2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits Discussion Thread

[pumaAttack]

I hope its true!  Thanks for the update.

[ChrisP]

It's a good course for Rory if he's on his game. He nearly won there in 2010. Any course with four par-5s and green speeds that are average suit his game. He struggles with faster greens. Whistling Straits traditionally hasn't had lightning fast greens. Just need to drive it straight which he's done pretty well for the most part this year and then it plays into his strength with his ball-striking ability.

[Rogin]

The top ten and ties (all within four shots of the playoff) in 2010 included Martin Kaymer, Bubba Watson, Zach Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Jason Dufner, Jason Day and Matt Kuchar. As far as a favourites' list goes for this year's, you could do worse than just back that bunch again!

[ChrisP]

A lot of those guys are coming into the PGA in pretty solid form....and that's not including Rory.

[Wally Fairway]

Couple of pictures from last weekend, practice round at WS for Spieth and Woodland

https://twitter.com/JordanSpieth

[Calvin]

Scratch that, he is practicing Saturday.  Playing 18 at supposedly ~80% as of right now

Not according to this report, which says more definitive info to be announced Thursday: http://www.irishgolfdesk.com/news-files/2015/8/4/mcilroy-not-booked-for-us-pga-comeback It was cited in today's (Wednesday's) paper. Note photo of the ankle in a wrap.

OT, I was fortunate to play a couple rounds there two weeks ago while they were in midst of course prep for the event. Really, really pretty setting when the sun is out, Lake Michigan can look Caribbean blue. But the fairways are narrow and if you don't drive accurately, you are 100% toast, and I was not even playing from the tips (which were all off-limits anyway). Some of those holes are not too bad, but some will be an unbelievable challenge if the wind blows.

[nevets88]

Mcilroy tweets, but nothing about playing. https://twitter.com/McIlroyRory/status/628917794902556672 Working hard every day to come back stronger #dontmindthegrind https://t.co/U5jY6zvDd2

[Yukari]

Not according to this report, which says more definitive info to be announced Thursday: http://www.irishgolfdesk.com/news-files/2015/8/4/mcilroy-not-booked-for-us-pga-comeback  It was cited in today's (Wednesday's) paper. Note photo of the ankle in a wrap.

OT, I was fortunate to play a couple rounds there two weeks ago while they were in midst of course prep for the event. Really, really pretty setting when the sun is out, Lake Michigan can look Caribbean blue. But the fairways are narrow and if you don't drive accurately, you are 100% toast, and I was not even playing from the tips (which were all off-limits anyway). Some of those holes are not too bad, but some will be an unbelievable challenge if the wind blows.

Yikes!

This does not bode well for Tiger.

I expect him to miss the cut, but hoping he'll win.

On an off-topic note: I can relate to why Tiger can hit drives well on the range and like a duffer during tournaments.  Right now, I seem to be suffering the same faith, which is baffling.  I've always hit the driver well on the range and until a month ago, I hit them well on the course too.  Then I started to change my swing and all of a sudden, I cannot take my driver swing from the range to the course .  Just a tiny bit of tension seems to totally ruin my driver swing.  Ugh!!!

[Vinsk]

I'd like to see a good chunk of the favorites at the top really battle it out. I'm hoping we don't get the usual slew of barely known guys at the top only to be won by Knox.

[pumaAttack]

I'd like to see a good chunk of the favorites at the top really battle it out. I'm hoping we don't get the usual slew of barely known guys at the top only to be won by Knox.

Last 10 Champions:

Rory McIlroy

Jason Dufner

Rory McIlroy

Keegan Bradley

Martin Kaymer

Y.E. Yang

Padrig Harrington

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods

Phil Mickelson

Not sure where your example is coming from.  Outside of Yang the last 10 winners are all big names in golf.

