The second major of the season on the LPGA Tour — the LPGA Championship — tees off today at Locust Hill CC in Pittsford, N.Y., and we've got a man on the inside, LPGA Tour agronomist John Miller, CGCS. He's been working with superintendent Rick Slattery and his team to
get the course ready for this week's action. John filed this report Wednesday night on conditions at Locust Hill, in addition to providing the accompanying photos:
In the photos (clockwise from top left): Crews roll off one hole after mowing fairways; approaches being mowed; and Locust Hill assistant superintendent Andrew Eick changing a hole location.
Locust Hill Country Club and superintendent Rick Slattery are hosting the LPGA Championship Thursday through Sunday. Rick and his staff have worked very hard getting the golf course ready, adding one new tee and expanding three others while narrowing a number of fairways. Rick was able to do all of this work early in April with a short period of good weather. It is fortunate that he and his staff were on top of things as the weather in May was cool and wet.
In the two weeks leading up to the championship, the Rochester area received 4.7 inches of rain, with an additional 1.2 inches falling on Wednesday of advance week. Saturday afternoon brought a few more light showers totaling .02 inches while 1/2 inch fell Tuesday afternoon. Needless to say, the rough here at Locust Hill is very thick and healthy. Rick and his staff have done a wonderful job in keeping up with the preparation for the tournament with the wet conditions.
Greens speeds were right at 12 feet Wednesday morning, which is the target speed for the tournament. The sun is shinning and the players are enjoying the final round of practice before the competition begins Thursday morning. We are double cutting and rolling the greens in the morning as well as raking bunkers and cutting collars. All of the other mowing is taking place during the evening hours.
Locust Hill has hosted an LPGA event for many years but this is the first time the event has been one of the LPGA majors and the golf course is definitely ready from a course conditioning standpoint. Congratulations to Rick and his staff.
For more information on the LPGA Championship, Slattery and course preparations, you can check out the news release about the event or the tournament fact sheet, both of which were prepared by GCSAA's crack media relations staff.
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