Tour winner makes worrying dig at “boring” major golf course

We’re going to be seeing a fair bit of the new Fields Ranch East course at PGA Frisco on our television screens in the coming years. 

In the short-term, the Gil Hanse layout in north-east Texas is hosting this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, where Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul holds an early advantage after round one.

Fields Ranch staged the 2023 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship and has already earmarked 26 championships for its first 12 years after opening as part of a $520million development two years ago.

Those will include the PGA Championship in 2027 and 2034, this women’s major in 2031 and the senior tournament again in 2029.

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So, yes, we’re all going to get used to Fields Ranch East over the next decade or so.

And according to Angel Yin, a contender at this week’s Women’s PGA, that’s not something to get particularly excited about.

After a solid first round 71 left the American inside the top-ten, Yin branded Hanse’s new design “boring” and “repetitive.”

“It’s going to be a balancing of hydration and keeping focus because this golf course is quite boring, so…” Yin said in her post-round media duties.

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A reporter then interjected, asking Yin what she really meant.

“That’s what I mean,” the two-time LPGA Tour winner replied.

“It’s just kind of repetitive and there are challenges but it’s very subtle. Stepping up on the tee, what did I start on, the back nine gets really repetitive on the tee.

“Yeah, I mean, not something that’s controversial. I was like shocked. Did I say saying that’s going to drop a bomb? Maybe Gil will give me a call. ‘How dare you just trash on my golf course?!’

“It’s just the way it is. It’s subtle challenges.”

Asked what those challenges were, Yin expanded on the Fields Ranch test.

“Hitting fairways and greens because I think the course, on most of the holes, is designed to bounce in the front of the green and then go up,” she said.

“But then with it being a major and trying to challenge us, I think they grew the grass up.

“With the Bermuda it gets really sticky, and so you can’t just roll it up on the greens; you have to carry it.

“Obviously with the greens being firm and the weather being hot it just kind of rolls off.

“So I think greenside chipping is most important, but with the Bermuda it’s always pretty tough. You have to like just get it in the right perfect chip.”

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.