Brennan's Blog - 90th PGA Championship

I would first like to congratulate Chez Reavie on his first PGA Tour win at the RBC Canadian Open a couple of weeks back.  I thought the tournament went very well considering the weather delays and the amount of rain the course received.  I was very surprised the course held up like it did and was happy for the RCGA and RBC that the tournament turned out to be such a success.  I hope that we can build the event in the next few years to a top level PGA event with a strong international field.  Having St. Georges as the host course in 2010 should be a big draw for the players as they always seem to talk about how great the old style courses are.  The addition of RBC as a title sponsor should have a big impact on getting the event to that level over the next few years.
 
This week we are just outside lovely Detroit, Michigan for the 90th PGA Championship.  The host course is the famed Oakland Hills South Course which is also known as the Monster, and what a fitting name that is.  It could be one of the hardest tests of golf I have ever seen.  Not only is it a 7,400 yard par 70, but it has to have some of the toughest greens we see on tour.  They have some severe slope to them and some of the largest mounds I have seen.  Getting to the greens isn't that easy of a task either as the fairways are quite narrow and the rough is nasty.  To top things off the fairway bunkers have some pretty severe lips and make it very difficult to get the approach shot to the green.  This is definitely the toughest test I've ever seen at a PGA Championship.
 
Mike and I both got into town on Sunday night and spent a little time at the course working on his game.  He had the week off last week so he felt like he needed to get in a little practice on Sunday.  On Monday we played 9 holes with Dean Wilson, Kenny Perry, and a friend of Kenny's who is a club pro in West Palm Beach.  One of the unique things about this week is that there are 20 PGA Club Professionals who get to play which is a great honor for them.  On Tuesday we played with John Daly, Dean, and Ken Duke. It is always a great time playing with JD as he always has a good story to tell.  John got to get up on stage with my favorite musician Kenny Chesney on Saturday night at Ford Field so we had lots to talk about, or I had a lot of questions for him might be a better way to put it.  On Wednesday we played nine holes early in the morning and called it a day at noon.  Mix in a little practice each day and that is our preparation for the week.  I feel very good about the way the week has gone so far and how Mike is playing. I'm ready to get the tournament started!

The par 3's at Oakland Hills are some of the toughest par 3's that I have seen on any course. The 3rd and 13th are both about 200 and will be 4 or 5 irons, both to greens that have a lot of slope and are very tricky. The 9th hole is 245 yards and is a three wood from the back tee or if they do move the tees up will be a long iron or 5 wood to a green that is severely sloped from back to front.  I have a strong feeling that this may play as the toughest hole this week for the field. The 17th is also a very long hole that requires a long iron or hybrid to another crazy green.  In the practice round today Mike landed his ball on the front of the green and the ball ended up in the back rough. It is really not a fair green but it is what it is and we just have to deal with it.  Aside from the par 3's it is hard to really single out any other holes as they are all fairly challenging.  Like I said if the wind was to pick up this could be one of the more difficult major championships I have worked in my ten years out here.
 
I am looking forward to this week as I think Mike is very comfortable with his game.  I think he has a big advantage when the course is this difficult as he always seems to grind it out and never give up.  He also has a great wedge game which is important on courses with rough this long because if you miss a fairway you won't be getting to the green. I think that anyone who is par for the 4 days will have a great chance of winning and wouldn't be surprised to see over par score win the championship!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more from MikeWeir.com!