A magnificent PGA Championship at Southern

A PGA CHAMPIONSHIP TO SAVOR

Years of planning have major payoff

Will Zalatoris prepares to hit his second shot on 18 in a playoff against Justin Thomas.

by ken macleod

Weeks after Justin Thomas held off Will Zalatoris in an aggregate three-hole playoff to win the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills, Championship Director Bryan Karns was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Honestly, a lot of us are still waiting for the big negative and we haven’t found one,” Karns said of the post-tournament critique conducted by the PGA of America after each of its flagship events.

While the city that was constructed at Southern Hills was being rapidly dismantled, the numbers, surveys and reviews coming in all indicated the tournament more than met its goals in corporate sales, attendance, concession sales, television ratings, merchandise sales and operational efficiency.

Without releasing specific numbers, Karns said total attendance for the week was close to 200,000 with about 40,000 per day Thursday through Sunday. All corporate tent availability was sold. Merchandise sales set records on three of four days. Since Southern Hills’ contract is based on percentages of corporate sales as well as other sales, the club should come out well.

The success extended to how the course presented itself and how it played. Thomas and Zalatoris were 5-under through 72 holes of regulation play. After greens were not mowed Friday morning due to Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh’s fear of predicted gales Friday morning, several players shot low when winds died to nothing Friday afternoon, including Bubba Watson matching the course record with a 63. Otherwise the course played just as Haigh and superintendent Russ Myers hoped and prepared it to for years.

“I was just writing a note to Kerry about how much I enjoyed the last five years of planning and problem solving,” Myers said. “Being able to stand next to him for five years and discuss options and scenarios related to everything, it’s just such a logistical process and that’s what I really enjoy. Working with Gil Hanse on every aspect of the restoration. “My personal goal through all this was to show that a classic venue like Southern Hills could challenge the best players in the world without narrowing fairways, having really deep rough or tricking it up. We wanted to see if we could change the narrative that only second-shot players who hit great irons could compete here. We ended up with Rory McIlroy leading one day, Zalatoris and Bubba Watson in contention, not your typical target golfers. So I think we were successful in that as well.”

That is exactly what Hanse was looking for throughout his restoration as well.

“The best architecture is where the player decides how they want to play it versus the

What a week for Nick Sidorakis and Russ Myers.

Will Zalatoris Rickie Fowler Jordan Spieth Tiger Woods

architecture dictating to the player on how to play it,” Hanse said. “If there is that sort freedom and creativity within, then the architect has done their job as they present all kinds of options and opportunities to play the golf course versus saying no, this is the way you have to play the golf course.

“I think you are hearing a little bit of that this week with commentary saying it will be someone who drives it straight and long, some days it’s a bunker player, some days it’s an iron player, someone who is creative around the greens. Nobody is focusing in on the only type of player who can win here is this. And I think that is a really good testament that we see a good mix on Sunday of people who are in contention. “

Protected by strong south winds on Thursday and north winds on Saturday and Sunday, the course played as difficult as it had in previous majors when it had 650 more trees and ankle deep rough. It was longer at near 7,500 yards each day, the exposed creeks gobbled up balls, including leader Mito Pereira’s fatal tee shot on the 18th hole. The greens painstakingly restored by Hanse offered a challenge not easily mastered by anyone in the field, despite green speeds that were never higher than 12 on the stimpmeter.

The uphill par-4 18th hole was, as usual, the most difficult all week, averaging 4.367 strokes. The 500-yard, par-4 second was right behind at 4.365. The easiest hole, despite a new tee box used on Thursday and Friday that pushed the yardage back to 622 yards, was the par-5 13th, playing under par at 4.74 and giving up eight eagles and 157 birdies, the most of any hole with the short par-4 17th second with 132 birdies and a 3.904 stroke average. The par-5 fifth hole also played under par for the week at 4.947. The average score for the week was 72.458, with par at 70.

“It was a charmed week for sure,” said Director of Golf Cary Cozby. “We have a great champion, the course held up. I had 100 people out here tell me these kids were go-

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Scottie Scheffler Tracy Phillips and Cary Cozby Talor Gooch

ing to tear this place up. I said, ‘they might, but no one ever has. So it’s not likely.’ Then 5-under wins with one day when we don’t mow the greens.

