.
The actual tournament was a see-saw battle all day Sunday, with almost a dozen guys jockeying for position, including some fascinating personalities in Na (watching him battle his demons is riveting), WillyMac and Garrigus, interspersed with some young talent, and topped off with Rose, Sendo, DeLaet, Woodland, and DubP (prior to ejecting on Saturday) all flashing ballst
Source: https://nolayingup.com/blog/2015-valspar-championship-preview