When the announcement was made last September that changes would be made to the TPC of Boston, it did not receive a lot of attention in most quarters.

The four-year-old course had just finished hosting an exciting Deutsche Bank Championship in which Tiger Woods came from behind with the lowest final round of his career in any of his victories. The course seemed to be maturing nicely. The tournament and the club itself were a success.

So how much could be changed?

As it turns out, a lot. More than expected.

The course, which was shut down soon after last year’s Deutsche Bank, reopened earlier this month. In some ways, the changes are not overpowering. The routing is the same. Nothing has changed going from 1 to 18.

But in other ways, much has changed. Virtually every hole has undergone some type of tweaking, in some cases major. The number of bunkers has been reduced from 103 to 52. More than 600 linear feet of dry stacks walls have been built. So-called chocolate drop mounds, one of the trademarks of the many great Donald Ross designs in this area, have been added. Most of the greens that were redone were shrunk, not enlarged.

The final four holes, in particular, will both look and play very differently when the event hosts the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoff on Labor Day weekend.

That event is why the work was done in the first place. As the second leg of the FedEx Cup, the tournament becomes one of the biggest on tour. All the best players in the world will be here in the chase for the $10-million first-place check for the Cup winner. It is why the tour is taking a bit of a gamble in making such significant changes in what seemed to be an already good situation.

“The players like the course,” Barrington’s Brad Faxon said when the plans were unveiled, “but they have to love it.” The goal is to push what has been a good situation to an even higher level.

Faxon has been heavily involved in the project. He was the tour’s player consultant who worked with Gil Hanse, the architect who directed the project. They were given a specific directive.

“The key thing was to make the golf course feel like New England,” Hanse explained. “What we were asked to do was make the golf course feel a little bit more like this area. There was a general feeling that it didn’t capture the feel of New England.”

The project had nothing to do with making the course, designed by Arnold Palmer, easier or more difficult. It was simply to make it reflect so many of the wonderful, traditional clubs that are the highlight of golf in New England.

“I hope this never comes out as a criticism of Palmer’s design,” Hanse said. “The tour has decided it wants to look at different options and different presentations, so it wasn’t as if what was done was wrong or bad. It is just that there is a different thought process that is occurring on the tour. That’s really what we were after, to try and capture some of that.”

Not only were nearly half of the 103 bunkers removed, those that remain have gone from a sleek, clean-cut look to a more scraggly, unkempt appearance that is a feature of so many courses in this area.

Hanse, who has won recognition as one of the rising stars in golf course architecture — his Boston Golf Club in Quincy, Mass., has won high praise — made use of stone walls, most notably on the 16th hole, to help bring an old-time feel.

He has put in grass bunkers on several holes, including two of the par-5s, the seventh and 18th, in an attempt to provide different ways to play a hole. A major goal is to make players think and analyze possible ways to deal with the course, rather than simply try and overpower the course. The overall length of the course actually has been reduced by 231 yards.

The par-4 fourth has been shortened from 436 to 298 yards. The dogleg on that hole has been removed and it will be a drivable par-4. Originally, all four par-3s were between 190 and 220 yards. The 16th has been shortened from 211 to 161 yards and the pond around the green enlarged to give the par-3s more variety.

“They were hoping to make every stop on the FedEx tour be distinct and representative of its area, as opposed to having courses that look exactly the same week after week,” Hanse said.

Working with Faxon, who was the bridge with the players, was fun, the architect said.

“He is your atypical touring pro. He has amazing feel for the old-style classic golf courses,” Hanse said. “In this project to put aside his own game and think about what would be best for the TPC. I don’t want to make it sound too parochial, but we thought about what would represent New England best. He really had a great feel for that.”

Women’s Open has sponsor

The New England Women’s Open continues to grow.

The event, which has been held at Weekapaug each of the last two years thanks to the work of Susan Bond, the Weekapaug pro, has a sponsor for the first time, CVS Caremark. The tournament has been set for June 4-5.

“CVS is giving us a big boost,” said Bond, who also is the president of the Rhode Island Chapter of the PGA. “We’re getting more interest than we’ve ever had. The change in the date has helped, too. We’ll have some college and high school players able to play this year.”

Dantas tops Cape Cod Open

Area players swept the honors at the Cape Cod Open this week. Seekonk’s Jeff Dantas came from behind to win the $4,100 first-place check by shooting a final-round 71 for a 212 total at the Hyannis Golf Club. That gave him a one-stroke victory over North Providence’s Joey Iaciofano with Cape Cod’s Brent Wanner in a tie for third at 214. URI grad David Spitz, who led entering the final round, closed with 76 for 215. Crestwood’s David Sampson was the low amateur at 223.

Award winners announced

The RI Chapter of the PGA has named its award winners for the year, headed by John DelBonis of Quidnessett, as the pro of the year, and Albert Vallante of Atlantic Golf the player of the year.

Other award winners are Jim DiMarino of Warwick, merchandiser of the year; Gary Dorsi of Green Valley, top teacher; Stan Baluik of Kirkbrae, distinguished service award; and Tom Green of Button Hole the junior golf leader. Green also was recognized as the top junior golf leader by the New England PGA.

TPC roster up to 36

Nick Watney, Boo Weekley and Charley Hoffman, all recent winners on the PGA Tour, are among the latest to sign up for the Travelers Championship to be played next month at the TPC at River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., They bring to 36 the number of players in the event who have won on tour. They also include Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Zach Johnson.

pkenyon@projo.com