BlogPGA Championship Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

The big news is that Rory Mcilroy is back from his soccer injury.  This is his first event since the U.S. Open and a lot of questions will be asked.  First of all, if he didn’t play last week how bad off is the Knee?  I have to wonder if he couldn’t play last week, how is this week any better?  Firestone is an easy, flat walk.  Whistling Straits is a hilly, sandy walk which will be harder on the knee for Rory.  I just have to wonder if he he will be strong enough and if the knee will be able to go 72 holes.

Lot’s will be said of all the bunkers at Whistling Straits.  There is no real list of the number of bunkers or sand hazards, some place it at over a thousand.  But the one thing that we have to remember is what happen to Dustin Johnson in 2010.  He drove it right on the 72nd hole and was in an area that the gallery had walked over.  Johnson thought it was a dirt path and grounded his club, but it turned out to be a bunker, he was penalized two shots and missed the playoff by two shots.  The PGA of America has to make sure such a gaffe like this doesn’t happen again.  It’s still the responsibility of the player so hopefully they will be more careful and go overboard if they think there in a bunker.

Tiger

Have to wonder if the end is not coming soon.  Who knows, maybe Tiger is working his butt off and will be in contention this week.  I remember when he was with Hank Haney in the mid-2000 and played terrible for a year.  He would say he was close and after he left the press room, we would laugh on how Tiger seemed delusional but in 2005 his game jelled and he was awesome.  Could the same be happening now?  Could Tiger at any moment play great again?  Many don’t believe it but have to say that Tiger is running out of excuses for his poor play.

Tournament information:

• This is the 97th PGA Championship. The plans for the PGA Championship were created on January 16, 1916 at a meeting of a group of PGA Tour professionals including Walter Hagen. Their vision was to create a national championship that would rival the U.S. Open in terms of importance. Just months later, their vision came to reality as the first PGA Championship Match Play event was played at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, NY that year. Englishman Jim Barnes took home the inaugural crown.
• After the inaugural tournament, the event took a two-year break from 1917 to 1918 because of World War I. The break in action didn’t phase Jim Barnes, as he went on to win the PGA Championship in its return to the Tour in 1919. Since the two-year hiatus, The PGA Championship has only seen one other break, that being in 1943 due to World War II. The biggest change in the event’s history occurred in 1958, when the format of the event was changed from Match Play to 72-hole stroke play.
• The famed Wanamaker trophy, awarded to the winner of the PGA Championship, can trace its routes back to the beginning of golf equipment. In the early part of the 20th Century, A.G. Spalding & Bros. was the predominant maker of golf equipment; however, Rodman Wanamaker sought to create a company that would rival Spalding in the golf industry. Though his plan ultimately failed, his dream will always me remembered as he was the one that first sponsored the PGA Championship and the trophy, which today bears his name.

Course information:

• Whistling Straits (Straits Course)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
• 7,501 yards     Par 36-36–72

It may seem hard to believe but Whistling Straits and the toilet has so much in common.  No I am not making fun of Whistling Straits with this comparison, just pointing out the fact that Whistling Straits got it’s start via the Kohler Company, which is the biggest company of Kitchen and bath fixtures, faucets and toilets.

The Kohler Company is located in Kohler, Wisconsin, about an hour north of Milwaukee and a hour south of Green Bay just off a interstate 43.  Now the town of Kohler, built in 1912, has become as much of an institution as Hershey, Pa. which is probably the most famous “company town” in America.

Around 1980 Herb Kohler, who was running the company at the time had problems with customers who found the hour drive up from Milwaukee a hard go, so he took a converted dorm which originally housed immigrants and turned it into the American Club, which after a couple of years became more than a company hotel but a major resort with a five star hotel and recreation faculties including world class golf courses.  When it came up that Kohler needed a first class course for his first class hotel, he got together with Pete Dye and built Blackwolf Run near the hotel, which opened in 1988.

Originally just a public course, the course stripped demand to the point that Kohler added two more nine hole expansions, which again became so famous that those courses had three-month waiting lists for tee times.  At the same time the American Club became more than just a overnight retreat for Kohler customers, it became one of the premiere resorts in America.

With demand high, in 1995 Kohler started looking around for more land to build another course.  Lake Michigan was just ten miles away so Kohler thought it would be nice to build a course along the lake and after an exhaustive search found a plot of land along the Lake in the unincorporated village of Haven.

The property was originally a site that the U.S. Army used in the 50s as an anti-aircraft firing center, even to the point of having landing strips on it.  It was abandoned in the 60s, taken over by the Wisconsin Electric Company and then sold to Kohler who then commissioned Pete Dye to build two courses, one on the lake and the other inland.

Between Dye and Kohler, they envisioned a course that would rival anything that Scotland could offer.  It became a mixture of a Scottish and Irish links course, with a mixture of holes along the lake like Pebble Beach and was highly acclaimed when it opened in 1998.

The course was an instant hit with it’s two miles of continuous shoreline that has seven holes hugging Lake Michigan.  Not only was it an adventure playing the holes along the lake, but the rest of the course was not only great fun to play but a very demanding test of golf.  So demanding that the PGA of America came calling, giving it the 2004 PGA Championship just about the time that the course opened up for business.

