Why The LIV Tulsa Course Was 'Struggling' After Brutal Winter

There was plenty of discussion around the LIV Golf Tulsa course on social media this weekend

Dustin Johnson tees off the 1st hole at the LIV Golf Tulsa event
(Image credit: Twitter: @thegolfeditor)

Cedar Ridge Country Club played host to its first LIV Golf League event this past weekend, and there was a lot of chatter on social media about the condition of the golf course.

LIV Golf's Mike McAllister posted an image of leader, and eventual winner, Dustin Johnson teeing off with the tee box looking very well used and Barstool Sports' Dan Rapaport questioned if the "course is struggling a bit conditioning-wise". The tweet was seen by over 1m people and revealed some fascinating insight into why the course looked the way it did.

A video posted by @BunkiePerkins also showed areas of the course looking less than ideal.

Rapaport's tweet prompted many users to refer to the Tulsa country club as merely a "muni" but McAllister revealed a fascinating piece he had written that explained the not-so-ideal conditions after what had been a brutal winter's weather in Oklahoma and plenty of rain leading into the event.

Longer than expected warm temperatures last year in Tulsa stopped the Bermudagrass being prepared for the colder winter months, meaning it wasn't in shape and was "vulnerable" when the colder temperatures hit in December. That left plenty of areas affected by "winterkill" and forced all of the collars around the greens to be changed just six weeks ago.

A number of users also pointed to the PGA Tour's AT&T Byron Nelson venue TPC Craig Ranch, which also appeared to be struggling with similar issues of fresh sod around the greens.

Par 3 stadium hole at TPC Craig Ranch

(Image credit: Getty Images)

At Cedar Ridge, no local Tulsa supplier reportedly had the correct height and cut of sod in stock so the best alternative was purchased and work was put in to get it playing, and looking, as good as it could in time for the event. Full growth wasn't able to be achieved in time for the tournament despite additional topdressing and fertilizing.

“Several golf courses in the region have suffered some sort of damage. Some fortunate to have less, and some with significantly more than Cedar Ridge,” LIV Consulting Agronomist Matt Cielen explained. “We’ve tried to deal with the situations the best way we can based on our timeline of the tournament being played in May.”

While both Cedar Ridge CC and TPC Craig Ranch might not have been in optimal conditions after harsh winter weathers, both gave good winners in Dustin Johnson and Jason Day and perhaps taught us all to give our course superintendents a little more respect as mother nature can be a tricky beast to deal with.

Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!

Elliott is currently playing:

Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV