Sure, you could prepare to watch the 2010 PGA Championship like the rest of the free world. Have a caddie hold clubs upside your head. Take John Daly’s fashion advice. That kind of stuff.
Or you could turn left at the I-43 Kohler exit (No. 126), drive over to the Shops at Woodlake and have a gander at what this tournament is all about.
No, you’re not going for the Craverie Chocolatier Cafe, though the truffles and chocolate art are certainly worth the trip. Nor are you seeking the Scentualities intimate apparel shop (at least not without a trip to the chocolate shop first).
No, the true nature of your sojourn to the Shops is the PGA Championship History Exhibit.
Sure, an upscale shopping center may seem like an odd location for a sports museum, but you won’t care once you walk through the doors. Because laid out before you, in clean, chronological order, is every single PGA Championship ever played.
Very simply, the PGA has encapsulated each of its tournaments – from “Big Jim” Barnes’ $500 triumph in 1916 to Y.E. Yang’s $1.35 million comeback against Tiger Woods in 2009 – in shadowbox fashion. Many of the tourney capsules are displayed with artifacts of the time, from clubs that look more like walking canes all the way up to modern drivers the size of streetlamps.
If you’re lucky, the cheerful Jim O’Donnell will be your tour host, ready with friendly banter and the occasional trivia question to accompany the nostalgia. And it’s the nostalgia that sticks with you after a 30-minute mosey through the memories. Connecting with all that history is the perfect appetizer for the next piece of history made at Whistling Straits.
Who will make it? Surely not Tiger, who looks desperate enough to start patronizing Golf Channel infomercials. A few months ago, I broached the idea that Woods may never return to his dominant self. And now it looks like his golf game, following the path of his reputation, has gone into complete freefall. Somehow, Vegas installed him as the second-favorite for the tournament. You’ll do better putting money on a man called Dorf.
Phil Mickelson? Well, the new people’s champion hasn’t exactly been tearing things up, either, and it’s hard to see him starting now. Daly would make for a fun story, if only to see how those pants clash with the Wanamaker Trophy, and he does enjoy the links-style courses. Yang or defending British Open champ Louis Oosthuizen would no doubt make golf scribes from Sheboygan to St. Andrews happy.
But I can’t think of a better story than a Steve Stricker showcase. If Wisconsin’s favorite son can win on Wisconsin’s finest course, especially in light of his missing out when Whistling Straits last hosted this tourney, it would make for Wisconsin’s finest golfing achievement.
My lone concern: Could they fit a Cheesehead in his History Exhibit shadowbox?
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