This Thursday, the final major of the year will get underway at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, NY.
Unlike many of the PGA Championship venues we’ve seen of late, Oak Hill is an old-style course with an extremely rich history of professional golf. It’s hosted three U.S. Opens, a Ryder Cup, two U.S. Amateurs and this year will be it’s third PGA Championship. Ernie Els once said, “It’s the best, fairest and toughest championship course I’ve ever played in all my years as a tour professional.”
The Course – Oak Hill’s signature feature is without question, it’s rough (which is reportedly one foot high in some areas around the greens). Players that don’t hit fairways this week simply won’t be able to score. The East Course isn’t overly long so expect to see a lot of players with fairway woods in their hands off the tee. The greens are large and depending on where tournament officials want to put pin placements, Oak Hill could play very tough. The PGA Championship generally is suppose to be one of the easier tests of golf when it comes to major championships but this year the tournament will probably play more like a U.S. Open. Don’t expect to see a winner in double digits under par. In the 112 year history of Oak Hill, only two players have shot under 65 (Par 70), Ben Hogan in 1942 and Curtis Strange in 1989, who both shot 64.
Holes to Watch – Like most major championships, the victor will likely be determined on Oak Hill’s closing stretch of holes. Hole 14 is a drivable par-4 with trouble everywhere and it could be the site of some fireworks come Sunday. Hole 15 is a difficult par-3 and with the PGA allowing fans to vote on Sunday’s pin location, there could be some controversy. Holes 17 and 18 are both extremely long and extremely difficult par-4s and the winner will likely be the player that can grind out a couple of good scores on these holes for four straight days.
Possible Winners – Driving accuracy will be one of the most important statistics to watch this week and players that are straight off the tee will have a huge advantage. Guys like Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson, Matt Kuchar, Charl Schwartzel and Adam Scott will all have a chance to play well. Phil has won two of out of the last three events he’s played in and with Tiger demolishing the field at Firestone (a course that is fairly similar to Oak Hill) this past week, he certainly could be in the mix as well.
Probable Disappointments – Rory Mcilroy hasn’t been able to get much going at all this year. He’s struggled both off the tee and on the green and if he carries that kind of play into Oak Hill, he won’t be around for the weekend. We haven’t heard much of Justin Rose after his breakthrough victory at Merion in June either. He hasn’t had any impressive performances the last month and a half and it’s not unlikely to think that he’ll have another mediocre performance this week.