PGA Championship could use some separation

PGA Championship could use some separation
DOUG FERGUSON (AP Golf Writer) August 5, 2013AP - Sports








PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) -- Phil Mickelson was elated. Tiger Woods was frustrated. Lee Westwood was trying to pretend he wasn't disheartened.

That was the British Open. That was only 15 days ago.

Time to move on to the next major. Monday was the first official day of practice for the PGA Championship, which feels more like the next page than a new chapter.

''They come fast and quick once the U.S. Open hits,'' Graeme McDowell said.

No need explaining that to Ernie Els. He is playing for the seventh time in the last nine weeks, three of them major championships.

And no need complaining to Jack Nicklaus. He had it far worse.

In his second year as a professional, already a Masters and U.S. Open champion, Nicklaus had his first good shot at winning the British Open until he stumbled down the stretch at Royal Lytham & St. Annes and finished one shot behind Bob Charles.

Ten days later, he won his first PGA Championship.

''They used to have the British Open and the PGA back-to-back, which was really kind of silly,'' Nicklaus said. ''I was fortunate to be able to get back.''

He was equally fortunate to be 23 with a strong body and a clear mind. One week, Nicklaus was playing links golf with a small golf ball in temperatures in the mid-50s in the northwest of England. The next week he was playing the final American major at Dallas Athletic Club, where the temperatures topped 100.

''It was a big change,'' Nicklaus said. ''I think a lot of the guys got back, and I think they were probably pretty tired from the British Open and I think they were pretty tired from ... the weather just absolutely beat them down. I guess I was a young guy and I handled those conditions pretty well.''

That was 50 years ago. So maybe now, having a whole two weeks between majors, represents progress.

But the PGA Championship can do better - not only for the players, but for the marketing of a major that lags well behind the other three in popularity.

McDowell was trying to pay a compliment to the PGA Championship last year at Firestone when the truth got in the way. Asked about the final major of the year, he said, ''There's not a guy standing on the range that wouldn't put it head-and-shoulders over any tournament in the world - apart from the other three major championships.''

Perhaps that's because the other three majors have such a clear identity.

The British Open is links golf. The U.S. Open bills itself as the toughest test in golf. The Masters is played on the magical stage of Augusta National every year, making it the course golf fans know better than any other in the world. And the PGA Championship? Geoff Ogilvy once referred to it as ''the other one.''


How to fix that? Consider making less money from TV revenue and move it to October.

The Masters has loads of built-in advantages, and one that gets overlooked is the anticipation. After the Wanamaker Trophy is awarded Sunday at Oak Hill, golf fans have to wait eight months before the next major. The excitement for the Masters only builds when CBS starts airing promotions in the months leading to it.

There are roughly two months before the U.S. Open, and then a month before the British Open - and barely time for a nap before the PGA Championship.

''It is quick,'' Padraig Harrington said after the British Open. ''You think of the guys who are going to play next week (in Canada) and that's four big tournaments in a row. It's a lot of golf. The great thing about being at thePGA and the U.S. Open is they tend to set the course up very uniformly. You can definitely go play these tournaments from a yardage book. ... We know what we're going to get.''

To be clear, having these majors stacked on top of each other is not a great burden on the player. It's golf, not a triathlon.

It just keeps the PGA Championship from getting the buildup it deserves. And the PGA deserves better.

As much as the final major gets overlooked as ''the other one,'' look back over the last five years and try to find anything dull about the PGA Championship. Rory McIlroy, the rising star with a record win at Kiawah. Keegan Bradley's remarkable recovery from a triple bogey to win in a playoff. Martin Kaymer's win andDustin Johnson's fiasco in the bunker at Whistling Straits. Y.E. Yang taking down Tiger Woods at Hazeltine. Harrington ripping out Sergio Garcia's heart for the second straight year in a major.

Here's why October works.

In this global game, it fits the international schedule perfectly. A month after the British Open, the PGA Tourbegins its lucrative FedEx Cup playoffs until the end of September. A month later, the European Tour begins its Race to Dubai with a series of tournaments in Asia.

In between would be the final major of the year - a real ''Super Bowl'' to end the U.S. season.

For those who care nothing about golf except for the majors - and it's a larger population than the PGA Tour wants to believe - this gives them one last event to anticipate in the fall. And in Ryder Cup years, the matches could be played in August instead of a month later. That could help avoid weather issues, particularly in Europe. The only concern is shrinking daylight, though the PGA could reduce the field. Even at 124 players, it would still be the strongest of the majors.

Here's why it probably won't happen.

''I assume these things are based on TV ratings, financials, things like that,'' Harrington said.

Correct.

The PGA Championship is not just the final major of the year. It's the final major before the American football season begins. The ratings wouldn't be quite as high. The revenue would not be as great. Then again, it's not as if the PGA of America would go broke by taking less money to elevate its major championship. One only has to look at the clothing budget for the Ryder Cup, or the party it throws in October at Bermuda called the Grand Slam of Golf.

''That's true. They don't look like they need (money) that week,'' Harrington said. ''But it's all part of making a tournament prestigious. If they move it to October, could they make it a bigger tournament? Who knows? But it wouldn't be a bad thing for us.''

