Is Wentworth fun anymore?”You tell me,” said Ian Poulter after a 74 left him at level par for the BMW PGA Championship on Friday.
“You’re watching. Does it need another dig-up? No comment.”
By the lack of sound from the record crowds on the West Course, and those of us who remember the cheers and roars from daring exploits on the 17th and 18th greens, many people agree with the always frank Englishman.
The millions spent on rebuilding the West Course at Wentworth two years ago brought widespread dismay when the results were unveiled at last year’s event, so much so that owner Richard Caring spent a further £500,000 in redoing some of what was redone.
A lot of people still aren’t happy. The 18th green has been lowered to be more accommodating to long iron shots and the eighth green is no longer as silly as it was, but the monstrous 17th has gone from being hated to downright loathed, and several players think they’ve made the course unfair instead of just tough.
“The margins are so small,” continued Poulter. “We’re being asked to land it on a dining-room table from 230 yards out.
“I came here as a kid and loved it, but it’s different now. You can’t even sniff 17 we are 60 yards back (from where they used to be).
“You can’t finish eagle-eagle. That was fun that was exciting.
“You could be five shots back and have a chance. The fun has been taken out of the last few holes.”
Paul Casey, the last champion before the changes were made, was with his Ryder Cup colleague wholeheartedly after finishing one over.
“One of the beautiful things about Wentworth was you could finish with four or five threes in a row and shoot up that leaderboard,” said the 2009 winner.
“Richard Caring wanted something like level par to win and he might get that, but is it entertaining?”
Ernie Els’ name is on the changes although it is clear he was working to a strict brief from Caring, but the South African, who shot a 68 to move up to one over, came out strongly in defence of it.
“Make no mistake, if you are marginally off at Congressional (venue for the US Open) in three weeks you’ll pay the price. This is a great warm-up for that,” he said.
“I understand guys coming off 18 are asked for their views and may still be hot. But you have to give enormous credit to the greens staff here, how many years did we putt on substandard greens?”
Els did think the tour could have set it up a little easier in terms of choice of tees and pins, but made no apologies for it being tough.
“There’s almost no rough, but if you’re a little bit off your game the penalties are severe,” he added.
“That’s how major championships are played and this is our tour’s major.
“It should be to that standard.”