Count Rory McIlroy among those who like the renovation of East Lake Golf Club.
In fact, he loves it.
McIlroy is a three-time winner of the FedEx Cup. He has a lot of reasons – and dollars – to like the old course.
On Thursday, McIlroy was asked about his thoughts on the renovation, completed just in time for this year’s Tour Championship. He said:
“I love the restoration. I love the golf course. It’s probably six months away from being perfect just because of the firmness of the greens.
“But I’ve always liked (architect) Andrew Green’s work. I like what he did at Congressional, I like what he did at Oak Hill. I like some of the other things I haven’t been there physically, but I’ve seen.
“I like that the ball repels off the greens. I like that it gives you options. I think a lot of these aprons, it really gives guys a chance to sort of shine and show how good their short games are because you can play all sorts of different chips and you can putt it, you can bump it, you can fly it and try to spin it. I love that side of it.
“I think he’s probably made it a little less penal off the tee just by clearing some of the trees, but I think he’s made it a little more penal around the greens. I think overall, I don’t think the course plays that much differently apart from the par-5 14th, but I really like what he’s done, and I like golf courses that sort of stretch out the playing areas and expand the playing areas a little bit. I think he’s done a great job.”
In addition to believing the course to be six months from perfection, McIlroy did agree with the overwhelming sentiment this week that the greens are very firm.
“I hit like a little three-quarter gap wedge into the 15th there,” McIlroy said of the par-3 hold. “You think that a shot like that normally will sort of stop dead, and that one for me, it probably ran out 35, 40 feet.
“You have to hit – just feels like you’ve got to hit full shots into these greens with as much spin as possible to get the ball to come to rest as soon as you can.”
McIlroy parred the 15th on his way to a 2-under round and is 6 under for the tournament.
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