Golf: Colonial Country Club Taken Down by Time and Technology

It's a sad thing to see.

The Colonial Country Club used to be one of "THE" stops on the PGA Tour.

The Colonial National Invitational was big, very big. It ranked just behind the majors in terms of prestige.

This was the tournament of Ben Hogan, the tournament he won five times, you wanted your name on that wall, you needed your name on that wall.

Jack Nicklaus' name is on that Wall of Champions. Arnold Palmer's name is on that wall. Tom Watson's name is on that wall, as is Arnold Palmer's.

This classic layout used to be a true test but you look at the scores from the first round Thursday and you can see what technology has done to what used to be a difficult test of golf.

David Toms and Chez Reavie shot 62s and Rickie Fowler nearly shot 27 on the front nine but the noodle-head dunked his second shot into the pond there at the ninth, a fairly easy hole these days, it's a hybrid, wedge for these guys.

Golf's version of Justin Bieber still shot 63.

The Horrible Horseshoe there on the front nine, holes three, four and five are no longer horrible, they are birdie stops.

Hogan, who won this show five times shot one-under par in '46 and '47. He shot one-under when he won in '52 and two-over in '53. He's the only guy to ever repeat there. In 1959, he won with a five-over par total of 285.

Nicklaus shot seven-under the year he won, 1982. First guy to really take the place apart was Tom Watson in 1998 when he shot 15-under. Lee Trevino was 12-under when he won in 1978 and that was some superb play that year.

Fuzzy Zoeller won with a six-under par total in 1981 and this was one of my stops the nine months I caddied on the PGA Tour.

Lindy Miller was my guy that week and he was Fort Worth's local young hero, starred at Oklahoma State. Had a huge local gallery, missed the cut.

Yes, this used to be a challenge.

Now, they beat it up like a 6,200-yard muni. No more big names here, it's just another event.

Colonial National Invitational had a real ring to it.

Crowne Plaza Invitational sounds like we've been invited to a hotel for the weekend.

Alas, Colonial, as storied and historic as it has been, was made for persimmon and balata.

Sigh.