It was just 13 days ago that Henrik Stenson out-birdied Phil Mickelson at Royal Troon and took home the Claret Jug with a record-setting 20-under-par score. His victory at the British Open has left him little time to savor his marvelous accomplishment as Swenson and his talented peers find themselves at the midway point of the PGA Championship at storied Baltusrol. Because of the adjusted PGA Tour schedule that accommodates the return of golf to the Olympic Games, we find ourselves watching two of golf’s grand slam championships during a span of 18 days. This time around, the victor will be the most fit, mentally and physically.
The Ricoh Women’s British Open, one of the five major tourneys for the lady professionals, is also playing out this week at the Woburn Golf Club in England. For those fans of the game who will watch the women play this weekend in Britain, do note that Woburn is a parkland-style golf course and is more reminiscent of Baltusrol than St. Andrews. It is a beautiful course and there are moments when you think you just might be in northern Michigan.
The men pros are competing in their last major of the season at Baltusrol in Springfield, New Jersey. Springfield could be considered a suburb of New York City as it is just 20 miles due west of Manhattan. The Baltusrol Country Club was founded in 1895 by Louis Keller. Keller was a member of New York’s high society elite as he was the publisher of the New York Social Register. The original course at Baltusrol was an early classic and served as the host of the 1903 U.S. Open, the 1904 U.S. Amateur, the 1911 U.S. Women’s Amateur, and the 1915 U.S. Open. Baltusrol was the place to be for both the greats of the game and the members of the business community. The country club board decided to use the extra land adjacent to the golf course to complete a 36-hole project. The original course was completely abandoned and a member of golf’s golden age of architecture, A.W. Tillinghast (Winged Foot, Bethpage, San Francisco GC), was commissioned to design what would become the Upper and Lower courses. At one point in time, the Upper Course was seen as a great test and ended up hosting the 1936 National Open. Baltusrol has hosted national championships on three different courses.
Since the 1950s, the Lower Course at Baltusrol has hosted big-time tournaments with top-notch professionals finding the winner’s circle. The 1954 U.S. Open was won at Baltusrol Lower by Ed Furgol. Mickey Wright won the Women’s Open there four years later. In 1967, Jack Nicklaus bombed his way to victory in the U.S. Open at the Lower Course, carding a record-setting 5-under-par 275. Some 13 years later, the 40-year-old Nicklaus was closing in upon the end of an illustrious career. The National Open at Baltusrol in 1980 must have rejuvenated the ghosts of 1967 as Jack opened up play with a 63 and ended up winning his 16th major championship with a two-stroke victory over Isao Aoki.
It was precision shot making that earned Lee Janzen his first of two U.S. Open titles in the 1993 U.S. Open at Baltusrol. He matched Nicklaus’ 1980 aggregate of 8-under-par 272. As an aside, when Jack won the Open in 1967, he pocketed $30,000. He made $55,000 in 1980. Janzen made a hefty $290,000, far removed from the $1.8 million check that the winner will receive on Sunday. Of course, in 2005 Phil Mickelson won his second of five major titles when he captured the PGA Championship at Baltusrol on a Monday morning. Phil won by the thinnest of margins, making an up-and-down birdie on the final hole to outlast Steve Elkington and Thomas Bjorn by one stroke, and Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Davis Love III by two strokes.
So here we are, 11 years later, with the PGA Championship returning to one of the game’s most historic golf sites. A long and traditional tree-lined golf course with lightning fast greens, Baltusrol adds legitimacy to the PGA Championship rotation by its very presence. It has had a timeless presence on America’s national golf stage and is capable of great golf drama because of the way the Lower Course is designed. Stretched out to a hefty 7,462 yards, the front nine plays to a par of 34. The incoming nine is a par 36 and concludes with a pair of par-5 holes. The 17th hole is a beast and plays to a super long 650 yards. The 18th is a doable “must-have” eagle or birdie hole that is a relatively short 533 yards. Furgol, Nicklaus and Mickelson all won majors by one stroke by making birdie on the final hole. Overall there are seven par-4 holes that play to more than 450 yards. Long and accurate driving and a great touch are crucial.
This year’s PGA Championship is a spectator sellout. If history is any indicator at all, expect the New York-area crowds to be louder and more rowdy tham those spectators at other traditional golf sites. Mickelson has been a fan favorite down through the years and yet it is possible to earn the disdain of New York fans as evidenced by their taunting of Sergio Garcia when he had the gripping yips.
As earlier stated, the Lower Course at Baltusrol is an American golfing gem. The PGA of America continues to book U.S. Open-type sites for its major championships. At one time, the PGA Championship was contested at less-than-major sites such as Pecan Valley, Tanglewood Park and the NCR Country Club. Not a lot of tradition there, especially when you consider that Pecan Valley went out of business some five years ago. However, since 2000, the PGA Championship has been held at former National Open sites such as Atlanta Athletic, Oak Hill, Southern Hills, Oakland Hills, Medinah and Hazeltine. It also has gone to some colorful Pete Dye-designed locales alongside major bodies of water in the case of Whistling Straits and Kiawah Island. Future sites include former Open courses Bellerive and Bethpage.
It’s an active weekend in the world of professional golf as the Women’s British Open is being contested across the pond in England while the final major of the year for men is being held at storied Baltusrol in New Jersey. While it certainly feels like we’re in the heart of the summer season, the greats of the PGA Tour and the European Tour are quickly coming to the conclusion of another year with the upcoming Olympics, the Fed Ex Cup playoff series and the Ryder Cup in late September at Hazeltine. For those top caliber linksters who define their season by success in major championships, there will only be one champion on Sunday. For Danny Willett, Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson it has been a very good year. There’s room for just one more major champion to enhance his season as well as his career.
