BLOOMFIELD TOWN SHIP, Mich. – Oakland Hills has been the site of many memorable major championships, including Ben Hogan’s 1951 U.S. Open victory, Gary Player’s triumph in the 1972 PGA Championship and David Graham’s playoff win over Ben Crenshaw for the 1979 PGA.
But the 90th PGA Championship really never had a chance to match that legacy thanks to a number of factors that were beyond the PGA of America’s control. Quite simply it was a case of bad timing and bad luck that left the year’s final major falling short of previous majors played at this storied course despite Padraig Harrington’s come-from-behind win over Sergio Garcia. Tiger Woods was supposed to be going for the PGA three-peat here, having won in 2006 at Medinah and last year at Southern Hills. He also might have been seeking a 15th major championship. But reconstructive knee injury ended his season after his victory at the U.S. Open, leaving the 2008 PGA without its defending champion and golf without its biggest star.
But that’s not all that hurt the 2008 PGA. The opening of the Olympics cut into media coverage. The press continent covering golf’s final major was about half of what it normally is as shrinking space and travel budgets for newspapers and magazines have reduced the priority on golf coverage.
The downturn in the economy also had an impact, as the galleries weren’t as packed as they traditionally are at a major championship. Cutbacks in the auto industry have devastated this part of the country, making people reluctant to spend money on watching golf up close when they can easily watch it on television.
The people who promote Detroit had hoped to use the PGA Championship to show off its city, though Bloomfield Township is about 20 miles from Detroit and its country-club setting has little resemblance to the economic struggles and the depressed reputation that have plagued the city.
Harriet Carter and Carolyn Artman of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau pleaded with media members “to write good things about our city.” But each day the local headlines were dominated by the legal troubles of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
How’s this for bad timing? On the opening day of the PGA Championship Kilpatrick became the first sitting mayor in the 307 year history of the city to spend a night in jail after being charged with felony assault against an officer who was trying to serve court papers in July on one of Kilpatrick’s friends.
Nothing could have been more untimely than having the international media in town, waking up to headlines like “Jailed Mayor Set To Face New Felony.”
Even Mother Nature seemed to conspire against the tournament. High skies, warm temperatures and 20-mph wind dried out the course on Thursday and Friday, making it play as difficult as any course in major-championship history. The result was boring golf and a stream of complaints by competitors. Watching professional players chip into the fairway just to escape the rough or playing for par instead of thinking about birdie left more people yawning than cheering.
Then an unexpected deluge hit on Saturday, soaking the course with rain, ending play before the leaders had a chance to tee off.
To make up for the lost round, players yesterday were sent off in threesomes using the first and 10th tees. By mid-day most of the gallery wasn’t sure if a player was finishing his round at the 18th hole or making the turn. Add to that, a misty rain that continually fell and along with the cool temperatures it felt more like Michigan-Ohio State at Ann Arbor than a golf tournament in mid-August. The locals say they never have seen this kind of weather here in years.
Oakland Hills is traditionally a place were history is made. This tournament will be memorable for all the wrong reasons.