Hurricane Harvey Turns Houston Open Venue Unrecognisable As PGA Tour Stop.

8 years ago by Comments Off on Hurricane Harvey Turns Houston Open Venue Unrecognisable As PGA Tour Stop.

‘Hurricane Harvey’ has turned the Golf Club of Houston and host venue each year for the Houston Open unrecognizable as an annual PGA Tour stop.

The club has hosted the Houston Open since 2003 but the golf course, and like many parts of Houston, is under water and thanks to driving rain that continues to drench the Houston area.

It is estimated ‘Hurricane Harvey’ has already dumped some 15 trillions gallons or some 33 inches on America’s fourth-largest city, and in a region the size of Greece, and with weather forecasters in the U.S. saying it will not to be till at least Thursday the rain will let-up.

http://www.golfbytourmiss.com/gbtm/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Golf-Club-of-Houston-now-submerged-in-flood-waters (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)

Of course, the focus is on saving life and ensuring those in affected areas are safe and dry and is a monumental task facing rescuers across south-eastern Texas.

But for those of us who have travelled to Houston in late March/early April we are always made to feel welcome in reporting on what in recent years has been the  Shell Houston Open.

However in walking the Golf Club of Houston host venue we are very familiar with a very large walk bridge you have to cross at the back at the first and then again in making your way from the 17th hole to the 18th tee.

Graeme McDowell sitting on the 18h fairway during a Pro-Am ahead of the Shell Houston Open that is now under feet of flood waters. (Photo – www.golfbyourmiss.com)

 

This bridge crosses a very wide storm canal known as Greens Bayou and in the many years there’s been little water flowing in this causeway.

But this has all changed dramatically since ‘Hurricane Harvey’ struck landfull last Friday night on the Gult of Mexixo Texas shoreline.

Steve Tims is the Tournament Director of the Houston Open as well as the President ad CEO of the Houston Golf Association.

His offices are located at the Golf Club of Houston and just across a small road from the Houston Open media centre and just 50 yards on the 1st tee of the championship course where American Russell Hendley won earlier this year.

“Greens Bayou has been out of its banks since Sunday about 9 a.m.,” said Timms said. “We’ve had literally massive flooding. We’ve never seen anything like it.

“If it were to stop raining now, I would say we’re probably at least another day or two before we’ll see any significant receding of water. It’s a massive amount of water. We’ve received so much rain upstream of us that it’s got to come through major bayous. The longer you keep water on turf, the more silt and turf damage you’re going to have.

“I just can’t even start imagining how much damage there will be. Obviously, it’ll be significant. One thing we do is that greens and tees are built up out of the 100-year floodplain to protect them.

“But this is not a 100-year event. It’s more like a 500-year event.”

Cypress Creek, which runs through their golf course, is way out of its banks with Cypress Creek golf course is under water, which is a pretty good distance away from Cypress Creek.

Cypress Creek course has hosted the U.S. Open and a Ryder Cup, among other prestigious events.

Fuston has been unable to inspect whatever damage there is to his courses. The flooding is such that he is trapped on the street on which he lives, he said.

“So many of these courses are built in floodplains designed to be runoffs when floods happen,” Fuston said. “I guess there’s a reason they are where they are. So much water moves over the courses, but something like this is unprecedented, really.”

River Oaks Country Club, once a Houston Open and Western Open sites, is adjacent to the Buffalo Bayou was largely flooded, as seen in the Tweet below:



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