PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua yesterday said that the organization "has no problem" with a '16 golf schedule that has the British Open, PGA Championship and Olympics "all being contested in a five-week span from July 14-Aug. 14," according to Brian Biggane of the PALM BEACH POST. With golf returning to the Olympics for the first time since 1904, the PGA of America "agreed to move the PGA Championship from mid-August to late July to open up the Olympic window." Bevacqua said, "We're tremendous proponents of golf in the Olympics. ... Should the date of the PGA Championship be adjusted down the road? I would say all of that is very much on the table, but nothing has been decided yet" (PALM BEACH POST, 8/13). Meanwhile, GOLFCHANNEL.com's Randall Mell noted the PGA Championship "won't be announcing anytime soon" that it is going abroad. Bevacqua said, "For the moment it's on the backburner." Mell noted Bevacqua two years ago "acknowledged the PGA was investigating the possibility" of taking the major outside the U.S. Former PGA President Ted Bishop "went a step further, saying he thought Royal Portrush in Ireland would be 'a good place to start' overseas." The PGA Championship "has been played" in the U.S. since its inception in 1916 (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 8/12).
TRUMP CARD: GOLFCHANNEL.com's Mell noted Trump National Golf Club is scheduled to host the PGA Championship at Trump National Bedminster in New Jersey in '22, but "you won’t find the Trump National banner among those the PGA is hanging at Whistling Straits this week to showcase its future venues." Bevacqua said, "You're to make nothing of it. We are scheduled to go to Trump Bedminster for our PGA Championship in 2022. ... Obviously, everybody in this room's aware of the situation. And presidential politics, that is something we don't want to get involved in" (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 8/12).
FIRST ALTERNATE: GOLF.com's Gary Van Sickle wrote the PGA Championship "has an identity problem -- as in, it has no identity." Van Sickle: "Sure, the nation’s best club professionals tee it up with the world’s best golfers. That was neat back in the 1960s when the club pros could keep up, but the last time a club pro got in contention for the Wanamaker Trophy on the weekend or even made the cut was...well, nobody cares." The tournament's "recent blunders include finishing in the dark at Valhalla last year; dead greens at PGA National (1987) and Riviera (’95); staging the 2007 event in 107° weather at Southern Hills; and the gridlocked fan traffic at Kiawah Island (2010)." Van Sickle: "Let’s move the PGA to late February or mid-March, before the Masters. Impossible? Hardly. It’s been done before. The 1971 PGA was played the last weekend in February." The tourney also can "redeploy the club pros" to a format where the top 20 "tee up on Wednesday at the PGA" in a $1M shootout. TV and spectators "get a compelling Wednesday show; club pros get the spotlight and a chance at a big payday; Tour players still have room for practice rounds; and the PGA gets a stronger, deeper field." The tourney also could "alternate each year between playing in the States and overseas" (GOLF.com, 8/12).
MY KIND OF TOWN: In Chicago, Len Ziehm reports the area suburbs "will be cashing in again after the PGA of America announced that its newest event, the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, will be held at Olympia Fields in 2017 and Kemper Lakes in Kildeer in 2018." The clubs are "roughly 60 miles apart." The tourney "was held for the first time this year at Westchester Country Club in New York and it'll be played at Sahalee, in Washington, in 2016." But playing back-to-back in the same area "is highly unusual." PGA of America Chief Championship Officer Kerry Haigh: "Those two clubs will do an incredible job hosting the major championship for the women." Bevacqua added, "There could be some great efficiencies in going to Chicago in back to back years." Ziehm notes "suddenly Chicago has become a hot spot for women's golf," with the LPGA's Int'l Crown "bringing the world's top players a year ahead of the two individual majors" (Chicago DAILY HERALD, 8/13).
