The world’s best may be dominating Doral this week, but resident teacher Jim McLean does not want to see it drastically altered by new owner Donald Trump and architect Gil Hanse.
“I’ve met with Gil and seen the plans. They look terrific. He wants to keep [the Blue Monster] special,’ McLean said in a telephone interview on Saturday. “[Trump] wants to make Doral great again, a little bit harder. With a better quality of grass, they can make the greens really fast. Doral will be great year-round.”
McLean, who has run a golf school at the Miami resort for two decades, teaches Keegan Bradley, who is tied for second place after 54 holes in his first appearance at the WGC-Cadillac Championship. Before the tournament, McLean and Bradley played several practice rounds to get the feel of the property.
“Keegan didn’t have a lot of tournament experience with this kind of Bermudagrass,” he said.
McLean told Bradley there were three different types of lies at Doral: sitting up, halfway down or very down, which requires an explosion-style shot to extricate the ball. He also imparted on Bradley what the wind would do and how to strategize accordingly.
Bradley, however, is playing tremendous golf this season and McLean feels his game suits Doral well.
“Keegan has a great game for the golf course. He hits the ball right to left and controls it in the wind with a three-quarter stinger shot we’ve been working on the last three years,” McLean said. “It’s a ball striker’s course.”