Hole 16 to the right and hole 17 green to the left view from 14 green during the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
The new tee box on the par-4 16th was the talk of the town before the start of the tournament as Quail Hollow made the second-hardest hole on the property all the more challenging (in theory).
No. 16 had a scoring average of 4.27 last year, and after moving the tee back 20 yards to bring the scorecard yardage to 529 yards, Thursday’s scoring average came in at 4.21. Just three birdies were made to go along with 49 pars, 15 bogeys, and one double bogey.
“The new tee on 16 is a bear,” said Webb Simpson, a Quail Hollow member since 2011 and resident since 2014, before the tournament began. “The question before for me was can I ever carry the bunker and I only could downwind. Now the bunker’s not really even in play.”
“It definitely makes that second shot really unique,” Max Homa said. “That’s a tough second shot, so I think that’s fun to — I think it is one of those rare positive changes of moving a tee that far back and actually continuing to give the long guys an advantage but kind of making them hit into a similar width fairway that the rest of us are.”
As Quail Hollow prepares to host next year’s PGA Championship, a new tee was also added to the par-3 13th to add 10 yards, greens were resurfaced with Tif Eagle Bermudagrass, and 12 putting surfaces saw slopes get softened to offer better hole locations at higher green speeds. In addition to the new tees and greens, bunkers were also rebuilt with new drainage, liners, and sand.
