May 27, 2009 — Dow Finsterwald Jr.
knows legends. He is the son of 1958 PGA Champion Dow Finsterwald Sr. and has had the honor of managing one of the great golf facilities in the country. This week, his course, Colonial Country Club, once again hosts the PGA Tour at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. He talked with Coordinating Producer John Kim about what makes his facility one of the most popular stops on Tour. PGA.com: The Crowne Plaza is the longest running PGA Tour event held at one site. What is the reason behind this longevity Finsterwald: I think there are many reasons, but three main reasons for our long-standing success. One is the course. It’s a beautiful, classic, traditional golf course. It doesn’t particularly favor any one type of player, not a long hitter or anything specific, just someone who has to have all parts of their game working to have success for the week. We have just undergone a renovation of the course that lowered some tees, changed some bunkers and added a little yardage. Many people, including Tour players, felt like we shouldn’t change anything — but now that they’ve seen the renovations, they’ve been incredibly excited. Secondly, we are fortunate to have a Players Alliance that happen to live in the area and they do a great job as serving as informal consultants to us to let us know what we are doing well and what we could do better, and as serving as roving ambassadors for us out on Tour and keeping players excited about coming here to play. Finally, we have a history and tradition that very few clubs in the country can match. We are the only course that has hosted a U.S. Open, a U.S. Women’s Open, a Players Championship and a PGA Tour event. We have the famous Wall of Champions by the first tee that honors those who have won here and maybe most significantly, our ties to Ben Hogan which I’m sure brings many players out so they can experience the special aura that his presence brought here. PGA.com: Speaking of Ben Hogan, as a visitor comes to your facility, how is Mr. Hogan’s influence reflected at Colonial Country Club today
Finsterwald: It shows in everything we do I think. His standards for excellence and integrity are part of the culture here. But there are three direct areas where you can actually see his imprint.