The PGA wasn’t the only organization that came calling, the USGA also liked what they saw and awarded Whistling Straits the 2007 U.S. Senior Open and when they started talking about playing a U.S. Open on it, the PGA of America not to loss a potential gem, took away the PGA Championship that was too be played at Sahalee in 2010 and gave it to Whistling Straits along with the 2015 PGA and the 2020 Ryder Cup, thus giving the PGA exclusive access for a decade.

For this year’s PGA Championship the course will play about the same as it did in 2004 when Vijay Singh won and the same as in 2010 when Martin Kaymer won. On both occasions winds weren’t that strong, reasons for scores being so low.

The course is still a bear, playing at 7,501 and at a par of 72.  Of the seven holes along the lake, all four par 3s have tough shots to avoid the lake.  If the lake isn’t enough of a picture for television to show, the fact that the course has 1,012 bunkers is also a talking point, since there is probably no other course in the world that has that many bunkers on it.  Now you may say who came up with the number 1,012, it was Golf Digest writer Ron Whitten who counted 967 bunkers in 2010 and did it again for an update to the 2010 articles and found 45 more bunkers.

Now the lakes and the bunkers aren’t the only great things about Whistling Straits, the greens are some of the finest in the country with lots of undulations which will making putting tough.  Lastly Whistling Straits Fescue fairways are some of the finest, and if you miss them will enjoy how tough Fescue rough can be.

The whole goal is to make Whistling Straits not one of the best courses in the world, but the best.  Even after the last putt is dropped on Sunday, on Monday morning Dye and Kohler will talk about what to do for the 2020 Ryder Cup to make it even tougher and better so that one day the Straits will be the best course in the world.

Now it’s important to point out how similiar Whistling Straits is to Chambers Bay, site of this year’s U.S. Open.  As for Whistling Straits, it’s held successful events with two PGA Championships and a U.S. Senior Open.  As for Chambers Bay it wasn’t a failure, but there were a lot of problems associated with the event, mostly with the greens and the gallery.  Both courses lay along a body of water and both properties were flat and had a lot of work in moving around sand to make both courses look the way they did.  As for Whistling Straits it’s more open for gallery and each hole gives spectators lots of room to explore, something that can’t be said for Chambers Bay.  One other important item, the greens at Whistling Straits are bentgrass which are in great shape.  The course does have fescue fairways and rough, which gives it that Scottish feel, but for tournaments like a major championships fescue should probably not be used.  If I was the USGA and Chambers Bay I would spend time exploring and seeing what makes Whistling Straits so much better.

• In 2010 the course played to a 72.918 average (almost a full shot over par), making it the 7th hardest course on the PGA Tour that year.  In 2004 Whistling Straits played to a 73.163 average (a shot over par) making it the 8th hardest course on tour that year.
• A couple other notes on the course, in 2004, 12 players finished within three shots of the lead and 36 finished under par. In 2010, seven were within two shots of the lead and 38 were under par.  As for toughest holes, in 2010 the par 4 18th played to a 4.515 averaging the second hardest hole of the year.  The par 4, 4th hole played to a 4.471 average, the 4th hardest hole of the year.
• The great thing about the course is the finish, it will be tough.  In 2010 the par 4, 15th hole was the 27th toughest hole on the PGA Tour with a 4.306 average.  The par 5, 16th hole is the easiest hole on the course playing to a 4.756 average.  Still if you don’t drive it straight, the 16th could turn into a non-birdie hole. The par 3, 17th hole was the 110th hardest hole on tour with a 3.203 average, so the finish is really tough.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the PGA Championship:

Key stat of the week

Whistling Strait is one of those demanding courses that you have to be on top of your game.  In looking at those that did well in both the PGA Championship back in 2010, 2004 and the 2007 Senior Open that was played at Whistling Straits, the thing that gives us a guiding point to this week is that ball strikers did very well, so look for those who pride themselves as top ball strikers to rule this week.  Also wind players could have their chance if it starts blowing off Lake Michigan, but that isn’t in the weather forecast.

Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:

• Important to see who is the best total driver of the ball going into the week and then checking to see who hits the most greens on the PGA Tour.
• Since the greens are big it will also be tough to not only hit the green but get it close. Sharp iron play will also help along with the imagination when you do get in trouble. But as we have seen in the last decade of PGAs with winners as diverse as Jason Dufner Y.E. Yang, Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel, Rory McIlroy, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington and Tiger Woods anything can happen. The key is to be peaking about Wedneday right before the start of the championship. That’s what happened to Dufner, Beem, Micheel, Singh, Mickelson, Harrington and Woods so look for someone that is playing well.
• Scrambling will be at a premium, look for good chippers like Phil Mickelson or a Jim Furyk to have a great advantage here. On this year’s scrambling list, Steven Bowditch, Jasin Day, Brandt Snedeker, Jordan Spieth and Matt Kuchar are in the top-ten for 2015 so these are folks to watch this week.
• Putting is always a key in winning but this year with greens being big three putting will be easy.
• There is also the unknown factor in which the course could yield low scores to an unknown player. In 14 of the last 23 PGAs, the winner has claimed his first major in the PGA Championship like Jason Dufner in 2014.  So this could be a good omen for a Sergio Garcia, Jason Day or Dustin Johnson. Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel weren’t household names when they won, so you never know if that will get repeated
• Need for patience.  This is one of those courses that par is your friend, so don’t look for low scoring.
• Last the weather, look for good days except for Friday which will have scattered thunderstorms most of the day.  Wind is suppose to blow on Saturday which will make the day very interesting.