Last round of your life – where would it be?
That was the question we posed to more than two dozen PGA Tour pros.
Some of the answers were surprising while others were predictable.
Augusta National, Pebble Beach, Cypress Point, Pine Valley and St. Andrews led the way with multiple responses. We liked some of the creativity such as Chris Baker saying not just Augusta but Sunday at Augusta and Rickie Fowler wanted Augusta running fast and firm and Adam Hadwin specifying he would like a sunny day at Pebble.
Or how about Bo Van Pelt squeezing two gems into his final round with the front nine at Pebble and back nine at Augusta? Well played, Bo, well played.
If it makes you feel any better, we discovered that Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk haven’t played Pine Valley yet either. There also were a bunch of sentimentalists among us who chose one more round at the course where they grew up because as Hank Lebioda put it of Tuscowilla, where he learned the game, “it’s a cow pasture but it’s my cow pasture.”
Check out the places the pros would play their last rounds if they could choose. Answers are listed in alphabetical order.
Abraham Ancer, Augusta National
Paul Azinger, Royal Melbourne
“I just saw it for the first time and I think it’s the most spectacular golf course I’ve ever seen. Only Pine Valley and Cypress Point and Shadow Creek knocked me off my feet on every tee box like this one did. It’s been a long time. I saw all those courses in the 80s.”
Chris Baker, Sunday at Augusta National
Ian Baker-Finch, Kingston Heath
“It’s my favorite. It’s firm and fast conditions and it’s the right amount of friendly, by which I mean it’s strategic enough that you have to think about every shot but without being so hard that it is intimidating and beats your brains in.”
Zac Blair, Cypress Point
“It’s perfection.”
Scott Brown, Augusta National
Harris English, Augusta National
Rickie Fowler, Augusta National
“I’d want the greens firm and fast so you could play the course the way it was designed.”
Emiliano Grillo, Augusta National
“Have you ever been there? Enough said.”
Morgan Hoffmann, Augusta National
Luke List, Augusta National
Adam Long, Augusta National
Adam Scott, Augusta National
“I won my major there, after all, so, so many good memories.”
Aaron Baddeley, Croydon Golf Club
“It’s the course that I grew up playing and sadly it no longer exists.”
Daniel Berger, Dye Preserve
“I grew up there and probably played it 3,000 times so I might as well play it once more.”
Patrick Cantlay, Cypress Point
Brandel Chamblee, St. Andrews
“St. Andrews is where I would want to be. From a tradition, history, architectural standpoint, from an experience and aesthetics standpoint, it just deserves its own category. There’s just nothing that comes close. Sometimes my wife will say with astonishment you got to play a senior major at St. Andrews (2018 Senior British Open). I missed the cut, but she makes me feel like I just won the lottery.”
Corey Conners, Listowel
“My home course where I grew up playing (in Canada).”
Tony Finau, Rose Park
“Rose Park in Utah with my dad and brother. That’s my home club and I have so many good memories from there.”
Jim Furyk, Pine Valley
“I’ve never been so I might as well play a course I’ve always wanted to play. I hear it’s No. 1.”
Austin Cook, Pebble Beach
“Pebble, especially if the weather is perfect.”
Bryson DeChambeau, Cypress Point
“It’s my favorite course in the world. It’s on the most beautiful setting and was designed brilliantly with match play in mind where it starts fairly easily and gets more and more demanding. A lot of people think No. 18 is a bad golf hole. I happen to think it is one of the best because you have to hit two perfect shots to get to the green.”
Chesson Hadley, Pebble Beach
Adam Hadwin, Pebble Beach
“On a nice, sunny day it can’t be beat.”
Zach Johnson, Elmcrest Country Club
“It’s corny but I’d go back to the place where I started, Elmcrest Country Club. I’d play with my dad and my brother and my mom.”
Matt Kuchar, Pebble Beach
“It’s a great test of golf, the scenery is spectacular and it has history. It checks all the boxes for me.”
James Hahn
“Somewhere exotic that I’ve never played. Before I played St. Andrews, that would’ve been it. Once I’ve played a course, I don’t see the reason to play it again. There are so many courses out there.”
Colt Knost, Shadow Creek.
“It’s Vegas, baby, so it’s going to be a helluva day.”
Russell Knox, Cypress Point
“Easy answer. It’s miles ahead of everywhere else. It has the tree-lined holes, the dunes holes. I only played there once and I enjoyed every minute of it.”
Hank Lebioda, Tuscowilla (outside of Orlando)
“It’s where I grew up. It’s a bit of a cow pasture now, but it’s my cow pasture.”
Maverick McNealy, Prairie Dunes
“It’s my No. 1 course I’ve ever played.”
Geoff Ogilvy, Royal Melbourne.
“It ticks all the boxes for me, and always leaves me longing for the next round there.”
Steve Stricker, Pine Valley
“Pine Valley because I’ve heard so many good things about it and I’ve never been there.”
Chris Stroud, Pebble Beach or St. Andrews
“Pebble Beach or St. Andrews on a beautiful sunny day – pick one, it doesn’t matter.”
Michael Thompson, St. Andrews
Bo Van Pelt, Pebble Beach and Augusta National
“Front nine at Pebble Beach, back nine at Augusta. National. How good would that?”
Harold Varner III, Gaston Municipal
“Gaston Municipal, where I learned the game.”
Jhonattan Vegas, Morichal
“Morichal, my home course in Venezuela.”
