{"id":2033,"date":"2015-08-14T02:21:24","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T02:21:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/?p=2033"},"modified":"2015-08-14T03:09:22","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T03:09:22","slug":"day-one-at-the-pga-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/golf\/personalities\/2033\/day-one-at-the-pga-championship","title":{"rendered":"Day One at the PGA Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Michigan's<\/a>

Michigan’s Brian Cairns<\/p><\/div>\n

(Haven, Wis) There\u2019s only Michigan player in the field this week. Brian Cairns, 51, was one of only 20 PGA club professionals earning his way into this storied event. A talented player and teacher from the Michigan PGA Section, Cairns birdied his first hole. \u201cAnd that was after my drive found a pitch mark and was semi-buried in the fairway,\u201d smiled Cairns. Unfortunately, some loose shots at a course that makes one pay dearly for mistakes derailed Cairns who ended up with an 83. But in his usual good spirits and class, Cairns handled his adversity well. \u201cI really expected to be around par today in spite of how long this course is. I had some good chances early on but I didn\u2019t make any putts.\u201d Cairns said making doubles at #5 and #14 were tough to swallow. \u201cMy goal was no doubles and that didn\u2019t happen,\u201d said Cairns. When asked what makes Whistling Straits such a demanding test, he said: \u201cThe margin for error is small and when you make a bad swing or have an even slightly off-line shot you can pay a big price.\u201d Cairns said he enjoyed watching fellow competitor Matt Jones. \u201cHe shot an easy 68 and it could have been lower.\u201d An Aussie, Jones won the 2014 Shell Houston Open. Rounding out the threesome was Matt Every, the back-to-back Arnold Palmer Invitational winner, who carded a 74. Caddying for Cairns this week is Jordan Young, a fellow Michigan PGA pro and teacher at Fox Hills Golf & Banquet Center.<\/p>\n

\"Dustin<\/a>

Dustin Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n

Dustin Johnson fired a six-under par 66 on Thursday and oddly enough it was partly attributable to executing a shot he\u2019s not \u201cever really played\u201d before this week. Twice he got up and down from the collar of the green to save par by using a 5-wood. \u201cI was out here Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday trying to hit those shots and I started using that (5-wood) and it worked out well.\u201d He also had an eagle at the 569-yard par-five 16th hole where after a big drive he hit a 4-iron from 240 yards and made a 25-foot putt for three. His playing companion Jason Day, who shot 68, says Johnson\u2019s length is a major advantage. \u201cHe\u2019s putting himself in position where 95, 99 percent of the players aren\u2019t there. On the 489-yard par-four 4th hole, Day said Johnson only had a sand wedge left to the green. \u201cThat\u2019s just freakish to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an understatement to say this is a huge venue. The walk from the parking lot to the entry gate was at least a half mile and along the way massive banners were displayed of past champions and current stars. As they say, it\u2019s an impressive platform to stage a modern major with its array of tented villages and hospitality suites. And the folks at Kohler and the PGA have refined this staging of the championship, held now for the third time (2004, 2010, 2015) along Lake Michigan. In fact, there\u2019s one exit from the freeway to the Championship that\u2019s only used this week. I imagine this exit won\u2019t be used again until the 2020 Ryder Cup Matches.<\/p>\n

A golf writer from Vancouver reminded me this week that Whistling Straits landed the 2010 PGA after Sahalee Country Club in Redmond, Wash., bowed out of its commitment\u2014with the PGA\u2019s blessing\u2014due to concerns about corporate sponsorships and competition from the \u201910 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Smelling an opportunity, plumbing fixture mogul Herb Kohler was more than happy to fill the spot for his high-powered resort destination. He parlayed that savvy move by adding another PGA this year and the Ryder Cup five years hence. A small oversight by the Kohler team: the media rest rooms do NOT feature Kohler products. Tellingly, there\u2019s tape over the rival brand.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The par-three 12th hole has a majestic view<\/p><\/div>\n

I walked the back nine at Whistling Straits and the views are stunning. One of the best spots is the grandstand at the nifty 12th hole, the 143 yard, par-three. It sits high above Lake Michigan which is majestically placid and colorful today when the sun finally poked its head out of the clouds. The pin is in a benign spot\u2014middle front\u2014today but come Sunday expect to find it in the back right location which is absolutely treacherous.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t seek out Tiger Woods but as I walked along the 16th hole, his group drove up the fairway. Well, almost the fairway. Tiger\u2019s new \u201cstinger\u201d shot nowadays is when his errant drive hits a fan. Today he hit the heel of a fan that happened to be standing next to me. After only a few minutes a nasty welt had already formed. Nonetheless, Tiger managed to birdie the hole. And yes, the large gallery following him was enthusiastically cheering him on. I will say Tiger was much more polite with the gallery and marshals when they were cleared away for his shot. In the old days, Stevie Williams would be Tiger\u2019s brusque mouthpiece.<\/p>\n

\"Team<\/a>

Team Helminem was out in force<\/p><\/div>\n

A nice gallery of \u201ccheeseheads\u201d was following Wisconsin club pro Ryan Helminen. From Appleton, Helminen had the honor of teeing off first at 6:45 am on # 1. His supporters were sporting green tee shirts that read: Team Ryan Helminem.<\/p>\n

Concession prices are not the Masters but quite frankly who is? Bottled water is $3, A hot dog is $5, a cheeseburger is $8.50, Gatorade is $5, Budweiser is $7 and an IPA is $8.<\/p>\n

In a sign of the digital age, complimentary wi-fi is available in the areas around the main entrance, public food court, practice range, putting green, clubhouse and around several tees and greens.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of the PGA Tour and the Michigan PGA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Haven, Wis) There\u2019s only Michigan player in the field this week. Brian Cairns, 51, was one of only 20 PGA… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":2036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,976045,17,7],"tags":[2832,504,2850,53,1036830,975939,70,2042],"class_list":["post-2033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-tournament","category-courses-and-travel","category-personalities","tag-terry-moore","tag-pga","tag-whistling-straits","tag-tiger-woods","tag-pga-championship","tag-brian-cairns","tag-kohler","tag-dustin-johnson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2015\/08\/unnamed-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2033"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2039,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033\/revisions\/2039"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}