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ArticlesThe Final
Major 2007
THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP Southern Hills Country Club Tulsa, Oklahoma August 9th – 12th This is the 89th PGA Championship and Southern Hills will be the first course to host four PGA’s, having been host to the event in the three previous decades – 1970, 1982 and 1994. It has also hosted three other Major Championships, The US Open Championships of 1958, 1977 and 2001. Voted No.15 among Golf Digest’s “Americas 100 Greatest Golf Courses”, the course was born in 1935 amidst the Great Depression. The two visionaries who dreamed of turning the local country club into the prime sporting and recreational facility it is today were Bill Warren and Cecil Canary. The first thing they did was to approach Waite Phillips, Chairman of First National Bank and Trust Company and co-founder of Phillips Petroleum Company, for financial help in building their dream. But the 1930’s in the United States were not the best of financial times and so handing out money was not exactly first on Phillips’ mind. Although he did not give the project much chance, he gave them some hope by telling them to find 150 pledges from Tulsans for $1,000 each within the next two weeks and if they managed to do this, then he would donate 360 acres in South Tulsa to build their country club. Two weeks later with $150,000 in pledges secured, their vision became reality. Having donated the land, Phillips also asked his friend Perry Maxwell to come on board. An Oklahoma banker, Maxwell had been designing golf courses as a hobby and was already familiar with the land and in fact had often asked Phillips to let him build a golf course on it. Over the next two years, Maxwell lived onsite and worked tirelessly to oversee the construction of what was to become Maxwell’s “Crown Jewel.” The first time Southern Hills hosted the PGA Championship was 1970, which was won by Dave Stockton. After the tournament, the legendary golfer Arnold Palmer named the 12th hole one of the best 18 golf holes in America. It certainly was the one hole that cost Arnold the Championship that year. In 1982 it was the turn of Ray Floyd to be Champion and in 1994 it was Nick Price. For this years final Major the length of the Southern Hills course will be 7,131 yards, par 70. And the defending Champion? Well, no prizes for guessing Tiger Woods. At the Media Day news conference for the 89th PGA Championship, held in June at Southern Hills Country Club, here’s what Tiger had to say about the course: “It's definitely one of the better tests that we'll ever play. As I said, it's a golf course on which you have to shape shots both ways to keep the ball in the fairway and you've got to place the ball on the greens correctly. It's not overly long, but with Bermuda rough, you don't need to have rough very high around the greens or even the fairways to have it be very difficult. If the greens get up to speed, it's definitely going to be one of the tougher tests that we're going to play.” Now, can you think of anyone who fits this criteria? Article by Martin Dawson www.effortless-golf-swing.com Postscript August 13th 2007 Well, I told you so!! Despite the comments regarding Tiger's record at Southern Hills and the fact that the course was not set up to suit his ideal game, Tiger eventually got his first Major of the year. He had to wait till the last one of the year, but he did it! This one was number 13 and he is now just 5 short of Jack's record of 18 Majors. This was Tiger's fourth PGA, his second back to back PGA titles and only Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus have more, with 5 each. Saturday was the day Tiger made his move with a brilliant 63 - so close to a 62 - to take a 3 shot lead into the final day over Stephen Ames from Canada. And what happens when Tiger is ahead in Majors?? Yep! He wins 'em!! Poor Ames, not for the first time paired with Woods on the final day, fell away badly and it was left to Woody Austin and Ernie Els playing up in front to try and put the pressure on. And they did just that, as Els was storming round and although they closed the gap for a very short time to just 1 stroke after Woods 3 putted the 14th, Els dropped a shot up ahead and then a great birdie by Woods on 15 restored the lead to 2 and there it remained. So a round of 69 gave Woods an 8 under finish, with Austin on -6 and Els on -5. No one else got near. Well done, Tiger! Placed 2nd in the Masters, 2nd in the US Open, 12th in The Open Championship, and a daddy for the first time, it's not been a bad year really......... Fix your golf slice - improve your putting - which is the right golf ball for your game. |
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