Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco Set to be a Major Test

FRISCO, Texas – For as much as we celebrate golf for its history and cherish returning to events and golf courses that have rich traditions, Nelly Korda has a viewpoint that captures your attention.

“At the end of the day, this is what I love about playing in majors,” said the world No. 1. “This is what I love about the game – it tests you in every single way. You may show a little more emotion here and there, but at the end of the day, playing under pressure and playing in these kinds of conditions is the most fun.”

Korda’s reference to “these kinds of conditions” wasn’t just about temperatures in the 90s and winds steady at 10-15 m.p.h. with gusts over 20 m.p.h.; she knows that Fields Ranch at PGA Frisco, the East Course, has only been open since 2023 and is virtually unknown to all 156 competitors.

“Yeah, this is a fairly new golf course,” said three-time major winner and world No. 3 Lydia Ko. “There’s not a lot of information out there.”

Which, of course, is what Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday have been used for and indeed there were a lot of practice rounds played, a lot of sight lines studied, a lot of notes written down. But as the minutes tick away and Thursday’s 7 a.m. starting point nears, if there is one thing all the competitors can agree upon, it is this: The wind will be the dominating storyline.

“I actually only play once before this week, but when I play, was like blowing 30 miles,” said 2023 KPMG Women’s PGA Champion Ruoning Yin. “I was hoping, please, don't blow like this when we play.”

The 22-year-old from China is likely going to get her wish, sort of. It probably isn’t going to blow 30 m.p.h., but players by now are resigned to being unable to escape from steady layers of wind.

With that filed away, focus will turn to the par-72, 6,604-yard Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco course that will test world-class players for the second time in three years. In 2023, Steve Stricker defeated Padraig Harrington in a playoff after they each shot 18-under 270 in the Senior PGA Championship.

Gil Hanse, who along with his partner, Jim Wagner, designed this championship layout for the PGA of America, was here in 2023 and makes a critical observation:

“The native areas were pretty thin (at the Senior PGA). The grass itself, we had some winter kill the year before so there was a little bit of thinness in the fairways. But I think Roger Meier and his team have done a great job of learning the golf course.”

After three days of practice rounds, the players have a firm grasp on the key elements to Fields Ranch East – fairways that offer wide corridors, but greens that are on the small side and have gentle rolls, strong slopes, and false fronts that will put a premium on your accuracy with approach shots.

For as long as Hanse and Wagner have been designing superb, world-class golf courses, they’ve always asked players to study the strategic angles and to pay heed to “proper flighting and proper shaping.”

Despite the warmth and the wind, Ko sounds as if she has followed a practice routine Hanse would have approved of.

“I think this golf course is great because it kind of fits all types of players,” said Ko. “Obviously if you're a little longer, I think you can carry some of the bunkers that's more in the middle of the fairway.

“Other than that, I think it doesn’t really favor one type of player, and that makes it more interesting because it opens up the leaderboard a bit more.”

Yin suggests the course could play long – “I’m not short and I still will need to have my 4-irons into par-4s,” she said. Then she started going through holes in her head and mentioned a few shortish ones (the par-4 seventh and par-4 15th could play around 317 and the par-3 17 might be just 123) and smiled.

“It’s kind of all mixed up. I mean, I love this course.”

Jeeno Thitikul, ranked No. 2 in the world, said her focus has been on the sight lines for her tee shots but agreed that “if you keep the ball in the fairway you should have good chances.”

On the outward nine, players will face three par-5s – the first at about 526 yards; the third at 515; and the ninth at 484 – but if the prevailing wind rules, they will play longer. When you go to the par-35 back, competitors will have only one par-5 and a series of testy par-4s. This led Ko to suggest that “I think the front nine has a little bit more of character, in general, than the back nine.”

To the Aussie, that means the “back nine, you could end up making a lot of pars and in a way lose your focus. I think it’s going to be really important to come down the stretch being really focused.”

So, what will Hanse – who called Fields Ranch East arguably his most difficult challenge – be focused on?

“In a lot of major championships there is a lot of scoreboard-watching and that’s appropriate,” he said. “Here, I think it’s just, ‘Let’s present a great test.’

“Hopefully, we’ve created a golf course where we’re going to inspire them to hit some really interesting shots and find some really creative ways to play the golf holes.

“Winning score will be what it is. I think we all just want a great champion.”