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The pictureques but treacherous Whistling Straits hosts this week’s PGA Championship and is set to severely test the players involved.
The Straits was designed by renowned golf course architects Pete and Alice Dye in 1998 by dumping 800,000 cubic yards of dirt and sand on an abandoned airfield.
It features vast greens, and links-type deep pot bunkers that are lashed by strong winds off Lake Michigan.
Wander off the short grass and disaster is inevitable.
The current major champions, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Zach Johnson, have all been drawn in the top marquee group for the first 36 holes.
Defending PGA champion and world number one McIlroy has been in a moonboot for most of the last 54 days, having made a Russian roulette decision to play a social game of soccer.
World number two Spieth is the current Masters and US Open champion, while Johnson claimed The Open Championship at St Andrews last month.
Although McIlroy’s form is obviously unknown, Spieth’s white-hot putter in winning his first two majors has gone cold, while Johnson is capable of shooting a tournament-destroying high score in any round.
So the talented trio must be on the top of their game to keep another genuine contender like Jason Day at bay.
The 27-year-old Australian has been knocking on the major door with a second at the 2011 Masters, two more seconds at the 2011 and 2013 US Opens, and missing The Open playoff at St Andrews by a shot.
Since then Day has won the Canadian Open and had he not carded a triple bogey in the third round of the WGC Bridgestone, he would have been in contention there as well.
Jason’s major day is nigh, and he’s my pick to hold the huge trophy aloft.
But there are many other contenders who will keep that quality quartet honest, headed by Bubba Watson, Justin Rose, ageless veteran Jim Furyk, and five more like Day seeking to break their major drought – Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, and a reborn Shane Lowry.
Fowler is one of the most exciting golfers in the world. When his major day arrives, it will be spell-binding.
Dustin Johnson is an enigma. His natural talent is awesome but all too often he plays an atrocious shot that costs him dearly. If Johnson ever puts together 72 holes without a disaster, he will be unbeatable.
Swede Stenson hasn’t been well for a couple of months with a vomiting bug, losing 11kgs and with it his ability to physically last tough terrain courses like Whistling Straits. But he’s still a superb striker of the ball and should not be discounted.
If only Garcia could putt. Tee to green the Spaniard is as good as any golfer in the world, until he’s handed the flat stick and all the good work to that point is negated. When Sergio starts sinking decent-sized putts, that will be his tournament and it will be a very popular victory.
Bulky 28-year-old Irishman Lowry could well be the smokey at Whistling Straits. When he won his first USPGA tournament on Monday morning – the WGC Bridgestone by two shots over Watson – the ground announcer introduced him as Sean Lowry.
That announcer won’t make that embarrassing mistake again, while Lowry goes to Whistling Straits on a career high having earned his USPGA players card for the next two years.
Apart from Day, there will be seven other Australians on USPGA duty – Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Steve Bowditch, Geoff Ogilvy, John Senden, Matt Jones, and Cameron Smith (no relation to the Kangaroo captain).
Don’t be surprised if Bowditch turns out to be the best performed of the seven. His breakthrough was winning the Byron Nelson last May by four shots with 18 under. And he shot a tournament best 63 at the WGC Bridgestone, to be joined by Rose.
There’s no doubting Bowditch’s stroke-making ability, now he just needs some consistency.
But all eyes will be on Tiger Woods, now ranked 262 in the world. Despite that humbling standard for one who was ranked the world’s best for a record 683 weeks, Woods has still been awarded marquee status this week with Martin Kaymer and Keegan Bradley.
If Woods wants to regain the huge popularity he once enjoyed, he must earn it. Bring the smile back and kill the surly ‘golf owes me a living’ attitude. Golf owes Woods nothing, he owes the sport plenty.
But because Tiger Woods is Tiger Woods, he will command attention. It’s how he handles it that will define if he makes the cut.