STEVENS POINT, Wis. — On a recent walk of the golf course, NBC/Golf Channel Analyst Mark Rolfing analyzed the strength of SentryWorld and how the U.S. Senior Open could play to Steve Stricker's strengths.
"Nobody could have dreamt around America, or even the world for that matter, that this place could have existed in the middle of Wisconsin. It’s going to be really cool," Mark Rolfing says.
"Sure it helps (Stricker),” Rolfing says. “If you take his performance at the Ryder Cup, he didn’t hit a shot, but his performance was spectacular. The people of Wisconsin lifted him on their shoulders and carried him and the U.S. team to victory. I think the same thing is going to happen here. While the game has changed, Lance, into a power game, Steve Stricker’s hasn’t."
Rolfing recently visited this pristine course, to get a taste of the pros.
"As we’re doing this Lance, it reminds me why golf is the greatest game in the world,” Rolfing says. “We can come out here, laymen, average golfers, six weeks before the championship and actually emulate the championship. You can’t go out to Lambeau and try to practice a Mason Crosby 52-yarder."
Rolfing watched as Sentry World Director of Golf Danny Rainbow hit an array of shots.
I asked Rolfing if we need to apologize to Danny since he was the one doing all the hard work and we were just talking about it?
"I don’t know, Danny gets paid to be the golf director here, I don’t think we need to apologize," Rolfing says.
Rolfing laughed as I hit a tee shot into the tree.
“You’re going to need a chainsaw for the next one.”
