Viking Classic begins this week

MADISON, Miss. (AP) — Will MacKenzie shot 19 under par for 72 holes to win last year’s Viking Classic. The scores might not be as low for this year’s PGA Tour event that begins Thursday at Annandale Golf Club, tournament director Randy Watkins predicts. Rain during what are usually dry months in Mississippi - September and October - has left the fairways soft and made the rough long and thick at Annandale. Combine that with still-firm Bermuda greens and you get more challenging conditions, said Watkins and Stephen Christopher, Annandale’s longtime head pro. “I think the winning score is going up,” Watkins said. “It won’t be 19. I’m thinking closer to 13, where Chad (Campbell) won it.” Campbell shot 13-under to win in 2007, the first year after Annandale had replaced its softer bentgrass greens with firmer Bermuda greens that make it more difficult to place approach shots close to the hole. The par-72 Annandale course can be stretched to 7,400 yards long. Christopher said barring more rain that could really make the course a quagmire, he doesn’t expect Tour officials to take it easy on the players. “I don’t get a lot of feel that they’re going to have much sympathy,” said Christopher. “So couple that with the fact you’re not going to get much roll off the tee (in the fairways), soft approaches (in front of greens) and firm greens with pretty good rough, I think you’re going to have a tough scenario for more of the players. “A few guys will play well and putt well and shoot 14- or 15-under, but overall, it will be tougher.” Brad Fabel, a former PGA Tour player who now works as a Tour official, spent last week at Annandale, overseeing tournament preparation. Christopher said the Tour is always “tweaking” the course setup. This year, he said, fans will notice fairways mowed a bit narrower. “Brad says that anytime he can get the players really thinking, then the course is going to be more challenging. He feels the more he can get the players thinking, the more exciting the event’s going to be for fans.” Pro-Ams and practice rounds are scheduled for through Wednesday. The tournament runs Thursday-Sunday, with players chasing a $648,000 first-place check from a $3.6 million purse. MacKenzie is scheduled to return in defense of his title. Nine former major winners are committed, including David Toms, the 2001 PGA Championship winner. Toms (14th, $3 million) is the highest ranked on this year’s money list entered. Two others high on the money list scheduled to play are Matt Kuchar (25th) and Heath Slocum (35th). Other well-known players coming include Campbell, John Daly, Chris DiMarco, David Duval, Steve Elkington, Charles Howell III, Lee Janzen, Jeff Maggert and Rocco Mediate. Another player committed is Troy Matteson, the fourth-year Tour player who won in a playoff on Sunday in the Frys.com Open in Scottsdale, Ariz. One of the young pros who lost in the playoff to Matteson, Rickie Fowler, 20, is coming to the Viking. By finishing in the top 10 at Scottsdale, Fowler received a temporary tour membership that allows him to play in the Viking Classic. If he doesn’t win, Fowler would likely have to go to the final stage of Q-school. The other player in the playoff, Jamie Lovemark, 21, also earned a spot in the Viking. But he said Sunday he’s headed to the first stage of Q-school next week at Pinehurst, N.C. Watkins calls it the best field ever for the event, which is in its 43rd year overall and 15th at Annandale. “There’s a lot of ways to define a field,” Watkins said. “But I think we’ve got exactly what I thought we’d get, the best field we’ve had, top to bottom. It’s a great mix of veterans players, major champions and young guys.”