The 16th at Hazeltine is a serious test.

By Harry Emanuel

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91st PGA Championship

Course: Hazeltine National Golf Club
Location: Chaska, Minnesota
Since: 1916
Yardage: 7,674
Par: 72
Low winning total: -10 Rich Beem (2002)
Course Record: 66 Rich Beem, Justin Leonard and Robert Allenby
Field: 156
Cut: Top 70 plus ties after 36 holes
Tee off: Thursday 1315 BST

Overview

This is the second time the PGA Championship will be held at Hazeltine National Golf Club. Rich Beem won the first PGA Championship held at the course in 2002. Hazeltine also hosted the US Open in 1970 (Tony Jacklin) and 1991 (Payne Stewart) and will be the venue for the 2016 Ryder Cup.

American-born players have won 10 of the last 13 PGA Championships. Vijay Singh (1998 and 2004) and Padraig Harrington (2008) are the only international players to win the PGA Championship in that time.

The strongest field of the year has been assembled with 98 of the world's top 100 players in attendance.

Last time out

Harrington started slowly a year ago at Oakland Hills Country Club's South Course, tied for 16th after an opening round of 71. He dropped into a tie for 26th at the halfway mark after a 74. Then he got things rolling and two rounds of 66 on the weekend gave Harrington his third major championship by two strokes from Ben Curtis and Sergio Garcia.

Harrington is looking to become just the second player since 1938 to retain the PGA Championship. Tiger Woods is the only player to win back to back since that time (1999-2000 and 2006-2007).

At Hazeltine in 2002 Rich Beem started with a level-par 72 for a share of 22nd place. A course-record 66 saw him leading after the second round. He went into the final round in second place three shots behind Justin Leonard. Leonard faltered to a 77 and Beem behind held off a late challenge from Tiger Woods to win by one stroke with a 10-under-par 278.

Course

The course was redesigned by Robert Trent Jones and when it opened for play in 1962 it was considered a long and demanding golf course. His son Rees Jones modified the course in 1991 and more recently in 2005 adding 300 yards, adjusting fairways and repositioning bunkers to maintain the original shot values.

Hazeltine remains a long and demanding course at 7,674 yards with seven holes measuring over 475 yards, including three par-fives in excess of 600 yards. It has narrow tree-lined fairways, heavy rough, small greens and with water in play on nine holes it will prove a stern test of ball striking from tee to green.

In 2002, when the PGA Championship was last held at Hazeltine, it ranked as the second toughest course on the PGA Tour that season behind Bethpage Black. The scoring average for the par-72 course was 74.735.

Fairways

There has been a lot of talk about the monster yardage at Hazeltine and the consensus is that short-to-medium hitter may struggle. Their plight has not been helped by heavy rain in the build up to the tournament which has left conditions soft and the ball is not rolling out very far on the fairways.

That said, the organisers are likely to adjust the tee positions each day and the course is unlikely to play much beyond 7,400 yards. The warm air in Minnesota sees the ball go much farther distances off tee and well-positioned bunkers and heavy rough play a premium on accuracy.

With multiple doglegs, seven par-fours measuring less than 455 yards, only one par-five reachable in two shots and the greens holding longer irons, short-to-medium hitters may not be at such a disadvantage as expected.

Greens

The small, open-fronted bent grass greens have many subtle slopes and undulations which should not present a problem for the best players in the world. The greens are soft and the ball is stopping quickly so players will be able to fire at the flags.

The difficulty comes when players miss the greens as the rough is thick and sticky, taking some of the skill out of scrambling and making it tricky to get up and down.

They said

"It's playing a little bit soft as of right now. I don't know how much it's going to dry out with all of the rain they had, but it's playing very long right now, and it will be just a great test" - Tiger Woods

"The greens are holding, because of the soft conditions, so I'm sure the scoring will still be pretty good. But the rough around the greens is pretty sticky, so you don't really want to be short-siding yourself too much" - Rory McIlroy

"Overall it's not too long, but if it were really wet and they tipped it out, it could become a problem for medium-to-short-length hitter. Right now, the one thing that's probably not stressing us out is the green is very soft. You can hit a green with a three iron and stop it relatively quickly" - Jim Furyk

"(I'm) wearing out the two, three, four, five irons out there and the driver, of course. And it's going to be a real test out there" - Stewart Cink

"This thing is just long. I mean, it's just excessively long, and it's nowhere near the same golf course that it was. But it's still a fair test of golf and I'm sure we won't play it at the full 7,600 yards that it can play" - Rich Beem

Horses for courses

Tiger Woods, who did not have a chance to defend his title last year, will be looking to join Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen as the only players in PGA Championship history to win five times.

Tiger has never missed the cut at the PGA Championship and his form figures read 29-10-1-1-29-2-39-24-4-1-1. Rich Beem, the last winner at Hazeltine, holds the course record with a 66 alongside Justin Leonard and Robert Allenby.

Key holes

The par-four 16th at Hazeltine ranked as the fifth toughest hole on the PGA Tour in 2002 with a 4.494 scoring average. For the tournament, there were 48 birdies, 223 pars, 114 bogeys and 51 double-bogeys. The 51 double-bogeys tied for the most on Tour in 2002 with the 17th at TPC Sawgrass.

The drive is over Hazeltine Lake, and must also be kept short of the creek on the left side of the fairway. The right rough is no bargain either, since the narrow, elevated green angles away and is difficult to hold. Hole locations along the right side bring the lake back into play. This could be the pivotal come Sunday afternoon.

Weather

Wet weather in the build up to the tournament has left playing conditions soft. Dry and warm weather is forecast until the weekend and the course will dry out slightly. Unfortunately the outlook for the weekend is bleak with thunderstorms and heavy rain expected.

Conclusion

Hazeltine will provide a stiff test for the players. The course is playing long but with heavy rough and narrow fairways no players can be ruled out with any certainty. Good scores are expected in the soft conditions and players will need to be in control of all aspects of their game to win.