PGA Tour: PGA Championship; Fourth Among Equals? Or First??: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).It is fashionable to refer to the PGA Championship as the Fourth Major, but in terms of quality of the field, and sometimes course played, it could equally be described as the Best Major. This year's edition, at Oak Hill's East Course, designed by Donald Ross, lengthened by Robert Trent Jones and tweaked (disfigured?) by the Fazios, should be no exception.

2).Oak Hill, in the leafy suburbs of Rochester, NY, should play to a par of 70, and to a length of about 7,200 yards with just two Par-5's. Only Augusta National, Oakmont, Oakland Hills and Baltusrol have staged more Major Championships, and this is the only course to also host the US Amateur, Ryder Cup, US Senior Open and Senior PGA Championship. Can you say "history"?  

3).Several of the pundits, and even some of the golfers, referred to Firestone ("the monstrous repetition of Firestone, which might be the most boring championship golf course known to man" according to Sports Illustrated's Senior Writer), as an ideal warm-up for Oak Hill, but that is a lazy comparison.
Oak Hill offers far more elevation changes and requires the golfer to shape his shots off the tee - it yields birdies reluctantly and eagles will be few and far between. An exception might be the Par-3(!) sixth hole, where Jerry Pate, Doug Weaver, Nick Price and Mark Wiebe all famously holed in one within little more than an hour at the 1989 US Open - and where Costantino Rocca also made a hole-in-one at the '95 Ryder Cup.
I was close by all five of them, missed the lot. But DID see Jack Nicklaus make a hole-in-one at #15 during a practice round for the 1980 PGA, which he went on to win. First I'd ever seen. Thrilled!

4).Not many (excepting Shaun Micheel of course) of this week's field have enjoyed much success at Oak Hill.
~Tom Watson has been playing here since 1980 where he finished 10th behind Nicklaus. Since then he's finished 46th in the 1989 US Open, but missed the cut at the 2003 PGA and finished 16th at the 2008 Senior PGA.
~Davis Love finished 33rd at the 1989 US Open and enjoyed a decent (3-2) Ryder Cup in 1995, but missed the cut at the '03 PGA.
~Phil Mickelson enjoyed a fine Ryder Cup in 1995 as a rookie, winning all three of his matches and then finishing 23rd at the 2003 PGA.
Other action includes:
~1998 US Amateur: Sergio Garcia beat Matt Kuchar in the quarter final but then lost to Hank Kuehne. Adam Scott , CHowellIII and first alternate JJ Henry were among also-rans that year.
~2003 PGA: Those who made the cut included:
Tim Clark: 3rd
Els: 5th - the leading long-hitter.
Howell: 10th
Furyk: 18th
Donald, Phil, Scott: 23rd
Ogilvy: 27th
Harrington, Toms: 29th
Singh: 34th
Woods: 39th (with only 6 birdies, believed to be the career fewest in a 72-hole effort)
Cabrera: 45th
Gay: 51st
Poulter: 61st
Casey: 66th
Choi: 69th.
Those who missed the cut included Beem, Bjorn, Brooks, Cink, Clarke, Garcia, Jacobson, McGinley, Pettersson, Rose (hope he's driving better than during his accident yesterday) and Westwood.

5).Seldom has there been a weekend where it's been as easy to see the wood from the trees:
Woods wins by 7
Woodland wins by 9 (points in modded Stableford)
Wood earns his best ever US finish (7th): (Also 100% from the sand, 3rd in fairways hit, 7th in gir and 8th in putting. Impressive.)

6).Between Firestone and Reno some golfers made big moves towards securing the place in the FedEx Play-Offs, starting of course with Gary Woodland. Andres Romero clinched his place, while Martin Kaymer helped himself and should be OK with a made cut this week.
But some names still with it all to do include:
Appleby
Crane
Colsaerts
Harrington
Cauley
Hanson
Singh
Immelman
etc, etc.

7).And 2 golfers shot 9-hole 28's this past weekend:
Steele on the back-nine at Reno.
Sluman on the Champions Tour on Sunday, birdies on nine of his first ten holes.
Sluman of course grew up in Rochester, learning the game at Oak Hill with Craig Harmon, and it is somewhat surprising not to see him in this week's field.
Walter Hagen was also a Rochester man with PGA Championship victories (five) and who's to say Oak Hill's Gavin Hall won't be the next Rochester native to have his name engraved on the Wanamaker Trophy?

8).The US media is agog with the prospect of a Woods / Mickelson showdown at Oak Hill, but each will have to use his driver more often than they seemingly prefer.
Hank Haney made interesting comments earlier this summer about Tiger's preparation for Majors, suggesting that he doesn't spend as much time practicing and charting the greens and green complexes as he would expect, especially those on courses he knows less well. One thing is for sure: with only 2 x Par-5's (one, the 13th which may be unreachable), he will have to be on Firestone form to contend. (Ominous sign though, that Woods and Stricker played a practice round together Monday afternoon - more putting tips from "Stricks"?)
With Phil, it's more to do with What will Phil do next? As of Monday he still wasn't sure what his 14th club (driver or 64-degree wedge) was to be.  

9).With Phil breaking the run (by Els, Rory, Scott and Rose) of international Major winners, who are the likely lads among Americans this week? I'd say Snedeker must have a great chance, Zach Johnson also - and wouldn't be surprised to see Dufner on the leaderboard if he can hole some of the tiddler putts he missed at Firestone.