It wouldn't be a bad thing for anyone who loves golf.

Niebrugge wins 2013 Western Amateur

Niebrugge wins 2013 Western Amateur
August 5, 2013AP - Sports









ROLAND, Ark. (AP) -- U.S. Public Links champion Jordan Niebrugge won the Western Amateur final Monday, 3 and 2 over Sean Dale for his third win in three weeks.

Niebrugge and Dale were tied playing the ninth hole Sunday when the final was suspended because of threatening weather. They resumed play Monday and Niebrugge won the first three holes, including birdies on the 10th and 11th, to take a 3-up lead with seven holes to play. Dale, a recent North Florida graduate, birdied 15, but bogeyed the par-3 16th to end the match.

Niebrugge, the 6-foot-4 Oklahoma State player from Mequon, Wis., followed his Public Links win with a victory in the Wisconsin State Amateur tourney. His next stop is the U.S. Amateur Aug. 12-18 at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

For Micheel, PGA win opened door to charity

For Micheel, PGA win opened door to charity

PGA.COM August 5, 2013







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Shaun Micheel has helped raise more than $2 million for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.(Getty Images)


By Stan Awtrey, PGA.com Contributor

Shaun Micheel said his victory at the 2003 PGA Championship ''defined me as a golfer.'' It also started the process of defining him as a humanitarian.

Micheel has not built on that victory as a player. In fact, that win at Oak Hill remains the only victory of his career. However, he continues to use that one shining moment to generate funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a charity for which he's raised more than $2.1 million.

The melding of Micheel and Make-A-Wish is nothing short of serendipity.

Micheel got involved with it in 2002 through a Memphis charity tournament hosted by two-time major champion John Daly. Micheel, who lives in Memphis, was eager to assist the local fundraiser and was happy to help.

''My wife (Stephanie) and I love families and we love kids and wanted to do anything we could to help,'' Micheel said.

He didn't know it, but his chance was right around the corner. Daly decided to end his involvement with the Memphis event in order to start his own charitable foundation. Daly's departure left the Make-A-Wish people scrambling to find a replacement.

''Ironically, I won the PGA Championship and it seemed like a perfect opportunity for me and them to get together,'' Micheel said.

Micheel and Make-A-Wish hosted their first tournament in 2004. They decided to take the event a different way, opting to go away from inviting celebrities (which cost thousands in expenses for flights and rooms) to placing the focus on the children who are being helped.

''We decided to make the Make-A-Wish children the team captains,'' Micheel said. ''We get 15 or 20 of them who are well enough to attend and make them the captains. I think we surprised people that we were able to raise as much money as we did without celebrities or professional golfers.

''I'm not saying people wouldn't want to play with a PGA player, but that's not what it's about. This gives people a chance to see where their money is going. That's huge.''


The fundraiser makes it a point to grant one wish each year. Last year they enabled a young man with cystic fibrosis to take his rock band to Nashville in a tour bus and record an album. This year they were able to fund a Disney cruise for a young girl.

''When we grant the wish and people see what we've done, there's not a dry eye in the place,'' said Micheel, who admitted than he often allows his emotions to seep through his eyes.

Micheel is proud that his fundraiser at TPC Southwind is the top producer for the Make-A-Wish Mid-South Chapter. The event is sold out every year and all the spots were gone in 2013 before the first committee meeting occurred. It proves they must be doing something right.

Micheel will draw more interest as a player this week at Oak Hill, where his victory shocked the golf world in 2003. He has fought through a variety of injuries; he had major surgery on his left shoulder and must deal with a troublesome right shoulder that recently required a cortisone shot.

His 2013 results haven't been up to his standards. He's played three events on the PGA Tour and is yet to make a cut, and he's missed the cut in four of five starts on the Web.com Tour. But when it comes to a return to Oak Hill, Micheel said, ''I'm looking forward to it.''

Micheel's situation has changed over the last decade. He and Stephanie have two children; she was pregnant with son Dade in 2003 and daughter Marin was born in 2007. His mother died in 2010, but his father will able to attend this time. The in-laws are coming and everyone will stay in a rented house.

It will be Micheel's first trip back to the Rochester course since 2004, when he visited in a rain-soaked event to commemorate his win. Despite the miserable conditions that day, Micheel was enticed to return to the spot on No. 18 where he struck his epic 7-iron that landed within inches of the hole and ensured his victory.

Once he reached the place where history had been made, Micheel was surprised to see a commemorative plaque marking the spot.

''I drove out to 18 that day and was like, 'Wow. I didn't know that was there,''' Micheel said. ''And I turned around and there were about 30-40 carts sitting behind the green. Somebody knew about it.''

That place has become a favorite for visitors to Oak Hill, who are eager to take their own swing at the shot. ''There are a lot of divots around that spot,'' said longtime Oak Hill PGA Professional Craig Harmon.

Visitors see the marker as a place where golf history was made. But Micheel's vision of the spot goes deeper than that. He views it as a place that opened the doors that enabled him to make life a little better for children who have been dealt a bad hand.

''It makes Stephanie and I feel very good that we're doing our part,'' he said.