Veteran NBC golf analyst Mark Rolfing was in Stevens Point last week to prepare for the U.S. Senior Open at SentryWorld from June 29-July 2.

Rolfing took the time to speak with Spectrum News 1 about the golf course, what to expect, and his take on Wisconsin golf fans.

You’re on site at SentryWorld. How is the course shaping up with the tournament less than a month away?

Rolfing: It’s fantastic. It’s completely different than I thought it would be. When I first heard we’re going to have a Senior Open here, my impression was, well, it’s a pretty small course. It’s not that hard. I think the scoring will be low, all that stuff. That has all gone out the window. When I look at it now, this is going to be really one of the great championship tests we have seen for a course like this in a long time. The rough is really high. The fairways are going to be narrow.

It’s going to feel more like a U.S. Open than any senior open we’ve had in a while. I don’t think the scoring is going to be low at all. I think it’s going to be a medium kind of scoring. This is a tremendous test of golf. Not one that I would have considered a year ago, let’s say.

I know it’s always a tricky equation to grow the rough to a certain height, tighten the fairways, and still make it fair. Do you think the USGA is hitting the mark with that?

Rolfing: Well, I hope so. Now, we are still four weeks away. And I can tell you the rough right now is so thick and so high that you would lose golf balls five or six feet off the fairway if you were out there playing today — I would. They’ll mow it back before the championship. But how thick and deep it’s actually going to be, I don’t know. But I can tell you this, these fairways are narrow. We were in Texas for the Senior PGA, those fairways averaged 50 or 66 yards wide down at PGA Frisco. These, there are some places here where they’re 20 to 24 yards wide. So, there’s a huge premium on driving the ball here that I hadn’t expected. You are really going to have to drive it straight here.

Given that, will the setup favor a certain kind of player?

Rolfing: Yeah, absolutely it does. The single-most important quality you’re going to have to have here is discipline. You’re not going to get the ball on these greens coming out of the rough. So, a lot of times you may just barely miss the fairway, and I think the play will be the layup in the fairway short of a green. It favors the best wedge players by far. And that is (Madison’s) Steve Stricker. He’s the most disciplined player. Last week at the Senior PGA he laid up on a par five that I was calling. He layed up four days in a row when he could have easily reached the green. And in those four rounds, he made three birdies and an eagle on the hole — he holed it from 88 yards one day — so that’s the style of golf that is going to be necessary out here.
And today’s game, modern game, you don’t see a lot of players playing that kind of game. Padrig Harrington does not. He’s the other favorite with Stricker without a doubt. But I think Harrington will come in here — he’s a real long hitter — and he’ll probably try to overpower it a little bit in some places. I’m not sure that’s going to work. But I think Stricker is an overwhelming favorite here.

What is the golfing public going to come away with, in terms of appreciation of SentryWorld, when this is over?

Rolfing: I don’t think SentryWorld gets the attention that Kohler does, or Erin Hills, or Sand Valley. This was the original, you know, kind of destination golf resort back in 1982. And now all these other places have sprung up. But this one has kind of withstood the test of time. It’s a small parcel of land. There’s no way to go back with a lot of tees on these holes. And so, you have what you have. And I think what people are going to appreciate about SentryWorld is this is going to be the future of championship golf. Twenty years from now, 30 years from now, we’re going to run out of land. We’re going to run out of water on this planet. You will see championship tests having to be conducted, as well they should be, on smaller courses. And this is one of them. And small doesn’t necessarily mean not as good. Small is going to be really good in this case.

Since you arrived in Stevens Point, what’s your feel for the excitement level for this even?

Rolfing: I am shocked at the attention it’s getting. The people I’ve talked to, from Rhinelander to La Crosse to Eau Claire to Oshkosh to Appleton to Milwaukee and Green Bay; it’s amazing to me. Walking around town, even here in Stevens Point, to see how revved up people are, how proud they are. They’re going to have the biggest sporting event in the history of Central Wisconsin. They get a national championship on live network television. And again, they’re just also just so proud and they just want to make sure you know that ‘Oh, are you happy? Are you enjoying yourself?’ Yeah, I’m going fly fishing on the Tomorrow River tomorrow. This is my kind of place.

Story idea? You can reach Mike Woods at 920-246-6321 or at: michael.t.woods1@charter.com