Despite flooding in Atlanta, East Lake in decent shape
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
ATLANTA -- Where are the Beatles when you need them?
Around noon on Tuesday that bright yellow orb immortalized in the Fab Four's classic "Here Comes the Sun" appeared in the skies over Atlanta after an absence of about seven days.
The welcome arrival was momentous given the havoc a week of heavy rains had wreaked on Georgia's capital city.
Seven people were killed in the raging flood waters that caused bridges to collapse and hundreds of roads, including parts of three interstates, to be closed. A state of emergency has been declared in 17 counties.
The worst of Mother Nature's wrath appears to be over, though, with the threat of thunderstorms moderating to 40 percent the rest of the week. In other words, typical late summer weather in Atlanta.
East Lake Golf Club, which hosts THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola beginning Thursday, survived without too much damage. The Donald Ross gem has absorbed 11.3 inches of rain in the last seven days, though, including nearly four inches on Monday alone.
"The first fairway was a lake," said Mark Russell, vice president of Rules and Competition for the PGA TOUR. "It was hard to look at, to tell you the truth."
Turns out, though, the SubAir drainage system installed throughout the course in 2005 did its job to perfection. The grounds crew worked diligently to repair the washed out bunkers, and the putting surfaces survived with flying colors.
"It's awesome compared to what it could be," Russell said. "If we played somewhere that didn't have that much drainage it would be a total quagmire. But you walk down the first fairway and you don't get any casual water."
Russell said the course could survive more rain but that the fairways would puddle up quickly -- but at the same time, drain fast, as well. He noted that the on-site meteorologist expects a cold front to arrive on Saturday which will increase the chance of showers once again.
"But they don't know," Russell said with a smile. "It's Tuesday. We'll take it one day at a time. Today I thought it was going to rain and the sunshine's out and we're getting a little breeze so we've got good drying conditions. So we'll see."
Players were allowed to walk the course on Monday and putt on those Bermuda greens that Russell called "awesome." In a classic "best-laid-plans" scenario, though, the 30 survivors who reached the finale of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup couldn't hit shots until Tuesday.
Zach Johnson, for example, spent most of the off week at home recovering from a grueling stretch where he played five of six weeks. His coach came to Sea Island, Ga., on Friday and the two worked on Friday and Saturday.
"My plan was to get up here yesterday -- and I did -- and practice, not so much,'" said Johnson, who ranks fourth in the FedExCup race and shot a 60 in the third round of the 2007 TOUR Championship.
"You just roll with it...I don't want to say we're used to this magnitude of what's going on. But delays and water and that sort of stuff, we're pretty resilient in that respect.
"But I guess I should have stayed home yesterday. I could have got some more practice in."
Stewart Cink, a Georgia Tech grad who plays out of East Lake, has spent the last week at his home in Atlanta watching the rain pummel the city.
"It's completely obliterated my whole practice and warm up schedule for this tournament, so I come in here like I've been injured or something," Cink said. "I've touched a club two days in the last seven days, just to hit balls and practice and putt a little bit. Not my normal routine.
"But everybody is in a weird situation, so we'll do the best we can with it."
Marc Leishman is one of 10 players competing in THE TOUR Championship for the first time -- and just the third rookie to make the field since it became the Playoffs finale. He did play East Lake after the 2004 Dogwood Amateur, though, so the 25-year-old Aussie isn't flying blind.
"It was actually stupidly wet (that day) as well," recalled Leishman, who tied for second last week at the BMW Championship. "I remember just hitting 4 irons and 3 irons into par 4s. It was crazy long. ...
Leishman, who has become the frontrunner for PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year after his performance in the Playoffs, won't have any preconceived notions on how East Lake should or shouldn't play, as a result.
"So I think it's not going to do me any harm, although I can't really remember it," he said. "... I've really got to try to take positives out of it, not having played it. I've been doing it all year, playing golf courses blind.
"I've got to try as many positives out of it and feel like I'm not on the back foot, especially in a field like this."
No matter what happens the rest of the week, Padraig Harrington isn't worried. He knows the course will be wet and will play longer than its 7,304 yards, as a result. But the three-time major champ has tremendous faith in the grounds crew.
'"We've seen this happen so many times on TOUR where a golf course gets flooded out in the practice rounds or even in the tournament rounds, and the staff come out and do an unbelievable job and get everything looking like it never happened," Harrington said. "We take them for granted because of that.
"You've got 30 players here this week, and none of us are concerned about the condition of the golf course or the weather. We know it's going to be great."
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