“Today you had six or seven hours of near perfect weather with the best field in golf and 5-under wins. The feedback from players, agent, caddies, people in the media, was just off the charts.”

“This has been a tremendous success,” Jeff Price, chief commercial officer for the PGA of America said during the tournament. “This is a venue that is very high on our list and although there is no set date at the minute, I can certainly imagine that this is a great venue to host another PGA Championship,’” Oh yes, the success of the 2022 PGA Championship leads to natural speculation of what comes next for the club that has now hosted more (five) PGA Championships than any course in the country. The PGA Championship is booked out through 2029. Tulsa was to be the site in 2030 before it moved up eight years after the event was pulled from Donald Trump’s Bedminster course. There is much speculation that Congressional, currently scheduled for 2031, will move up to 2030, leaving 2031, 2032 and 2033 open before it goes to new PGA headquarters in Frisco, Texas for a second time in 2034. A 10-year rotation would mean a return to Tulsa in 2032. It seems likely the PGA of America would commit to that after having some heartfelt discussions with various governmental agencies such as the city of Tulsa, Tulsa County and the State of Oklahoma to obtain a bit more cooperation in some areas such as parking before bringing another $143 million or more in economic impact back to the state. While it seems certain the club could host a sixth PGA Championship, there have also been discussions with the United States Golf Association about its flagship event, the U.S. Open. Southern Hills has hosted three previously (1958, 1977 and 2001) and in 2024 will host the U.S. Women’s Amateur, the club’s first USGA event since the 2009 U.S. Amateur. The hope at that time was that a fourth Open would be announced forthwith, but it never materialized. U.S Open dates not committed through 2035 include 2028 and 2031. Southern Hills president Scott Mabrey said the club was exploring both options. “Southern Hills has been an institution in the history of golf since 1936 and major championships since 1958,” Mabrey said. “Hosting majors is in our DNA and we are fortunate to have great relationships with both the PGA of America and the USGA, partnering to host multiple championships for both organizations.” “Our city, state and club had a great week with the PGA of America hosting the PGA Championship. I think because of the compliments by the players, the way the course

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showed to the world, our history of hosting majors and certainly a historic finish to the 2022 PGA, people naturally wonder if and when Southern Hills will host its next major championship. We would welcome the opportunity to host another U.S. Open or PGA Championship, with Board of Governors approval, obviously.”

Southern Hills certainly does not want to get caught in a situation as it did last time while waiting on the USGA. If not for the PGA of America stripping Bedminster, there would have been a gap of 23 years between majors. With Southern Hills General Manager Nick Sidorakis retiring at the end of 2023, it will be up to Mabrey, tournament chairman Jeff Smith and several other high-ranking members to take the lead on what comes next.

In addition to all the on course success, a pair of concerts - one featuring country star Eric Church on the grounds and another with Pitbull at the Philbrook Museum - raised approximately $1 million to be split equally among four charities - PGA Reach, First Tee of Tulsa, The Tulsa Dream Center and the Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless. From a live television standpoint, Southern Hills, Tulsa and Oklahoma received almost unimaginable positive publicity. There were over 250 hours of live television

including ESPN, an alternate broadcast with Joe Buck and all of its streaming services, as well as CBS and Golf Channel. That compares to 48 hours in 2007. ESPN announced that its second-round telecast was its highest since 2009 and 47 percent higher than the 2021 second round at Kiawah Island. ESPN reached an average of 2.1 million viewers, peaking at 2.6 million at 7:15 p.m.

CBS had a 3.13 Nielsen overnight rating and 5.27 million viewer average for the final round, peaking at 9.3 million during the playoff. That number is down from Phil Mickelson’s victory in 2021 at Kiawah Island which averaged 6.58 million but above the ratings for Collin Morikawa’s victory in 2020 and Brooks Koepka’s win in 2019. One of the most amazing sights of the week was the spectators lining the first seven fairways 5-to-10 deep when Tiger Woods teed off at 1:36 p.m. in the second round Friday. There was no following Woods, you had your place and waited. Fans were worried that would be his final round in Tulsa, but he made a late charge to make the cut, then dropped out in pain after shooting 79 on Saturday, one of the worst rounds of his professional career.

Justin Thomas, the 2022 PGA champion.

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