Fans get chance to impact golf’s final major of 2013
Starting today golf fans, you will have a chance to have a say in pin placement for next month’s PGA Championship. That could make you the target of some of the best players in the world, who might demand that you check your ego.
That’s what eventual British Open champion Phil Mickelson said after the first round of the Open, suggesting the course was set up using some “really funky” pin positions. “You’ve got (to) let go of your ego sometimes and just set the course up the way the best players can win,” he said.
Never fear. Jack Nicklaus will be there to back you up.
The PGA of America will give fans a chance to choose the hole location on the 181-yard, par-3 15th hole for the final round of the PGA Championship, Aug. 8-11, at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. The “PGA Championship Pick the Hole Location Challenge Hosted by Jack Nicklaus” begins this morning at pga.com. The contest runs through Aug. 10.
It means that for the first time golf fans can have a direct impact on hole location in a major. It doesn’t mean they can choose a location 2inches from the edge of the green, near the water, or in the middle of a slope making it impossible to stop the ball close.
The four selected hole locations have been methodically and strategically chosen by Kerry Haigh, who has set up championship courses for the PGA since 1989, and Nicklaus.
“The chance for golf fans to interact with the PGA Championship and play a role in shaping the outcome of the final round fascinates me,” Nicklaus said.
The PGA website will provide video clips showing the 15h hole, with Nicklaus discussing each of the locations, what makes them interesting and how to approach them.
“I found it fascinating listening to Jack talking about what he’s thinking about as a player,” Haigh said.
And why the 15th hole? It’s late in the round, it could prove pivotal and there are many tricky locations to choose from.
“That’s one of the reasons this hole was selected,” Haigh said. “There are a lot of options, and none of them are particularly easy.”