Scottie Scheffler and Si Woo Kim prove Aronimnk got it completely right with their course setup

[ASFN Admin]

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Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images for The CJ Cup

Si Woo Kim had a historic round at TPC Craig Ranch, coming a par on the 18th hole away from breaking 60.

Instead, the Korean had to settle for a second round 60 and a five-stroke lead going into the weekend. But you’d expect his score of 18-under to be worth more than that through 36 holes.

His lead is five because these PGA Tour pros are ripping apart this golf course. Sungjae Im shot a 61 and Jordan Spieth shot a 62 in the same group at the CJ Cup to stay in touch with the leading Kim.

This is the birdie fest to end all birdie fests, and it proves why Aronimink were right to set up the golf course how they did at the PGA Championship.

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CJ Cup setup proves Aronimink right with PGA Championship setup​

TPC Craig Ranch is being dominated by the players because there is really no penalty for mishits off the tee. The rough is effectively a non-penalty, so if the ball is in play, there’s a great chance of a birdie.

But before last week’s PGA Championship, many feared that the same would be the case with Aronimink. Rory McIlroy said it was a place where players could bomb it off the tee and figure the rest out from there, so the PGA of America responded.

They grew the rough out long, so shots that missed the fairway have basically no chance of resulting in a birdie. This, combined with tough pin positions, saw players frustrated with the setup.

Aronimink wasn’t producing many birdies, but the nature of the golf course meant it wasn’t producing too many double bogeys either, so the leaderboard was bunched. Aaron Rai won the event at nine-under par, but he was the only one who was able to string together birdies on Sunday.

Despite these complaints, Aronimink got it exactly right with their setup, and the CJ Cup is showing exactly why. If they didn’t make missing fairways a real penalty, then Aronimink would have been destroyed by the players, and the scores would be laughably low.

There weren’t too many weapons at the PGA of America’s disposal when trying to defend Aronimink from the players, but the weapons they had they implemented perfectly.

• READ MORE: Michael Kim’s criticism of TPC Craig Ranch after Si Woo Kim shoots 60 at the CJ Cup

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