PHOENIX — For mere mortals, the 14th tee box at Phoenix Country Club can be quite the scare, especially from the tips.
The par 4, which is playing at 438 yards for the 2024 Charles Schwab Cup Championship, runs alongside Osborn Road, with green scrim on the fence the only thing separating golfers from a steady stream of vehicles heading east and west.
It’d be quite easy for someone to slice a ball into traffic but that’s not something pros do. However, there is a significant change to the hole from a year ago and that’s the removal of a giant tree that was down the left side.
It provided just enough of an obstacle for the pros, but after another brutal summer of Arizona desert heat, that tree died and was removed.
Phoenix Country Club head professional Paul Griffin confirmed that a number of trees died last summer but it’s the loss of one on 14 that may alter things the most this week when it comes to strategy at the par-71 track that’s playing 6,860 yards.
The tree on 14 was about 265 yards from the tee and about 10 yards left of the center of the fairway.
“The one on 14 for me, trying to hit a draw in a left-to-right wind with out-of-bounds on the right was no fun,” said 2022 Charles Schwab Cup Championship winner Padraig Harrington, who enters this week fourth in the points race. “Now without that tree there we can hit a low straight one and you’re good to go.”
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Steven Alker, won the tournament a year ago and the Cup two years ago, lives in Scottsdale and has played the course often.
“I think maybe the target line is maybe slightly more left than it used to be, but not really. You’re still just trying to hit a good drive out there and you still have to hit a good drive,” Alker said. “Knowing that tree’s not there, you’ve got more room on the left, kind of frees you up a little bit. Yeah, the same plan, straight down the middle.”
How it works
The Charles Schwab Cup Championship is a four-round, 72-hole, no-cut tournament.
Unlike the PGA Tour’s post-season – where the Tour Championship winner is declared the FedEx Cup champion – it’s possible to have someone win this event while someone else captures the Schwab season title.
The winner of the tournament wins the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. The winner of the season-long race is the Charles Schwab Cup champion.