PGA countdown is on
One year out, PGA Championship prepares for record crowds at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course for second golf major of 2021
BY JEFF HARTSELL
jhartsell@postandcourier.com
PROVIDED/PGA
The clubhouse and practice green at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island.
FILE/MIC SMITH/SPECIAL TO THE POST AND COURIER
Officials are planning for record crowds to see Tiger Woods and other top players at the 2021 PGA at Ocean Course next year.
FILE/EVAN VUCCI/AP
Rory McIlroy reacts to his victory after a birdie putt on the 18th green during the final round of the PGA Championship at the Ocean Course of the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in Kiawah Island in 2012.
FILE/STAFF
This was a familiar scene during the 2012 PGA Championship — clogged traffic crawling toward Kiawah Island.
On his way to the PGA Championship in 2012, Rory McIlroy hit his golf ball straight at a tree in front of the third green at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island.
McIlroy spent a couple of minutes walking back and forth under the tree, looking down in the grass and wood chips for his ball, before somebody told him to glance up in the dead tree above his head.
“I’m like, how can it be stuck in this thing? There’s no branches, no leaves for it to be stuck in,” McIlroy said after that third-round adventure. “But it had wedged itself in between the tree bark and the actual tree.”
McIlroy took his drop out of the tree and got up and down for a crucial par on that Saturday, eventually winning the PGA Championship by a record eight shots for the second of his four major championships.
McIlroy may be relieved to learn that the tree, known thereafter as “Rory’s Tree,” is no longer with us. It’s been removed and replaced by a transplanted tree, part of the work done to the course in preparation for the 2021 PGA Championship at the Ocean Course, which is now one year away (May 17-23).
That’s just one of the things that will be different when the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, returns to Kiawah Island next year. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s difficult to say what pro golf — or sports in general — will look like in the near future.
It’s still not clear whether fans will be allowed on the course at Harding Park when the 2020 PGA Championship is played in San Francisco in August. That decision might be coming next month.
But as of now, PGA and Kiawah Island officials are planning for record crowds at the Ocean Course nextMay,whencoolertemperatures should provide relief for spectators and ocean breezes should provide a test for the world’s best players.
“Even with this speed bump of the coronavirus, that has not affected our planning as of now,” said Scott Reid, championship director for the 2021 PGA. “We are in good shape a year out. We’re anticipating more than 150,000 spectators for the week, and to be sold out like we were in 2012.”
Advanceregistrationsforthe2021 PGA Championship were at an alltime high before the coronavirus shutdown hit the sports world, according to Roger Warren, president of Kiawah Island Golf Resort.
In response to the pandemic, the PGA has extended registration for 2021 tickets until Aug. 9; windows for ticket purchasing will begin opening after the 2020 PGA Championship is completed.
“That record number was set before we started having issues with golf being postponed this year,” Warren said. “I think as we’ve seen around the country, there’s a huge pent-up demand for live sports. Depending on how the virus plays out over the next 6 to 10 months, we’ll have a better understanding of the effects on the 2021 PGA, if any. But it’s too soon to tell that right now.”
Ocean Course
‘spectacular’
Meanwhile, major work on the Ocean Course, which has famously hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup as well as the 2012 PGA, in preparation for the 2021 PGA has just about been completed, Warren said.
Two tees were added to the par-4 12th hole, and the tee was lengthened at the 455-yard, par-4 sixth hole. Trees have been transplanted on the second, third, seventh and eighth holes, Warren said.
“We’ve been able to move trees to get back to the original tree configuration as when Pete Dye designed the course in 1991,” Warren said.
Warren said that all the tee boxes have been laser-leveled and resodded with platinum paspalum grass.
“Those tees were the original ones that have been there since 1991, and we had to deal with the normal erosion and movement of sand,” Warren said. “They are in perfect condition now, and the course is in spectacular condition.”
May days
Playing in May instead of August should also make a difference for fans and players. The average high temperature in May on Kiawah Island is 82 degrees, with about six days of rain. In August, the average spikes to 89 with 10 days of rain. During the 2012 PGA, winds gusted up to 30 mph during the second round, sending the average score to a record-high of 78. The third round was interrupted by a late-afternoon thunderstorm. Supplying water to heat-ravaged spectators became an issue, too.