Conventional wisdom suggests a great driver will do well this week, an Adam Scott perhaps, Justin Rose or even a Sergio. All will have to putt better than we've seen recently, but Stenson has been doing everything well and great to see Martin Kaymer finding some form.

10).Woods described Oak Hill as "the hardest, fairest golf course the players have ever played" and Els considered it "the best, fairest and toughest championship golf course I've ever played". That was in 2003 when Shaun Micheel outlasted Chad Campbell with his tap-in birdie at the 72nd hole.
It's been a miserably wet summer in the U.S. North-East but the last three weeks have been perfect for golf course preparation and the players will enjoy mild, mostly dry, conditions this week. There has been criticism of the greens and the 8th green was damaged by a tree falling earlier this year, but hopefully all will be well come Thursday.
I still expect the "navigator" to prevail over the "bomber" this week, not Shaun Micheel of course, but possibly Snedeker (30/1, really?) or Zach Johnson (50/1) both of whom look excellent each way value.

PS: I'll be at the action on Thursday and Friday, off the air from Wednesday p.m. through Saturday. Some fantastic groupings to follow and hope you all enjoy a great tournament.

JAS wrote:

McLaren wrote:

JAS wrote:I recall from watching bits of the French Open that it looks kind of linksy but with water. Ok it might not be a Carnoustie or a Sunningdale...but 2 - 3 on the Doak scale?? Have you been there to see it for yourself to formulate such a negative opinion? If you haven't, what's your motivation other than another typical piece of bored Mac wummery?

i suggest you look up the Doak scale.  It is designed to separate the best courses, so 3 for an average course makes perfect sense.

Have you played or walked the course....Yes or No?

I have... and was surprised at how firm the course was and exposed as well. Depends on the weather and time of year, but this course could play like an inland links or your typical resort course.

They must have moved a lot of earth to create the mounding around the holes, but this does create a great amphitheatre for the closing 4 holes. Not a classic course... but a good venue for a tournament like the Ryder Cup.

Mac- it's all opinions, but for me it's turning into a classic. As it matures gets better. Regarded by players as strategic - ie number of options available to play holes. Sorry you don't rate it!

raycastleunited wrote:

JAS wrote:

McLaren wrote:

JAS wrote:I recall from watching bits of the French Open that it looks kind of linksy but with water. Ok it might not be a Carnoustie or a Sunningdale...but 2 - 3 on the Doak scale?? Have you been there to see it for yourself to formulate such a negative opinion? If you haven't, what's your motivation other than another typical piece of bored Mac wummery?

i suggest you look up the Doak scale.  It is designed to separate the best courses, so 3 for an average course makes perfect sense.

Have you played or walked the course....Yes or No?

I have... and was surprised at how firm the course was and exposed as well. Depends on the weather and time of year, but this course could play like an inland links or your typical resort course.

They must have moved a lot of earth to create the mounding around the holes, but this does create a great amphitheatre for the closing 4 holes. Not a classic course... but a good venue for a tournament like the Ryder Cup.

Cheers Ray at least you can speak from experience. I was specifically directing the question at Mac as he was being so forthright about his opinion I wondered how he's got to that point. Predictably though he's now gone off to create a Poopie storm on another thread.

Also, a course which may not be a terrific strokeplay venue can in fact be a great matchplay course.

Jas

I have not played it but my experience in analysing courses is such that in some instances an accurate enough appraisal can be made from watching on TV.

you cannot move that amount of earth and expect a great course in most instances. It is the worst kind of soft target golf.

McLaren wrote:....  my experience in analysing courses ......

 Pompous much?

Absolutely right Super. The 2010 at Celtic Manor was a fantastic venue for the Ryder Cup, with some real death or glory opportunities in the closing stretch. The fact that these were articficially created did not detract from the ocasion.

I've played the 2010 course and I didn't rate it particularly highly at all, certainly not in my top 10 courses played, but that doesn't change the fact it created real matchplay drama.

It's a bit like keeping the old Wembley stadium with cramped seating and poor facilities for the sake of history.

McLaren wrote:

you cannot move that amount of earth and expect a great course in most instances.  It is the worst kind of soft target golf.

Mac that is a pig ignorant comment

Mac,
What's so "diabolical" about politics in Cleveland?

Lots of mixed sentiments about the PGA but I loved the way Jason Dufner went out and won it - his play was terrific and Furyk was arguably unlucky to run up against someone who had four birds from four feet and in.

He also had an excellent Ryder Cup last year and has guaranteed himself a place in this year's Presidents Cup - so get used to seeing him, he'll be round for quite a while yet. And hopefully his Amanda will be too.

raycastleunited wrote:

McLaren wrote:

you cannot move that amount of earth and expect a great course in most instances.  It is the worst kind of soft target golf.

Mac that is a pig ignorant comment

Precisely,

Castle Stuart and The Castle being prime examples of superb courses.

TV (even 3D TV) can give a very false perspective of a course.

I've been lucky enough to play quite a few courses I've seen on TV (K Club, Forest of Arden, Oxfordshire, Gleneagles - PGA Centenary and Kings, Royal Portrush etc.) and in most cases, the reality is very differnet from that on the small screen. I think there is a real danger in rating a course having not at least walked the course, and I'd suggest you really need to play it. I tend to pay more attention to what the pro's say as they've played all the course so are better placed to comment and rank them, and indeed they hit it further so see a different course to me.

Mac, thought you didn't have a TV, and defo not one allowing for superior course analysis?

Maybe you just don't like the French?

I think it'll be a great venue: stadium effect on most of the course.