Trinity Forest course praised by players
Heading into the AT&T Byron Nelson, there was plenty of talk in the locker rooms and on the driving ranges about Trinity Forest Golf Club, which made its debut Thursday in the first round of the 50th playing of the tournament.
Billy Horschel said he heard horror stories and some good things about the course designed by the renowned team of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, the par-71, 7,380-yard track resting atop a sand-capped former landfill south of Dallas.
Distinctively different from most courses used on the PGA Tour, Trinity is a windswept, mostly treeless course that features short grass, fescue, swaying prairie grass, dunes, massive fairways and enormous, sloping greens that force the player to strategize and tap into their imaginations. Especially on the ninth where a pot bunker is in the middle of the fairway or the 35,000-square-foot putting surface that is home to the third and 11th holes.
In many ways, it’s a links-style course that Jordan Spieth compared to Royal Birkdale, where he won the British Open in 2017.
“There’s lots of different stuff to entertain you out there, and I think that’s the challenge and also the difference between what we usually play, which is we’re given kind of one option all the time on how to play a shot,” said Adam Scott, who won the tournament in 2008. “People are going to get put out of their comfort zones, and not many people like that, you know. The greatest players have all managed to succeed out of their comfort zones and learn to love links or learn to love a parkland golf to succeed. And I think the greatest champions over time have all done that, and whoever is going to be here this week will be someone who really embraces the different challenges of this golf.”
Well, there were plenty of golfers who were comfortable in the first round on a hot, windless day in Big D. More than half the field finished under par and the top of the leaderboard was filled with red numbers.
The first-round leader was three-time PGA Tour winner Marc Leishman, an Australian who eagled the first and 14th holes en route to a 10-under-par 61. Tied for second at 64 were J.J. Spaun and Jimmy Walker. Jordan Spieth shot 2-under 69. “Obviously, everybody likes a course you play well on, but I came here a year ago and played the Wednesday of the Byron Nelson last year because I wasn’t in the Pro-Am and I fell in love with this golf course,” said Sam Saunders, one of several players at 65. “As you can see by the names on the leaderboard, it suits all types of players. There was a lot of thought put into all the slopes out there, and despite looking a lot different than what we see on a week-in, week-out basis, everything is there for a reason and you can use the ground here a lot to help hit good shots.”
Aaron Wise, who also came home in 65, said Trinity “is a cool place.”
“I love this type of golf because it really makes you think,” Wise said. “This course is definitely about managing your game. You’ve got to change. Maybe getting 10 yards of roll and later in the afternoon it was getting up there, 30, 40, 50 yards of roll. Lot of birdie holes out there. ... It’s going to be a good week.”
It’s going to be a hot weekend as temperatures are forecast in the high 90s and could reach past 100 Friday. The heat wave should firm up the course and deal up an extra challenge for the players.