By Keely Levins
It was huge. It was blue. It was controversial. It was… a backstop on the 18th green at a major? At the 2020 ANA Inspiration, the hospitality tent that usually sits behind the 18th green wasn’t there. With no fans on-site, there was no need for any sort of stands. The 18th is a par 5, reachable in two if you have enough firepower. The hospitality tent historically prevented balls that were coming in too hot from running off the back of the green, into the water. To keep that from happening in 2020, an enormous blue wall was built. It became known as the “Great Wall of Dinah” in a nod to the previous name of the tournament and the name of the course, the Dinah Shore Tournament Course. The large fence behind the green kept—among others—eventual winner Mirim Lee’s ball from going into the water. Players spoke openly about using the wall as a backstop during the event. Those displeased with the wall’s involvement in the tournament didn’t hold back.

But good news for all those who didn’t like the wall: Even though there won’t be any fans at the 2021 ANA Inspiration in order to follow COVID-19 protocols, the wall also won’t be there.

A statement from the tournament explained that in this 50th anniversary of the major, the 18th green will be played the same way it was in 1972: as an island green. As the final groups come down 18, they’ll have to strategize differently, no more confidently ripping a fairway wood onto the green knowing the wall will keep it in play.

One player who is certainly happy is Nelly Korda, who lost to Lee in a playoff. She said early in the week in 2020 that she didn’t like the wall. “Honestly, I wish they didn’t have that wall there because I think it would play really cool as like an island green,” Korda said.

The ANA was moved in 2020 to September because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but in 2021 it returns to its early-season slot in the first week of April.

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By John Strege
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — There were no fans and so there were no grandstands, notably behind the island 18th green of the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills C.C. Yet a structure there played a role, controversially so, in the outcome of the ANA Inspiration on Sunday.

The temporary fencing, affectionately nicknamed the “Great Wall of Dinah,” was placed there to loosely replicate what players would see when the tournament was played with fans.

Eventual winner Mirim Lee came to the par-5 18th hole trailing by two shots, when she deliberately used the structure as a backstop on her second shot. (The wall prevented shots from bounding over the green into a water hazard behind the putting surface.) She then holed an eagle chip, wound up in a playoff with Nelly Korda and Brooke Henderson, and won on the first extra hole.

RELATED: Mirim Lee wins ANA Inspiration on the wildest of back nines

“I definitely thought to utilise the backboard,” Lee said. “When I had practice rounds, I had practiced that shot, so it was a definite for me to use the space there.

“My plan for 18 was just to have a birdie and do what I have to do to keep my head up, and when the shot went in, I think I was really surprised. It must have been a bit of luck that helped me.”

Suffice it to say, not everyone was thrilled with the presence of the wall, given the material impact it could have on how players approached the 18th hole.

“Honestly, I wish they didn’t have that wall there because I think it would play really cool as like an island green,” Korda said earlier in the week, unable to know just what an impact it would have as she attempted to win her first major title. “It’s like really close to the green this year.”

“There initial plan with this was to replicate what the bleachers were like that had been in that same area all these last years,” Golf Channel’s Judy Rankin said during Sunday’s telecast. “The fact is, it has been I think way too artificial. There was no real reason for it to be there. There were not spectators or clients or anything like that in great sky boxes. And it has effected play way too much.”

Had the structure not been there, it likely would have affected decisions on whether to go for the green in two shots. Lee’s shot, and another by Henderson en route to making a birdie on the hole to get into a playoff, likely would have rolled into the water behind the green had the wall not been there.

Still, there were some players who didn’t mind the structure being in place. “I was actually thinking about what 18 would be like without the bleachers because visually that is just a protector for most of us just knowing there’s water behind it,” another player, Madelene Sagstrom said. “I don’t think that would visually be a very nice shot to go for in two. I don’t really know the reasoning for the thing, but I’m kind of happy it’s there if I want to go for it in two, to be honest.”

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