Jones enjoys different competition on his course

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The 18th hole at Redstone GC is tough but pretty.

Rees Jones says he might not have gotten into the golf business had it not been for George Eastman, the founder of the Eastman Kodak Company.

His father, Robert Trent Jones Sr., used to caddie for Eastman, whom the son remembers as the "best tipper at the Country Club of Rochester. My dad thought maybe golf was a good industry to get into."

Jones followed in his father's footsteps -- not as a caddie, of course, but as a golf course architect -- and in a somewhat ironic twist, he's serving on the selection committee for the Kodak Challenge this year.

Jones and the four others on the advisory board have chosen 30 holes to be designated as Kodak Challenge holes. Players must play 18 of them to be eligible for the $1 million bonus that goes to the man with the lowest aggregate score.

This week's Kodak Challenge hole for the Shell Houston Open is the 18th on the Tournament Course at Redstone Golf Club, a 488-yard par 4, which Jones happened to design. It was the third most difficult finishing hole on the PGA TOUR last year.

"When Kodak asked me to be part of their selection committee for the holes, I was very pleased, and it meant a lot to me because of my background," Jones said. "We picked some really great holes around the country. The 18th was obviously the pick because it has been so difficult.

"I think (153) balls have gone in the water over past three years. It's going to be very rewarding to make a birdie there. The Kodak Challenge is based on ... the total number under par, and it's going to be a tough birdie and obviously not an eagle hole."

The 18th is a relatively straightforward par 4 with a lake that lines the entire left side, curving toward the fairway at several junctures. The approach shot is a tester, too, with water to the left of the green and a bunker on the right.

Sunday's traditional back-left pin placement presents a lot of challenges. Just ask Adam Scott.

He put his tee shot in the hazard but managed to make par -- holing a 48-foot putt to seal the victory in 2007. His playing partner, Stuart Appleby, who trailed by a shot entering the hole, also found the water and made double bogey.

"If the event is close coming down the 18th hole, the muscles will tighten on that hole because there's a bunker on the right that's hard to hit out of and hold the green and then water goes all along the left side," Jones said.

There is currently a seven-way tie at the top of the Kodak Challenge leaderboard between Ryuji Imada, D.J. Trahan, Steve Lowery, J.B. Holmes, Will MacKenzie, Chris DiMarco and Kevin Sutherland. All are 5 under with the first four having played seven holes and the last three six.

Fans can participate in the Kodak Challenge this week by logging on to the Houston Chronicle's Web site, www.chron.com, to guess how many balls will be hit into the water at the 18th hole. The winner will receive a KODAK Zi6 Pocket Video Camera.

Steve Powell, the director of program development for Kodak, likes the way the competition is unfolding.

"First and foremost, we like the fact that the players love this," Powell said. "They're talking about the competition -- who's in the lead and how the leaderboard looks. They're competitors. So you put any kind of a format for competition in front of them, and I think it gets their juices flowing.

"And fans are really enjoying it a lot, too. I think that the reaction from fans has been 100 percent positive. When they hear about these beautiful holes, and they see this sort of a unique competition that we put together with the TOUR, the typical reaction is wow, that's cool, I think that's a really neat idea. It's a new twist on the old game.

"So if the fans and the players are happy, we're happy."