Golf: The PGA Championship

The alleged weak sister of the major championships has arrived.

It's time for the PGA Championship to be held at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin.

The word is that this will be the toughest major championship course in years, perhaps ever, especially if the winds kick up alongside Lake Michigan.

The Irish links style Pete Dye design has tongues wagging across the world as the best golfers arrive for the last major of the year.

I don't care what anyone says -- from the pictures I've seen of Whistling Straits and when I compare it to a real links course in Ireland such as Ballybunion (on which it is loosely based), it looks manufactured -- or as Gary D'Amato said: Whistling Straits is one great, grand mirage.

They brought in over 170,000 dump truck loads of quarried sand to pull off the mirage of a trip to Ireland.

People don't usually get this excited for the PGA Championship, but because they've heard so much about the golf course, anticipation has been building since it was selected.

I'm skeptical when people say a certain golf course will be among the toughest ever.

They said the same thing about Oak Tree for the 1988 PGA Championship but Jeff Sluman won at 12 under and 24 golfers shot par or better.

I've often wondered why the PGA Championship gets knocked as the weak sister and the so-called least important major championship.

Several reasons are usually brought up along with my comments.

It used to be match play until television dictated it become stroke play in 1958; thus, it lost its uniqueness among the big four.

People are funny when it comes to match play.

When the World Golf Championships debuted in 1999 and Jeff Maggert defeated Andrew Magee at the first event, it was match play.

Some didn't like that because it wasn't Tiger against David Duval. It was two supposed no-names in the final.

Well, that is how match play is.

Those that say the PGA should be match play complained when Bob Hamilton defeated the great Byron Nelson in 1944 or when Walter Burkemo met Felice Torza in 1953.

They would moan if Todd Fischer met Heath Slocum in the final this year. I'm going to say it should return to match play.

A major at match play is a terrific gut check and brings out the best in anyone, and if a journeyman wins it, good for him.

Is there a rule that says he can't?

It's deemed the weak major because it's the last one on the calendar.

Well, someone has to be fourth.

The Masters won't budge from its early April slot, neither will the two Open's, so what can the PGA do?

In 1971 it was played in February in Florida, but that was a one time thing. Moving it to first would eliminate much of America from hosting it because of weather.

The PGA comes just three weeks after the British and eight weeks after the U.S. Open.

Players are pretty drained and then have to gear up for another one.

Is it any wonder there are so many first time winners?

Why not push it back to the Labor Day weekend?

Okay, it would run into the start of football and the first weekend of U.S. Open tennis, but at match play it would pull in some good ratings.

Some have suggested May but The Players Championship wants to move there.

It would also be too close to the U.S. Open on the front side and then you'd have the last major in mid-July.

The rest of the schedule would seem like a wasteland.

A better choice is the second week in October?

Don't laugh. The days are cooler (players often complain about the August heat), it would be three months after the British Open and give everyone a nice rest and recovery period, it would be three weeks after the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup (which will probably fold soon anyway) and three weeks ahead of the Tour Championship.

Any course in America could still be used and may even be in better condition because of the cooler temperatures.

It could even be held in a warm weather state without worries about the course being baked out.

Having it near the end of the schedule would also solve the ongoing problem of top golfers coasting into the end of the season once they have a top spot on the money list sewn up.

The players would out of necessity participate in the odd Southern Farm Bureau Classic as a warm-up.

The PGA Championship gets criticized because of some of its host courses.

Okay, I agree that choices like Shoal Creek and Valhalla (twice each) were lousy picks but the PGA has also been at Oak Hill, Winged Foot, and Southern Hills.

Interestingly, the infamous Shoal Creek and Valhalla are both Jack Nicklaus designs and perhaps the PGA felt they owed Jack one for taking home the Wannamaker Trophy five times.

Most players wished they didn't.

The PGA suffered nearly two decades ago when in successive years it was hosted by PGA National in Florida (in suffocating August heat and local apathy), Oak Tree, Kemper Lakes, Shoal Creek (the infamous 1990 tournament when racism and country club membership become front page news), and Crooked Stick.

The PGA has since smartened up and returned to the classics with the odd new course thrown in.

Some look down their noses at the PGA because it allows 25 (it used to be forty) club pros into the field, none of whom has a prayer of winning.

So what? They won their sectional tournament and this is their reward -- a week of fame with the big boys.

Until recently The Masters allowed a bunch of doddering old champions into its event each year.

True, they won the tournament long time ago, but in many cases they can't break 80 and often quit after 18 holes.

If it wasn't for the club pros working their tails off and the duffer taking lessons and purchasing all that new equipment, Tiger and Phil would be playing for nickels instead of millions.

Jeff Sluman's first victory was the 1988 PGA but he never got the respect as a major winner that he deserved.

A few years after his win a writer asked him if he had the game to win a major championship.

He responded with: "I think so, considering I've already won one."

Around that same time another writer during a press conference asked him if his victory should count as a major because of the reasons we discussed.

Sluman's response? "I'll tell you what. I won't count my PGA as a major when you guys stop counting the five that Jack Nicklaus has."

The debate abruptly ended.

Here are my picks for Whistling Straits:

* Tiger Woods: The easy choice. Six top-tens in his last seven starts and 10 of 14 overall this season. Fourth on the money list and scoring average. I'll be convinced he's in a slump if goes winless the rest of the year. He won't.

* Vijay Singh: He's been winning a lot of tournaments but hasn't won a major since the 2000 Masters -- almost five years ago. He enjoys links style golf and now that he's not pressuring himself to dethrone Tiger, he may win the major and be the consensus number one.

* Padraig Harrington: Everyone says he's going to win a big one and if you need a major, the PGA is the place to do it.

* Jerry Kelly: See Harrington's reason. The Wisconsin native wins one for the home folks.

Darkhorses:

Nice guy Kenny Perry makes up for his 1996 playoff loss.

One time "Next Nicklaus," Scott Verplank, has quietly made every cut this year, played some darned good golf and earns his way into the Ryder Cup.