Robinson takes another shot at Senior Open

As a general rule, I try to exercise caution before making any bold proclamations about anything in the golf course management industry, especially when I'm not entirely certain I can back up those proclamations with any ... well ... you know, facts.

Let me give you an example: prior to the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage, I classified superintendent Craig Currier as the only working superintendent to have hosted multiple U.S. Opens at the same facility. I included the word "working" on purpose because I couldn't say with any level of real certainty whether that was actually the case. GCSAA doesn't keep any records of such things, but I did know that it hadn't happened in my dozen years in the business and I knew that the USGA's penchant for not visiting any one course more than once every 10 years or so made it unlikely to have happened before that. Add my specially selected qualifier to that evidence, I figured I was safe publishing that statement.

And technically, I was. What we published was technically correct. But it wasn't completely correct, and a number of longtime superintendents let me know about it. Now, they did so in a respectful way and in the end, it turned into a positive because we learned a lot more about the men who had previously prepared the same course for more than one U.S. Open. But it also taught me a little lesson about being extremely careful about placing absolutes on statements that you can't be sure are completely, 100-percent factual.

All of that is a long-winded way of saying that I don't learn lessons very well, because I'm about to place an absolute on a statement that I can't be sure is completely, 100-percent factual. I'm about to designate Tommy Robinson, the superintendent at Ravinia Green CC in Deerfield, Ill., as the only working superintendent to ever qualify and play in a major professional golf event, which is exactly what the 34-year GCSAA member will do this week when he competes in the U.S. Senior Open at Sahalee CC in Sammamish, Wash.

Now, someone might challenge that statement and know someone who has made their way into the field at a PGA Tour event somewhere along the line or earned a spot in one of the USGA's top championships. If that's the case, then I look forward to hearing about it; it'll make for a better story for us. But two years ago when Robinson qualified to play in his first U.S. Senior Open and we called him "the first" superintendent to pull off such a feat, we heard nary a dissenting word. So I'm going to take that as a sign that we're in safe territory here.

Robinson, who won the GCSAA National Championship back in 2004 in San Diego, earned his way into this week's field through a sectional qualifier at Inverness (Ill.) GC in late June, sinking a birdie putt on the first sudden-death playoff hole to secure third place in that event. "I didn't think it was a very good round," he said of the 75 he shot during the qualifier. "I figured I didn't make it. The scores turned out to be pretty high, 73 was low, and I was in a six-way tie for third. I birdied the first hole of the playoff to get the last spot."

His first trip to a Senior Open didn't work out so well for Robinson, who shot an 81-84 at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., and missed the cut. But he thinks the experience of getting inside the ropes for that event will pay dividends this time around. "Obviously, I'll be nervous on the first tee, but I'm not nervous going into it this time because I know what to expect," he says. "This time, I'm not a rookie and I know a lot of things that I didn't know then, so hopefully that will help me."

Since, as we've established, a superintendent competing in a major professional golf event is such a rarity, we wanted to be there to chronicle the occasion for this blog and an upcoming issue of GCM. So tomorrow, I'm jetting to the Pacific Northwest to tag along with Robinson while he takes on the best senior golfers in the country. I'll be chasing a handful of other stories while I'm there, but we'll be there from Robinson's Wednesday morning practice round through the completion of his competitive rounds (he tees off No. 10 at 9:15 a.m. Pacific on Thursday, then at 2:30 p.m. off No. 1 Friday).

You can follow our reports here on the blog and through our Twitter account, @GCM_Magazine.

Comments

[California Golf]

I realized something in my life when I read the first paragraph of your post.

"As a general rule, I try to exercise caution before making any bold proclamations about anything in the golf course management industry, especially when I'm not entirely certain I can back up those proclamations with any facts."

We really do need to be cautious in everything we say or do, it's better to be sure first before talking.