[pumaAttack]

Last 10 winners for the other Majors:

British Open:

Zach Johnson

Rory McIlroy

Phil Mickelson

Ernie Els

Darren Clarke

Louis Oosthuizen

Stewart Cink

Padraig Harrington

Padraig Harrington

Tiger Woods

US Open:

Jordan Speith

Martin Kaymer

Justin Rose

Webb Simpson

Rory McIlroy

Graeme McDowell

Lucas Glover

Tiger Woods

Angel Cabrera

Geoff Ogilvy

Masters:

Jordan Speith

Bubba Watson

Adam Scott

Bubba Watson

Charl Schwartzel

Phil Mickelson

Angel Cabrera

Trevor Immelman

Zach Johnson

Phil Mickelson

Looking at the last 40 major winners, I think the PGA fits right in with the other three.   The U.S Open may have the least amount of "Big Name" golfers with Glover, Simpson, McDowell and Ogilvy

[Vinsk]

I have no example, and I was referring more to the opening days. Sunday of course is my favorite but it seems like Thr/Fri I see the boards riddled with the B list and always some barely known player who fires a real low round ( like at the Quicken Loans with Merrit). No biggie, I'd just like to see one of the power names bust out a low one early.

[Scotsclaff]

Just had a look at look at the flyover videos on the website,looks fantastic.

Watch out for Kaymer on this one.

[KevinFaulkner]

What are the keys to winning here? Its been stated that there are narrow fairways so driving accuracy and carry would be big so you dont have a big number in out of thick rough. Greens aren't fast? Well that combo bodes terribly for Tiger. I read somewhere the greens are quite large - could be similar to Chambers? What kind of rough is it? Are you dead if you miss the fairway like at Merion? Gotta accumulate as much pre pick knowledge as possible and you guys are the experts! Appreciate the help.

[ChrisP]

It's not as difficult as Chambers. Whistling is scoreable. Greens aren't crazy fast. Just have to keep it out of trouble and take advantage of the four par-5s and short par-4s. But if you don't hit it straight you're gonna have a very long week. There's a lot of trouble off the fairways and the greens, especially 18 as we saw 5 years ago.

[KevinFaulkner]

Seems like fairway bunker GIR would be a key stat, no? I watched the flyover and there seems to be a million of them hugging the narrow fairways.

[Calvin]

Seems like fairway bunker GIR would be a key stat, no? I watched the flyover and there seems to be a million of them hugging the narrow fairways.

They say the course took something like 5 years to make because they trucked in sand for every elevation you see - the surrounding countryside is pretty flat - and that there are 998 bunkers.  .

Virtually all of the fairway bunkers are waste areas, assuming they don't relabel them as bunkers (remember Dustin's mistake?)  Many of them are in the middle of significant (i.e., small, but effectively blocking, or sometimes visually obstructing) hills and there's lots of grass and mounds in them so sometimes grounding your club doesn't help.  The actual rough isn't (or wasn't) overly thick, certainly not by USO standards (I've played Torrey after their events - WS was not nearly as thick), but it's not this thin stuff you may see in regular events and in many cases there's only a narrow strip of grass rough before you are in the grassy/sandy/hilly links-type stuff, and also the holes along the water may have a margin of only few feet before you get to rocks, drop-offs to the beach (think Pebble) and other completely unplayable stuff.  Judging by TV, greens are not universally as inhospitable as Chambers Bay, many are fair sized, but some are very tricky and small depending on the pin placement and you have to be in the right portion of the green. For example, #6, I think (short par 4 after par 5), has two virtually separate putting areas at near right angles to each other, and if the pin is in the smaller area in back it's nearly impossible to 2-putt from front of the green and if you are long or right of the smaller area on approach you are in rocks or hilly rough.  #3 is a relatively short par 3, but the front of the green is sloped so severely down, and the front right quadrant is a hump sloped so severely toward the water, that the only way to play a front center-left pin is to hit long, lag back along bottom edge of the green to hole-high (taking care not to hit even a little too far or you're off the green in front), and then make a longish uphill putt going perpendicular to your first putt. They can make these greens play like putt-putt golf if they want.

[Spiethismyhero]

I don't know if this is the right place for this post but ... I'm attending my very first golf tournament next week at Whistling Straits. I have tickets for the final two days (grounds passes) and I'm wondering if anyone with experience has any tips? I'm going by myself. Best times to arrive? What kind of game plan? Should one follow a group or stake out a position? Things like that.

Any assistance/tips/ideas would be appreciated. Thanks everyone!