Image copyright PGA.com

It’s hard to believe we are already into August. The summer is flying by and we are just a few weeks away from this seasons 4th and final major, The PGA Championship August 13th-16th at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. There are so many story lines developing for this event it would be hard to touch on them all in one article.

Of course the first thing that comes to my mind is what is beginning to seem like a snake bite, Dustin Johnson. Clearly long, strong and talented. That said he is currently carrying what seems like the label, “can’t close the big deal”. If you remember back, we are in fact returning to the scene of one of the original crimes. It was at Whistling Straits in 2010 at the very same PGA Championship that Johnson grounded his club in a bunker on the 72nd hole. A two shot penalty kept him out of a playoff for that major won by Martin Kaymer over Bubba Watson.

Johnson returns to the same venue in a few weeks after coming off of a British he seemed in command of only to collapse over the weekend and a three putt from close range at Chambers Bay to hand Jordon Spieth The US Open back in June.

Speaking of Spieth, can you imagine if he wins The PGA and the only thing between him and The Grand Slam was one shot from a playoff at St Andrews via six three putts and a four putt! They will write about that if it happens until the end of time. So many young wonderful players are rounding into form with what seems like perfect timing. Rickey Fowler and Jason Day seem like the two most obvious characters ready to pounce on The Wanamaker Trophy. My long shot to watch is the young and extremely talented Justin Thomas. This kid has been hanging around the top of leaderboards all season and has serious game and what seems like a big heart. Keep your eyes on him.

The golf course and the event itself are a story line. This year’s PGA Championship is a $10 Million Dollar event with just north of 1.8 large going to the winner. The golf course itself is a Pete Dye masterpiece in excess of 7500 yards long. It’s a links style track with the best guess as to the number of bunkers covering the 18 holes being just shy of 1000! The 18th hole alone has 96! It is built alone a two mile stretch above the shores of Lake Michigan which makes it both beautiful and at times crazy windy.

It is shaping up to big a great event on a very unique track, with an extremely deep and talented field mixed with young guns and cagey vets! I’m looking forward to it as I hope you all are!
Sincerely in golf, Tom Patri