Norman Visits Soggy Sugarloaf

DULUTH, Ga. -- Despite the 2.6 inches of rain that fell Sunday and Monday at TPC at Sugarloaf, superintendent Mike Crawford said the course was drying up well for the first day of the BellSouth Classic Thursday.

During the tournament, the course is mowed every day -- greens and tees in the morning and fairways and approaches in the afternoon. However, if the course is too wet, the grass cannot be cut, as the heavy mowers will damage the course.

The Greg Norman-designed TPC at Sugarloaf hosts this week's BellSouth Classic.

Crawford said the course had dried out enough that it would be mowed Tuesday, which became very necessary after all of that rain and plenty of sunshine.

He also said Greg Norman, who had back surgery in Pittsburgh exactly one week earlier, was on the course Tuesday to discuss some design changes. Sugarloaf was Norman's first signature-designed course in the United States, and Crawford said Norman was present about 25 times while it was being built.

In particular, Crawford said changes to the ninth hole were among the chief topics of conversation. Crawford said the changes would make the par-4, 465-yard hole, which ranks as the course's second-most difficult, "more player friendly."

The green slopes down into a creek, making it the course's hardest driving hole.

"Players hitting their mid-irons have had a hard time hitting the green and keeping it on," Crawford said. "I wouldn't say it's unfair, but it's a little penalizing."