All that should look different in mid-May.
“It may be a different course in May than it is in August,” Warren said. “We over-seed the course in the winter, and we may well have a different kind of rough with the over-seeded rye in the rough playing more difficult than it did in 2012. Then, the rough was cut down because it was all bermuda rough. With the over-seeded rye, we can grow it longer and it’s more of a challenge.
“Our expectation is that we will have stronger winds in May than we do in August, and we have better temperatures in May than we do in August,” Warren said. “We are excited about the new date having a positive impact on the event.”
Traffic flow
Traffic was another issue in 2012, and there remains only one road on and off of Kiawah Island. But officials say lessons learned in 2012 should pay off next year.
Patrons won’t have to pay to park in 2021 as they did in 2012, which should help the traffic flow.
“I believe we’ve solved some of the in-and-out problems of our parking,” Warren said. “That should reduce any opportunity for a problem there. We are going to do a better job in 2021 than we did in 2012 of creating an honest and fair expectation of how long it will take people to get from Charleston to Kiawah.”
Warren said some logistical and engineering issues also have been addressed.
“We’ve been able to create some entrances and exits for parking that are paved and wider, and with left and righthand turns so we won’t be stopping traffic going off the island,” he said. “I think we’ve created a better opportunity for success there.”
As what remains of the 2020 golf schedule plays out — the 2020 PGA in San Francisco in August, the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in September and the Masters in November — Reid and Warren will be as interested as anyone in what major championship golf looks like after COVID-19.
“PGA 2020 will be the first major of the year in August,” Reid said. “So we will be watching the PGA Tour and other sports to see how they handle things when they resume play. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, and what sports in general might look like after the coronavirus.”
Said Warren, “We are in a waiting game right now. But we see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we know the Ocean Course is a course that will withstand the test.”
Reach Jeff Hartsell at
843-937-5596. Follow him on Twitter @Jeff_fromthePC.
One year out, PGA Championship prepares for record crowds at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course for second golf major of 2021
BY JEFF HARTSELL
jhartsell@postandcourier.com
PROVIDED/PGA
The clubhouse and practice green at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island.
FILE/MIC SMITH/SPECIAL TO THE POST AND COURIER
Officials are planning for record crowds to see Tiger Woods and other top players at the 2021 PGA at Ocean Course next year.
FILE/EVAN VUCCI/AP
Rory McIlroy reacts to his victory after a birdie putt on the 18th green during the final round of the PGA Championship at the Ocean Course of the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in Kiawah Island in 2012.
FILE/STAFF
This was a familiar scene during the 2012 PGA Championship — clogged traffic crawling toward Kiawah Island.
On his way to the PGA Championship in 2012, Rory McIlroy hit his golf ball straight at a tree in front of the third green at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island.
McIlroy spent a couple of minutes walking back and forth under the tree, looking down in the grass and wood chips for his ball, before somebody told him to glance up in the dead tree above his head.
“I’m like, how can it be stuck in this thing? There’s no branches, no leaves for it to be stuck in,” McIlroy said after that third-round adventure. “But it had wedged itself in between the tree bark and the actual tree.”
McIlroy took his drop out of the tree and got up and down for a crucial par on that Saturday, eventually winning the PGA Championship by a record eight shots for the second of his four major championships.
McIlroy may be relieved to learn that the tree, known thereafter as “Rory’s Tree,” is no longer with us. It’s been removed and replaced by a transplanted tree, part of the work done to the course in preparation for the 2021 PGA Championship at the Ocean Course, which is now one year away (May 17-23).
That’s just one of the things that will be different when the PGA Championship, one of professional golf’s four major championships, returns to Kiawah Island next year. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s difficult to say what pro golf — or sports in general — will look like in the near future.
It’s still not clear whether fans will be allowed on the course at Harding Park when the 2020 PGA Championship is played in San Francisco in August. That decision might be coming next month.
But as of now, PGA and Kiawah Island officials are planning for record crowds at the Ocean Course nextMay,whencoolertemperatures should provide relief for spectators and ocean breezes should provide a test for the world’s best players.
