The 2007 PGA Championship

August 9-12, 2007
Southern Hills Country Club
Tulsa, OK
Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,131
Purse: $8.05 million with $1.35 million going to the winner
Defending Champion: Tiger Woods

List of Champions & Scores

Results & Scores 2006 PGA Championship

Box Score of 2006 PGA Championship

Tournament facts:

Tournament information:

After the inaugural tournament, the event took a two-year break from 1917 to 1918 because of World War I. The break in action didn't phase Jim Barnes, as he went on to win the PGA Championship in its return to the Tour in 1919. Since the two year hiatus, The PGA Championship has only seen one other break, that being in 1943 due to World War II. The biggest change in the event's history occurred in 1958, when the format of the event was changed from Match Play to 72-hole stroke play.

The famed Wanamaker trophy, awarded to the winner of the PGA Championship, can trace its routes back to the beginning of golf equipment. In the early part of the 20th Century, A.G. Spalding & Bros. was the predominant maker of golf equipment; however, Rodman Wanamaker sought to create a company that would rival Spalding in the golf industry. Though his plan ultimately failed, his dream will always me remembered as he was the one that first sponsored the PGA Championship and the trophy, which today bears his name..

Course information:

Canary and Warren raised the money with time to spare. The next step was to select a golf course designer. Perry Maxwell, a native Oklahoman who designed courses such as Prairie Dunes and Colonial, was selected as the designer.

The course opened in 1936 and with the support of Ben Hogan, who thought the course was one of the best in the country, was awarded the 1958 U.S. Open. With temperatures hovering close to 100 all week the Open was named the "Blast Furnace Open." Since then another two more Opens have been played in 1977 and 2001. Also three PGA Championships have been contested and with the fourth being played this week it will be the course used the most in PGA Championship history. Southern Hills, like all other majors, requires accuracy rather than length. However, unlike most majors, Southern Hills affords golfers numerous birdie opportunities, especially on the front 9. Hole number one, a slight dogleg left, eases golfers in with a rather wide fairway and very little trouble. The other birdie hole on the front is number four. The Par 4 fades to the right. The green is surrounded by bunkers; however, the green, because of its size, affords golfers some leeway with the approach.

The most difficult holes on the course will be the 2nd, 12th, 16th and 18th holes. All of them will play over 450 yards with the 2nd playing at 488 yards and the 16th at 507 yards

Many consider the 458-yard Par 4 12th hole to be the signature hole on the course. The dogleg left requires a slight draw tee shot to a tight, blind landing area. The approach shot requires golfers to navigate a trio of bunkers left and back and a small stream front and right. In the 2001 U.S. Open it was the fourth hardest hole and played to a 4.295 average.

The Buzz:

Another item that is creating some buzz is the fact that all three major winners in 2007 are rookies in winning majors. Since 1960 only two other years, 1969 (rookie major winners George Archer, Orville Moody, Tony Jacklin and Ray Floyd) and in 2003 (rookie winners Mike Weir, Jim Furyk, Ben Curtis and Shaun Michael) have seen such droughts of major experience wins. Since Tiger became a pro in 1996 he has only had three years (1998, 2003 & '04) with no major wins. So many including those involved with the Grand Slam of Golf, the PGA of America and TNT will be holding their breath to get someone with some experience.

This week is also the last week for getting Presidents Cup points. The men on the bubble on the American team are Stewart Cink (9th) and Lucas Glover (10th). They are being chased by John Rollins (11th) and Brett Wetterich (12th). But some of the hot golfers that aren't in the Cup is Hunter Mahan (14th), Boo Weekley (34th) and Brandt Snedeker (51). They will give captain Jack Nicklaus quite a choice, do you take a Chris DiMarco (25), Davis Love III (17th) or a Mark Calcavecchia (13th) who have experience over the hot golfers. I would say that Mahan is a luck with his good play of late, you would have to think that Captain Nicklaus wants to take DiMarco but he is going to have to play well this week for a shot.

Over on the International squad captain Gary Player has the same choices, but in one case Mike Weir, a decison has a lot to do with what could happen at Royal Montreal. That is because there are no Canadian's in the top-ten and the closets is Stephen Ames (19th) and Mike Weir (20th). The sentimental choice is Weir but other than a good British Open he really hasn't proven himself. With Australians Stuart Appleby (12th) and Aaron Baddeley (15th) out of the top-ten you have to think they would get the nod. Player also has to have Andres Romero on the team, based on his play the last couple of weeks. Right now Romero is 10th and the bubble boy, if he was to drop down he would probably get a spot. Still Weir will help give the local crowd something to cheer about, national pride is very important and will give Player something to think about.

