KIAWAH ISLAND, SC – In light of the two hour and forty minute shuttle ride from the media hotel to the golf course – a whopping 22 miles – From the home office in Murfreesburg, South Carolina here we go… 10. Campaign for President 9. Film the next Quentin Tarantino epic 8. Catch up on your “Game of Thrones” marathon on HBO 7. Walk...
KIAWAH ISLAND, SC – He’s a mad scientist, he’s the Boris Karloff of golf courses, he ruined your scorecard, hid my car keys, busted Roger Clemens’s no-hit bid in the bottom of the ninth, kicked over the lantern in Mrs. O’Leary’s barn, was the lone gunman behind the grassy knoll, conquered Asia on horseback with an army of...
KIAWAH ISLAND, SC – This week marks not only the first major championship for Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, but its first professional stroke play tournament period. Only time will tell if it will become a staple of the PGA Championship’s informal rotation, but with a seaside setting, cunning Pete Dye design strategies, no clear pre-tournament...
KIAWAH ISLAND, SC – Usually when PGA Championship time rolls around we hear endless repetition of the PGA of America’s mantra for the event – “Glory’s Last Shot.” I’ve never been a huge fan of that slogan. I think it actually dumbs down the importance of the tournament. After all, it is a major golf championship. It...
JF: We hear some interesting things happened while you were building Kiawah Island? PD: Oh I got plenty of stories! Everything happened to us trying to build that golf course. Back then it was owned by Landmark and Eddie Vossler, (you remember him, he won a lot on the PGA Tour), and Joe Walser. They owned PGA West, La Quinta, and Oak Tree – I’ve built 10...
So my preview for this year’s PGA Championship will not only be another hilarious laugh-a-minute romp with Kiawah Island course architect Pete Dye, but will also be in the PGA Championship program! Here’s a taste: JF: We hear some interesting things happened while you were building Kiawah Island? PD: Oh I got plenty of stories! Everything happened to us...
The PGA Championship will be upon us before we know it, and that means one of the best golf stories of the year – the club pros. Twenty of them will get slots on the year’s final major, an honor which pays glowing tribute to the ethos of all golf.. Kelly Elbin, director of communications for the PGA of America sums it up perfectly: “Not only are...
FOREST HILLS, NY – AWITP sources have confirmed that discussion between the PGA of America and the governing bodies in New York that Bethpage may be considered for the 2020 or 2021 PGA Championship and the 2028 Ryder Cup. Sources also confirm that Rees Jones’s restoration work at Baltusrol has gone so well in preparation for the 2016 PGA Championship...
JOHNS CREEK, GA – The fat lady was wasn’t just warming up, she was right there on the side of the stage, waiting for her cue to swoop on stage like a galleon in full sail, sing us all to sleep, and bring a merciful end to what was until then a dreadfully dull 93rd PGA Championship. Then (thankfully!) first-time major competitor Keegan Bradley dropped a...
JOHNS CREEK, GA – Just how famous was Robert Trent Jones, Sr. for making Hell out of a professional golfer’s day? There’s a great story about old pro golfer Jimmy Demaret teasing Trent when he ran into him at a golf course. He put his arm around Trent’s shoulder and said, “Hey Trent! I saw a golf course you’d love. You stand on the...
JOHNS CREEK, GA – “When Tiger Woods wins at Bethpage, or Phil Mickelson wins at Baltusrol, that’s the result we’re trying to achieve. The best player should rise to the top.” So spoke the stentorian tones of Rees Jones in a June interview with golf writer John Garrity. Now Rees Jones, the self-described “Open Doctor,” is in...
JOHNS CREEK, GA – Wave that flag, wave it wide and high! Americans covered the leaderboard on day one of the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club with an avalanche of stars and stripes, including a record-tying performance PGA Tour uber-nice guy Steve Stricker. The affable Stricker, Wisconsin’s favorite son but loved by all the golf world scorched...
And here it is…
Phil had fun taking Rees Jones to task didn’t he?
NEWS, NOTES AND QUOTES The PGA Championship leads the majors in 63s with 11. There have only been two 63s at the Masters, four at the U.S. Open, and eight at the British Open. Two reasons include the PGA of America’s penchant for reasonably fair course set-ups and tournament venues more akin to what U.S. PGA Tour pros see on a week-to-week basis. PHILLIN’...
JOHNS FREAK, GA – Lunatics! Scoundrels and heathens! Upstarts, rogues, and charlatans! Drag them over carpet tacks and dip them in rubbing alcohol, the lot of ’em. May a pack of Tiger Woods’s prostitute harpies give them a disease featuring a particularly viscid eczema. Despite the best efforts of American Airlines, Delta, and two scurvy-ridden...