"Monster" performance, Harrington slays competition at Oakland Hills
In Play! magazine
Story and Photos by Michael Niziolek
August brought the 90th PGA Championship to Michigan for the sixth time in its celebrated history.
The beautiful Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township hosted an amazing field of 156 players, including 97 out of the top 100 ranked golfers in the world.
With a four-under final round Padraig Harrington surged up the leader board to beat Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis by two strokes to become the first European since 1930 to win the PGA Championship.
By winning the British Open in July, Harrington has the distinction of being the first European to win consecutive majors and win both the British and PGA Championships in the same year. Only three other golfers have ever won both majors in the same year - Tiger Woods (2000 and 2006), Nick Price (1994) and Walter Hagen (1924).
Harrington started the tournament by hitting 145 (+5) in the first two rounds (71,74) and was six strokes off the lead going into the weekend. His back-to-back rounds of 66 gave him a final score of minus three and he was one of only three golfers to finish with a final score under par.
But that wasn't unexpected.
Going into the tournament the feeling was that under-par scores would be at a premium considering the changes made to lengthen the course (as well as narrowing the fairways) and Oakland Hills reputation as "the Monster."
"Oakland Hills has traditionally been a tough venue," Jim Furyk, a former U.S. Open Champions, says. "It's tough, it's long, difficult. The greens have a lot of movement and lot of slope in them. I wouldn't say the rough is overly long, but it's very, very thick and tough to play out of."
Before the tournament he foreshadowed his own performance when he told In Play! magazine about the biggest challenge that Oakland Hills presented.
Read more
In Play! magazine
Story and Photos by Michael Niziolek
August brought the 90th PGA Championship to Michigan for the sixth time in its celebrated history.
The beautiful Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township hosted an amazing field of 156 players, including 97 out of the top 100 ranked golfers in the world.
With a four-under final round Padraig Harrington surged up the leader board to beat Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis by two strokes to become the first European since 1930 to win the PGA Championship.
By winning the British Open in July, Harrington has the distinction of being the first European to win consecutive majors and win both the British and PGA Championships in the same year. Only three other golfers have ever won both majors in the same year - Tiger Woods (2000 and 2006), Nick Price (1994) and Walter Hagen (1924).
Harrington started the tournament by hitting 145 (+5) in the first two rounds (71,74) and was six strokes off the lead going into the weekend. His back-to-back rounds of 66 gave him a final score of minus three and he was one of only three golfers to finish with a final score under par.
But that wasn't unexpected.
Going into the tournament the feeling was that under-par scores would be at a premium considering the changes made to lengthen the course (as well as narrowing the fairways) and Oakland Hills reputation as "the Monster."
"Oakland Hills has traditionally been a tough venue," Jim Furyk, a former U.S. Open Champions, says. "It's tough, it's long, difficult. The greens have a lot of movement and lot of slope in them. I wouldn't say the rough is overly long, but it's very, very thick and tough to play out of."
Before the tournament he foreshadowed his own performance when he told In Play! magazine about the biggest challenge that Oakland Hills presented.
Read more
