Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994 TAG: 9404210061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Landmark News Service
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Rocco Mediate has a ruptured disk and can't defend his title. Some of golf's bigger names also are injured - and others opted to skip the event.
Still, Greensboro has long had a love affair with golf, so look for more big crowds and keen competition on a Forest Oaks course that annually presents one of the tougher challenges on the PGA Tour.
Fred Couples, Paul Azinger and Phil Mickelson admittedly would have strengthened the field. But Couples has a herniated disk, Mickelson has broken bones in both legs and Azinger, who tied for third in last year's GGO, is undergoing cancer treatment.
Only eight of the top 20 money winners and four who have 1994 victories are in the field. But there is quality in the players competing for the $1.5 million payoff at the GGO, which begins its 72-hole run today.
Take 1992 GGO champion Davis Love III or Hale Irwin, who won the MCI Heritage Classic on Sunday. And what about Fuzzy Zoeller, who has finished second three times this year? Not to mention Tom Kite, the tour's career leader in winnings, who served notice with a 67 in the pro-am.
Those four, as well as the other 151 players in the field, will have to contend with some changes at Forest Oaks. In the fall, six greens on the back nine - Nos. 10-15 - were redesigned by architect Clyde Johnston with Zoeller consulting.
The changes generally have been well-received. However, there is variation in the firmness of the greens on the front nine compared with the six new surfaces - as well as the 16th and 17th, which were redone before last year's tournament.
by CNB