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Overzealous, over-caffeinated, and overconfident, I arrived to Caves Valley Golf Club Tuesday morning. One of the first people on the property, I decided a morning stroll through the opening nine was an adequate way to begin my time in Owings Mills as the top 69 players on the PGA Tour were yet to begin their day’s preparations.
I had prior knowledge of Caves Valley before the day began, having interviewed numerous members who were kind enough to give me a broad sense of what to expect. Having been closed for three weeks, their general sentiment of the course rang relatively true. A big ballpark and difficult walk measuring north of 7,500 yards, this Tom Fazio design just outside of Baltimore, Maryland appeared susceptible to birdies.
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It begins immediately out of the gates, as hole No. 1 will be nearly drivable for some. Envisioning Bryson DeChambeau blasting his drive into the front green side bunkers, players are presented with an opening birdie opportunity. It won’t stop there as there are four realistic scoring opportunities in the first five holes alone with two short par-4’s and two par-5’s.
Longtime member, Harry Klaff, who grew up across the street from the front gates tipped me of such, saying “You’re going to see guys get out of the blocks fast. There are two risk-reward holes in the beginning of a player’s round, where I could see a ton of birdies in those first five-holes.”
Yet in order to do so, one’s driver will need to cooperate. Walking through the morning dew, I couldn’t help but notice the gnarliest of rough growing just off the fairway where players will be landing their tee shots. Perfectly placed, along with deep fairway bunkers that will cause players to lay up on the par-5’s, strong drivers of the golf ball immediately came to mind.
While the rough may be difficult, it’s spotty. Players just off the short grass may have the unfortunate luck of drawing the worst of it while those more wayward may in fact be fortunate. Inside the ropes, these players should be able to handle it, but it will certainly present a challenge.
After the opening five-hole stretch, the difficulty is turned up a notch with the 8th and 9th holes grabbing my attention. Playing into the wind, accuracy off-the-tee will be required if players hope to steal a stroke on the field. While long and thick along the fairway, the rough around-the-green may present an easier examination as the majority of the greens are protected by deep bunkering and rarely tight lies are present.
With my polo drenched, and having learned from Tiger Woods, I threw on my extra shirt and went to track down players on the back-nine. However, before making the voyage from the ninth green to the 10th tee box, which is quite a hike, I stopped by the practice area. One thing stood out, while many were practicing, not many were playing.
For example, Abraham Ancer, the WGC-FedEx St. Jude winner played only five holes on Tuesday. That may have been more than most as caddies were spotted by themselves on the course, stepping off yardages, and preparing for tomorrow’s pro-am. With The Northern Trust bleeding into the work week, fatigue could play a factor come the weekend and players took today to focus on their swings, rather than their course management.
When catching up with Ancer, he said, “I could have kept on going and played more holes, but I felt like I was only going to lose if I was playing instead of gaining anything. I want to keep my energy. I know I am qualified for Atlanta, so I have to focus on this week, but I know it is fairly important for me to stay fresh for Atlanta and make a big push. I don’t want to lose any spots. I definitely want to gain some spots. Looking at this golf course, I know I am going to be hitting a lot of long irons and I just need to be on my A-game with my short-game.”
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On the inward half, players were torn with club selection from the start. With drivers being pulled by the likes of Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen, other players such as Jason Kokrak and Emiliano Grillo opted for a fairway wood of some sort as well-placed fairway bunkers line both sides of the fairway on the 10th.
After this difficult three-hole stretch, players are rewarded with the short par-4 11th that is potentially reachable. With players practicing from the furthest back tee-box, all of those that came through laid up to a preferable number. Yet something that could be interesting is if they move the tee box up. Playing 320 yards and downwind, at least today, you have to imagine a few players would give it a go if officials were to make the switch.
After the par-5 12th, birdies may be hard to come by coming home. A difficult three-hole stretch from the lengthy par-3 13th to the long par-4 15th is alleviated by the par-5 16th. Yet, with a new tee box introduced, the hole requires a 250-yard carry into a stiff breeze in order to reach the fairway. Talking to volunteers, there were numerous players who came up short, including Mickelson who caught the overhanging branches.
Paul Casey hit the most impressive drive of the day on the hole and later laid up with a long iron to just outside of 100 yards. He then trekked to the 17th where birdies could be made depending on the pin position.
Lastly, there’s the closing hole. In what may be a flipped, mirror image of the 18th hole at Quail Hollow, a creek runs up the entire right side up to the green with fairway bunkers left. Players may not have to worry about those as today they were close to 290-yards away, into a stiff breeze, and significantly up-hill. A tough finishing test, players will have to climb up one last mountain and take par with a smile on their face come the completion of their rounds.
With rumors swirling of a Quail Hollow comparison, I figured there was no one better to ask than 2019 Wells Fargo Championship winner, Max Homa. He had this to say, “It’s similar, it’s just really, really big. This is significantly harder to walk, but it’s big and it’s going to be a lot of mid to long irons which is pretty similar to Quail (Hollow).” Sitting 30th in the FedEx Cup Points standings coming into the tournament, a week comparable to that in Charlotte in 2019 would surely secure his spot in Atlanta.
