Broken putters, ‘impossible’ pins? Why PGA Frisco passed its ‘major’ test

FRISCO, Texas — Maja Stark’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship fate had long been decided when the reigning U.S. Women’s Open champion showed she had had enough of the Gil Hanse design. 

Nearing the end of her six-over final round, Stark walked off the par-4 15th green, raised her putter over her head and smashed it against her golf bag, sending the putterhead bounding into the rough. Without breaking stride, Stark grabbed the head and flipped it backward to her caddie, not even bothering to look. She putted with a wedge for the last three holes and finished in a tie for 47th.

What a perfect way to end a week that tried, frustrated and battered the LPGA’s best.

If the 2023 Senior PGA Championship was Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco’s major championship dress rehearsal, this past week was its true debut, which saw Minjee Lee win her third major title in impressive fashion. But despite her impressive victory, parts of Lee’s week were overshadowed by griping from players and broadcasters about course setup and fairness. 

KPMG ambassador Stacey Lewis told Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols that the course wasn’t set up fairly and insinuated the goal should be to make the players look good. Sophia Popov missed the cut, taking to social media to say the course made players look “silly.” World No. 1 Nelly Korda was one of several players to describe some hole locations as almost “impossible” to get close to. On Saturday, as winds gusted over 30 mph, multiple players described the test as “brutal” and “crazy.”

By the time Lee had lifted the trophy and the Texas dust was settling, the weeklong scoring average was 75.6, the highest of any LPGA major since the 2013 U.S. Women’s Open. 

It was fast and firm, and the gusting winds demanded that players control their ball flight, hit the proper yardages and trajectories, and take their medicine when they didn’t. 

While the gripes and complaints sucked up a lot of the oxygen this past week, Fields Ranch East did what major venues are supposed to do: Allow the best players to separate. It identified the best player in the field and made sure there was no doubt.

Heading into Saturday’s final round, only Lee and world No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul were under par. How they attacked one hole during the four-day slog highlighted why they lived atop the leaderboard while others bombed out.

On Friday and Saturday, players and the broadcast pointed to the pin location and firmness of the downwind, par-3 eighth as a hole that wasn’t “rewarding” good shots as players struggled to hold the green, sending their tee shots bounding over the back into a collection area. But on both days, Lee and Thitikul stepped up and hit piercing iron shots that landed softly and held the green, giving them makeable birdie looks. Thitikul birdied it both days. Lee made a birdie and a par. 

The rewards were there if you could pull off the shots, as they should be at a major championship. As the week ended, that was a feeling shared by those who understood the stage they were on and relished being pushed to their limit.

“When the course conditions are this challenging, it’s so much more fun,” world No. 10 Angel Yin — who referred to the course as “boring” on Thursday — said Sunday. “It’s a bit sadistic to say it’s fun, but I like finishing a round and being like, there is so much more we could have done better.

“Here if you make one mistake, results to like a huge blowup. You know, then shows up on the leaderboard. So I really like that aspect.” 

Added major champion Ruoning Yin: “I love playing in tough conditions. Just make you better and better. It’s brutal but it’s fun.” 

Leona Maguire noted that PGA Frisco played how they expected Erin Hills to play at the U.S. Women’s Open, except they didn’t get the wind in Wisconsin. 

“I think you just have to embrace it for the challenge it is. It’s going to be hard for everybody,” Maguire, who finished in a tie for 19th, said on Saturday. “It’s a major. It’s supposed to be hard.”

It’s not surprising that Lee, the player who handled it best, called the “hard” test “super fun.” 

A week after Oakmont Country Club punished the best men’s players at the U.S. Open and saw J.J. Spaun emerge as the only player under par, PGA Frisco provided the same demanding task for the LPGA stars. 

As The Fried Egg’s Andy Johnson expertly laid out, Hanse’s design asks players to take on red-line hazards to set up the desired shot into areas of greens you want to attack. If you play away from the hazards and don’t take on the thin line, your approach shots come into areas of the greens that repel balls away. The rough swallowed up wayward tee shots, but the fairways were much wider than the narrow ones that often grace major championships. 

All in all, Hanse’s major championship creation was a brutal examination that demanded discipline, control and focus. If you lacked any of the three, you were punished and fell down the leaderboard. It allowed Lee, who put on a sterling display of golf during Saturday’s blustery conditions, to take off from the pack. 

Major weeks are supposed to be draining. The questions asked are meant to exact a price. That’s what makes winning them so rewarding. 

PGA Frisco will have things to clean up before the 2027 PGA Championship. The six-hour rounds that plagued the ladies were a problem. It’s a long, strenuous walk for spectators that will be easier in May than in the June heat. The course itself is not particularly pleasing for viewers watching at home. Some of that can be addressed, some of it can’t. 

But if a major championship venue has one job, it’s to clearly identify and reward the player who best handles the exacting test in front of them. With Lee hoisting the trophy, three shots clear of second place, PGA Frisco did that. It was, by definition, major championship fair.