“Majestic doesn’t appeal to us; we like the Grand Canyon better with Clarence and Arlene parked in front of it, smiling.” — Garrison Keillor, “Lake Wobegon Days” — Clarence and Arlene are going to get their close-up for a whole week as the PGA Championship comes to the bucolic splendor of Chaska, Minnesota. In fact...
Thanks to Jeff Shelley. A little garrison Keillor for ya!
So to get everyone set for next week, we’ll have daily coverage on Cybergolf.com starting Tuesday. I’ll also have a couple of pieces for Golf Observer. Finally, we’ll review three great Minnesota golf courses, two publics and one private. Deets later. My preview piece will be up at Cybergolf later today/early tomorrow. See everyone from Chaska, Le...
Valhalla was recently selected to host the 2014 PGA Championship. Here’s a list of the other venues: 2010 – Whistling Straits, (Straits Course), Kohler, WI 2011 – Atlanta Athletic Club, (Lake Course), Atlanta, GA 2012 – Kiawah Island (Ocean Course), Kiawah Island, SC 2013 – Oak Hill Country Club, Rochester, NY 2015 – Whistling...
I know, I know, it’s not the “Club Pro Championship” anymore, but that’s what Mike Small won, along with a berth in this year’s PGA Championship at Hazeltiine. From the press release: Small, 43, will be competing in his fifth PGA Championship. He captured his second National Championship July 1, with a final-round 3-under-par 68 for a 7...
Special thanks to Ben Cowan-Dewar and Ran Morrissett of GolfClubAtlas.com for asking Chris Clouser and I to do this article for GolfClubAtlas.comcomparing and contrasting Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club and fabled Southern Hills. There are interesting tidbits, old maps, and tons of great photos. Enjoy. Chris, it was great working with you! Let’s do...
Noted author and Perry Maxwell biographer Chris Clouser and I will be teaming up to do a “Point! Counterpoint!” piece on seven-time major championship venue Southern Hills and 1953 U.S. Amateur host and SH’s nearby cousin, Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club, which Maxwell did with Alister Mackenzie, (you remember him…we’ll be seeing...
Coore and Crenshaw’s Colorado Golf Club may host a future PGA Championship. Deets coming out on November 20.
What do you get when you mix a classical education, a rhyming dictionary, too much soda, and a lot of patience? St. Padraig and The Monster! I’ve been asked by Jeff Shelley over at Cybergolf to do some more notes and comments about writing it, but here’s a few for now: 18 stanzas, one for every hole on the golf course. I finished it on my cousin...
I’ll be off to Virginia for the Potomac Cup at first light tomorrow, but until then, here’s one of my favorite pieces from last week’s PGA Championship. The Eve of the 2008 PGA Championship: The Deep Breath before the Plunge BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI – Not far from Oakland Hills Country Club, Telegraph Road intersects with 8 Mile. That’s a...
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI – The trophy is bigger than him, but his heart is bigger than the trophy. Padraig Harrington, the 2008 PGA Champion looked like a Bulgarian weightlifter doing a “clean and jerk” as he thrust the squat, bulky Rodman Wanamaker Trophy awkwardly into the air with both hands. Nevertheless, as elated as he was after outdueling star...
They came from Louisiana, Mississippi, Michigan, and Missouri. They cheered, they squealed, they urged their man to victory, they even carried little hand-made signs. They were fervent, passionate, and knowledgeable. Who were they rooting for? Ben Curtis. How much did they love him? Enough to make a sign to proudly identify themselves to other fans and their man that...
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI – Here’s four words I’ll bet you never thought you’d hear uttered joyfully on a golf course: Thank goodness, it rained. To be precise, it poured. It rained bricks and bats. The lightning crashed and the thunder rolled. Two holes opened up in the roof of the media tent, sending journalists scrambling like rabbits for...
Scratch my last! Everybody back to the tent.
***Update…play suspended at 6:27***
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, MI – Weather permitting, the two hour and forty-five minute rain delay of the 90th PGA Championship will end at 5:00 p.m. At 4:30 the players were sent out to the practice range.