Eighteen to reckon with

Southern Living, Oct 1999 by Thompson, Annette

FROM OCTOBER 14 THROUGH 17, A FIELD OF LPGA CHAMPIONS WILL TAKE ON EACH OTHER AND THE DIFFICULT CHALLENGES OF THE CROSSINGS COURSE AT MOBILE'S MAGNOLIA GROVE.

THE LPGA ISN'T REALLY ABOUT SCORES, RECORDS, OR TROPHIES. IT'S ABOUT MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. JUST ASK DEB RICHARD.

If you weren't lucky enough to be at last year's tournament and you've never been to one of Alabama's Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail courses, then you're in for quite a treat at Mobile's Magnolia Grove.

Magnolia Grove-specifically the Crossings Course, site of this year's AFLAC Champions tournament-isn't forced upon the landscape. This bit of coastal Alabama still rises and falls at will, creating intriguing hollows and hills, and the course makes use of all those natural contours, creeks, and wetlands.

Labeled a "shotmakers layout," the Crossings lives up to that reputation. It's a precision course where distance isn't as essential as placement. Tee shots must span gulfs of unplayable land-shag carpet-thick rough, corduroy-nubby wetlands, steep drop-offs-in order to reach the manicured fairways. Pearly white bunkers and mature magnolias, live oaks, and pines hug the course too, providing beauty and some frustration for players. But the greens may hold the most challenge-all bunkered, all elevated, and most devilishly sloped.

This is not the first professional tournament played on this difficult layout. Last year the Crossings hosted the Nike Tour Championship (the qualifying tournament for 15 PGA Tour slots).

You'll find plenty of gallery room on most holes as well as great walks when following your favorite players. The front nine allows pros and spectators alike to develop a rhythm, with par 4s at every other hole. The opening tee shot from No. 1 demands precision more than power. The second hole, a par 3, also tests accuracy of tee shot, but the green is one of the few forgivingly flat ones.

Look for the first bogeys of the day on No. 3. Even Magnolia Grove's head pro Todd Lunsford admits to having trouble with this one. The par 4 seems easy enough at first, with a straight tee shot over wetlands. But the approach requires a short iron onto a partially blind green guarded by a huge bunker.

No. 3 parallels No. 8, making it the best viewing site on the front nine. Looking back at No. 7 fairway, you can see which players lay up at the 150-yard marker to avoid a troublesome downhill lie. Watch the approaches and putts on No. 7, and then catch the tee shots on No. 8-the most likely site for an ace.

The back nine, which stretches out considerably from the clubhouse, will be stingy with birdies as greens and fairways grow narrower. After No. 10, a rare birdie hole, No. 11's tight dogleg left funnels into a thin green. No. 12's bunkers will test the mettle of most sand games, so look for great wedge shots here.

The Crossing's triangle of 13, 14, and 15 (where the course actually crosses a railroad track) lies farthest away from the clubhouse, but it's worth the extra walk. No. 13 should play as the longest hole on course with fairly wide fairway and lots of ups and downs. Overshooting its skinny perpendicular green is so deadly that the Nike Tour men actually aimed for the front right bunker in hopes of making par.

No. 14 is the Crossings' prettiest par 3 with wetlands separating a raised tee box and an equally high green. Pothole bunkers on 15's three-tiered green will foil many birdie attempts. Pros and spectators alike will find the putting testy at No. 17, a par 3 with a green best described as shaped like a turtle's back.

But the toughest hole, without doubt, is No. 18, wickedly dubbed "The Terminator." It's all uphill, over a marsh, with fairway bunkers to the right and a slippery drop-off to the left-and the wind usually blows in the player's face. Oh, yes-the green sits amid a ring of sand traps. From a grandstand seat here, viewers will be able to see the relief and delight of the pros who successfully maneuver this monster. Annette Thompson LPGA Hall of Famer JoAnne Carner poses for a picture at the back of the driving range. To one side, long-hitting Michelle McGann chats amiably with Meg Mallon. To the other, Beth Daniel finishes each of her iron shots with a perfect, unhurried turn.

Take roll of the players gathered on the Jacksonville Golf and Country Club's practice tee, and you might guess it's warm-up time at one of the LPGA's $1-million tourneys. Step a little closer, though, and you begin to sense the difference. No pre-round tension hangs in the air, and smiles are as plentiful as Florida sunshine in January. And no wonder. All these players have cheerfully come out of off-season hibernation early just to participate in the annual Deb Richard Foundation Charity Pro-Am.

A five-time winner on tour and the tournament's founder, Deb Richard ambles about, wearing a mike and delivering a commentary that would make a stand-up comedian proud. She invites Dottie Pepper to center stage and asks her to hit some shots for the crowd. Last year's Solheim Cup hero complies.