While her fans, including myself, continue to view In Gee as an elite player; she has been playing like a Top 50 player which she is (No. 48 on money list).
This week is an important test; she doesn't need to win, but she needs to putt well (less than 30 putts every day).
According to Larry the Loop, "the new course in Texas is not in the best of shape. Good greens but fairways and bunkers have been described as scruffy."
The course has a very natural look. It should be "scruffy".
From what I gathered, the course is designed to look rugged/old fashioned.
Taken this from the official website about the bunkers:
During the time of the “Golden Age of Golf Architecture” (a period from about 1910 to 1935), a sand bunker on a golf course was seen as a hazard and was not maintained as a “playing surface” or surface where the player was expected to have a clean lie to play a shot from.
Over time, the perception of what a sand bunker is has changed, not evolved, to the point these areas are now seen by many players as places where they expect a clean lie on a consistent playing surface. Today, if a player sees a shot missing their target, finding the bunker can be seen as a much better fate than rough grass – the exact opposite of what a player would find during the days of early American golf.
The approach taken with the sand bunkers at Old American is part of creating the experience of playing the game as it was played in the early days of American golf, which in large part is restoring what Justin and I feel is more of a real, or true, golf experience. This approach to the maintenance of the bunkers is a part of the strategic character of the course, and if a bunker provides the unexpected, they are more integral to the formation of strategy. If a player can hit it in a bunker and can expected a clean, consistent, and dry lie, the bunker is less of an impact in the formation of strategic character and interest. However, this does not necessarily mean the bunkers will always be overly difficult to play from, as a firmer, smoother floor can often leave an easier bunker shot because the ball will often sit on the surface of the sand, instead of sitting down in the furrows created by raking, and the firmer surface makes it easier to get the ball out of the bunker with control. But, if you find this lie once, don’t expect it the next time you hit it in a sand bunker. Sand bunkers, as defined in the early days of American golf, are meant to provide the unexpected by nature.
The objective, strategically, is to avoid the bunkers. If you find a bunker, expect the unexpected, read the lie you have relative to the shot you have to play, and in the case of having a lie that won’t allow you to play at the flag, take your medicine and look to strategically make that shot up at some point on the hole or in the round.