Lastly there are two weeks left to qualify for FedEx Cup points, but the reality is that nobody really cares. With the top-25 heavy in marquee value nobody really gives a hoot for the race to get into the top-144. Most of the guys from 120 to 144 will be scrambling to just keep there Tour cards and the only marquee name not in the top-144 is John Daly. I would say that the race for the top 144 is probably one of the most over-hyped media events in sports in decades, there is no too ways about it the PGA Tour needs to reformat this for some excitment.

Here are some things to look for this week:

Photo: © Todd Rosenber/Getty Images The 18th Hole of The Southern Hills Country Club, home of the 2007 PGA Championship..

Everytime I have played Southern Hills I am bewildered that anyone can make a par on the course, let alone a few birdies. This year will be no exception as the PGA has made it even harder. As an example, the par 5 fifth hole has been stretched to 653 yards, making it the longest par 5 in PGA Championship history. The 16th hole, which normally plays as a par 5 and was a par 5 for the 1970 & '82 and '94 PGA's, has been shortened to play to a par 4 but at 507 yards thus making it the longest par 4 in PGA Championship history (tied with the 8th hole at Whistling Straits). So guess who has the advantage? Now this is a trick question that is answered in the next paragraph.

• Key stat for the winner:
  No long hitters don't have an advantage at Southern Hills. First of all the course will play at 7,131 yards, that is rather short under modern day standards. What makes the course hard, all of the doglegs. Ever par 4 and par 5 bend in some manner and there isn't a straight hole among them. What happens is longer hitter sometimes run it through the fairway. So shot placement is very important. Look at the list of major champions at Southern Hills, everyone of them Tommy Bolt, Dave Stockton, Ray Floyd, Hubert Green, Nick Price and Retief Goosen have been controlled drivers of the ball and that is the key. So that is the reason many feel that a Tiger Woods can't win here, but wait if he was able to control the fairways of Hoylake, he will be able to control the fairways of Southern Hills.
  Look at the top-ten of the Total Driving stat of the PGA Tour, there are three very good canadates, Hunter Mahan, Lucas Glover and Kenny Perry. Yes Perry has played poorly for a couple of years now but his game is a lot better and if he drives it well he will do well.
• Since the greens are very small they will also be tough to not only hit but hold. Sharp iron play will also help along with the imagination when you do get in trouble. But as we have seen in the last five PGA's with winners as diverse as Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel, Vijays Singh, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods anything can happen. The key is to be peaking about Wedneday right before the start of the championship. That's what happened to Beem, Micheel, Singh, Mickelson and Woods so look for someone that is playing well.
• Scrambling will be at a premium , look for good chippers like Phil Mickelson or a Sergio Garcia to have a great advantage here.
• Putting is always a key in winning but this year with greens the are a bit smaller than average the longest putt will be from 40 feet, thus giving players more chances to make putts.
• There is also the unknown factor in which the course could yield low scores to an unknown player. In 13 of the last 19 PGA's, the winner has claimed his first major in the PGA Championship so this could be a good omen for a Sergio Garcia, Kenny Perry or Luke Donald. As we said, both Rich Beem and Shaun Micheel weren't household names when they won so you never know if that will get repeated.
• Weather will play a factor, with heat and humidity taking its toll on the players. Each day is going to be 95+ with the heat index reaching triple digits, so you won't find this a course for the out of shape, heavy weighted player. The winner will be a physical wonder.
• Of course at the end of the day we have to look at what Tiger Woods has done of late and think that he is still the favorite.
  
• One important factor that I think will be prevalent at Southern Hills this week is the Perry Maxwell connection. Maxwell not only designed Southern Hills, but also Colonial C.C. the site of the Crown Plaza Inviational at Colonial and just by chance players that do well at Colonial has done well in tournaments at Southern Hills, which should go well for some of the past winners there like Sergio Garcia, Kenny Perry, Steve Flesch and Rory Sabbatini.

Just look at this chart to see how well champions at Southern Hills have done at Colonial:
Event at Southern Hills	Chapion	Finish that year at Colonial
1958 U.S. Open	Tommy Bolt	Won
1970 PGA Championship	Dave Stockton	T12th*
*Should be noted that Stockton did win Colonial in 1967
1977 U.S. Open	Hubert Green	T9th*
*SNoted that Green did finish T8th at Colonial in 1976
1982 PGA Championship	Ray Floyd	Cut*
*Noted that Floyd did finish T7th at Colonial in 1981
1994 PGA Championship	Nick Price	Won
1995 Tour Championship	Billy Mayfair	T8th
1996 Tour Championship	Tom Lehman	Cut*
*should be noted that Lehman won Colonial in 1995
2001 U.S. Open	Retief Goosen	DNP
*hard to believe, Goosen has never played at Colonial

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