“Even with this speed bump of the coronavirus, that has not affected our planning as of now,” said Scott Reid, championship director for the 2021 PGA. “We are in good shape a year out. We’re anticipating more than 150,000 spectators for the week, and to be sold out like we were in 2012.”
Advanceregistrationsforthe2021 PGA Championship were at an alltime high before the coronavirus shutdown hit the sports world, according to Roger Warren, president of Kiawah Island Golf Resort.
In response to the pandemic, the PGA has extended registration for 2021 tickets until Aug. 9; windows for ticket purchasing will begin opening after the 2020 PGA Championship is completed.
“That record number was set before we started having issues with golf being postponed this year,” Warren said. “I think as we’ve seen around the country, there’s a huge pent-up demand for live sports. Depending on how the virus plays out over the next 6 to 10 months, we’ll have a better understanding of the effects on the 2021 PGA, if any. But it’s too soon to tell that right now.”
Ocean Course
‘spectacular’
Meanwhile, major work on the Ocean Course, which has famously hosted the 1991 Ryder Cup as well as the 2012 PGA, in preparation for the 2021 PGA has just about been completed, Warren said.
Two tees were added to the par-4 12th hole, and the tee was lengthened at the 455-yard, par-4 sixth hole. Trees have been transplanted on the second, third, seventh and eighth holes, Warren said.
“We’ve been able to move trees to get back to the original tree configuration as when Pete Dye designed the course in 1991,” Warren said.
Warren said that all the tee boxes have been laser-leveled and resodded with platinum paspalum grass.
“Those tees were the original ones that have been there since 1991, and we had to deal with the normal erosion and movement of sand,” Warren said. “They are in perfect condition now, and the course is in spectacular condition.”
May days
Playing in May instead of August should also make a difference for fans and players. The average high temperature in May on Kiawah Island is 82 degrees, with about six days of rain. In August, the average spikes to 89 with 10 days of rain. During the 2012 PGA, winds gusted up to 30 mph during the second round, sending the average score to a record-high of 78. The third round was interrupted by a late-afternoon thunderstorm. Supplying water to heat-ravaged spectators became an issue, too.
All that should look different in mid-May.
“It may be a different course in May than it is in August,” Warren said. “We over-seed the course in the winter, and we may well have a different kind of rough with the over-seeded rye in the rough playing more difficult than it did in 2012. Then, the rough was cut down because it was all bermuda rough. With the over-seeded rye, we can grow it longer and it’s more of a challenge.
“Our expectation is that we will have stronger winds in May than we do in August, and we have better temperatures in May than we do in August,” Warren said. “We are excited about the new date having a positive impact on the event.”
Traffic flow
Traffic was another issue in 2012, and there remains only one road on and off of Kiawah Island. But officials say lessons learned in 2012 should pay off next year.
Patrons won’t have to pay to park in 2021 as they did in 2012, which should help the traffic flow.
“I believe we’ve solved some of the in-and-out problems of our parking,” Warren said. “That should reduce any opportunity for a problem there. We are going to do a better job in 2021 than we did in 2012 of creating an honest and fair expectation of how long it will take people to get from Charleston to Kiawah.”
Warren said some logistical and engineering issues also have been addressed.
“We’ve been able to create some entrances and exits for parking that are paved and wider, and with left and righthand turns so we won’t be stopping traffic going off the island,” he said. “I think we’ve created a better opportunity for success there.”
As what remains of the 2020 golf schedule plays out — the 2020 PGA in San Francisco in August, the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in September and the Masters in November — Reid and Warren will be as interested as anyone in what major championship golf looks like after COVID-19.
“PGA 2020 will be the first major of the year in August,” Reid said. “So we will be watching the PGA Tour and other sports to see how they handle things when they resume play. It will be interesting to see how it plays out, and what sports in general might look like after the coronavirus.”
Said Warren, “We are in a waiting game right now. But we see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we know the Ocean Course is a course that will withstand the test.”
Reach Jeff Hartsell at
843-937-5596. Follow him on Twitter @Jeff_fromthePC.
