The PGA Tour has given the Houston Open "until June 1 to find" a title sponsor, and "if it doesn’t, then the Twin Cities will host a tour event" the week before the '19 U.S. Open, according to Tad Reeve of the ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS. The tournament "would be sponsored" by Minnesota-based 3M and "played at the TPC Twin Cities Golf Club," host of the PGA Tour Champions 3M Championship since '01. Pro Links Sports CEO Hollis Cavner, whose company manages the 3M Championship, said, “We have a very, very, very good chance of getting an event here in 2019. And if not in 2019, then in 2020.” Cavner added, “It’s not if, it’s when. The PGA Tour wants to be here.” The Houston event "lost its sponsor" in '17, so the '18 tournament was played without one. Even if Houston "finds a new sponsor and host course, there is a chance a tournament there could be played in the fall to get away from the oppressive Texas summer heat." That also "would clear the way for Minnesota." If given the go-ahead from the PGA Tour on June 1, Cavner said Pro Links Sports "would start redesigning [TPC Twin Cities] immediately" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 5/19).
BYRONIC HEROES: The AT&T Byron Nelson this weekend was played at Trinity Forest Golf Club for the first time, and in Dallas, Brad Townsend noted golfer Jordan Spieth thought that the new course was "this week's biggest winner." Spieth said, "It was a really positive outcome for the golf course and the tournament." He added, "I didn't hear one bad thing said. A lot of guys said, 'It's grown on me day today,' 'I really enjoyed it as a change of pace,' 'I had a lot of fun playing this golf course'" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 5/21). Also in Dallas, Tim Cowlishaw wrote, "Let me stand back and applaud the move to the new course." Trinity Forest "truly transforms you to another place, if not time." Cowlishaw: "Whatever the final attendance numbers, I suspect they will be even greater next year." An "improved field the week before the 2019 PGA Championship would help." The "word of mouth from those who traversed Trinity Forest will be better" than those who watched on TV, which "fails to do the quality of the layout justice" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 5/20). But in Ft. Worth, Mac Engel writes Trinity Forest "played out like the land on which it was built. ... Trash." The course is "vastly different from the standard blast-and-putt courses so typical of today's game in the U.S." Engel: "This thing stunk, and it's obvious the players hate it." Between the "heat, the course, the noticeable low crowd turnout, how it looked on TV, and the lack of PGA Tour names at the tournament, organizers should sweat that the Nelson is destined to move to Frisco" (Ft. Worth STAR-TELEGRAM, 5/21).
