The Official Barstool 2021 PGA Championship Preview
David Cannon. Getty Images.It's time for major championship golf baby! Welcome to PGA Championship week, the red-headed stepchild of golf's major championships. This year's edition brings us to the Ocean Course at Kiawah, a darling track featuring more seaside holes than any course in the Northern Hemisphere. Kiawah hosted the PGA for the first time back in 2012 when Rory McIlroy won in an 8-shot romp. A lot of eyeballs will be on him this week, as will be on defending champion Collin Morikawa after his maiden major victory at Harding Park 9 months ago. Here are your past champions, and leaderboards for both last year's PGA and the PGA here at Kiawah in '12.
Recent Champions
2020 Leaderboard
2012 Leaderboard
The Course
The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island is a Pete and Alice Dye design constructed in 1991. It subsequently held the infamous '91 Ryder Cup where Bernhard Langer missed a 6-footer to retain the Ryder Cup for Europe (boo hoo). It's a monster of a course officially clocking in at 7,876 yards for this tournament. I'm sure you've heard by now that this is the longest course setup in major championship history (and roughly 300 yards longer than the setup in 2012).
But the length is not where the true trouble lies - it's the wind. With 10 holes directly bordering the Atlantic Ocean (and the other 8 running just parallel), this course is extremely susceptible to winds coming off the water. These winds are known to change directions throughout the course of the day, giving this tournament high potential for #carnage. When the Dyes designed this course, they did it very much with this in mind and used the sandy lowcountry qualities of the nature to build a links-style track. So in many ways, you can expect this tournament to play a lot like an Open Championship on steroids, due to the length.
3 of the par 3's measure well over 200 yards, and the shortest one clocks in at 198. 6 of the 10 par 4's also measure over 450 yards. So mid and long iron play is going to be absolutely crucial. The back 9 is especially brutal. Reading these yardage numbers gives me a headache: 447, 593, 486, 497, 238, 444, 603, 221, 503. There's no room to breathe here. You've got to chew off yardage and you've got to hit it straight. When there's high winds, there are going to be a ton of missed greens too. Scrambling will be absolutely key. And of course, you've always gotta putt. So in summation, anyone who wants a chance to win this tournament is going to need a complete and well-rounded game.
Best Hole - 17th hole, 223 yards
Gary Kellner. Getty Images.
(credit to GolfLogix for renderings)
This hole is a beast and will play a huge part in the finish of this tournament. There's just nowhere to hide on this hole. The beach and the ocean are to the back and right of this green, so the wind will most often be blowing right back into the fade that the hole requires. That's going to force most players to hit hybrid or even a metal into this green. As if that's not hard enough, anything long or left (especially in those two down-sloping bunkers) is trouble because of the knob that intersects the green and shoots everything towards the water. Don't go long. Just ask a guy who would know.
17 is ferocious and I can't wait to see it give some of these lesser humans fits.
The Weather
Looks like a lovely forecast with little to no chance of weather delays or anything of the sort. Of course, the main focus is on the wind, which is shown here on the forecast but is really unpredictable as a whole. This is the weather for Kiawah Island, not necessarily the Ocean Course. Given its location on the water, the wind could be an entirely different animal. The forecast said 15 mph today but I couldn't help but think it was juuuust a wee bit heavier given this video from our friend Joel Dahmen
TV Coverage
Thurs: ESPN+ 7 am - 7 pm, ESPN 1 pm - 7 pm
Fri: ESPN+ 7 am - 7 pm, ESPN 1 pm - 7 pm
Sat: ESPN+ 8 am - 7 pm, ESPN 10 am - 1 pm, CBS 1 pm - 7 pm
Sun: ESPN+ 8 am - 7 pm, ESPN 10 am - 1 pm, CBS 1 pm - 7 pm
Here's your featured groups that will be available on ESPN+ if that's your kinda thing
And your link for all tee time/pairings:
The Trophy
Andrew Redington. Getty Images.
(any time you get a chance to feature the Duf Daddy, you simply must take it)
If this is your first time to my preview blogs, welcome. This is the section where I review the week's hardware. The Wanamaker is right up there with the best. It's just a classic design. Many other trophies emulate this design and come up short. Those aren't major championship trophies and they shouldn't try to be. Stay in your fuckin lane, RSM Classic. Anyways, it's an iconic trophy, it's got great size for the mantlepiece, and hopefully it stays in one piece thru the ceremony on Sunday. It's an 8.6/10.
The Field
Rory McIlroy is the betting favorite at +1100 at the Barstool Sportsbook and rightfully so. He's coming off a win in his last event at the Wells Fargo and he's got the win here 9 years ago under his belt. He hits it a mile and it looks like he's starting to control it again too. Plus he grew up playing golf in Northern Ireland and should know his way around a links-style course. I wouldn't fault anybody for taking him, as there's not really another big name outside of Jordan Spieth who has shown overly strong recent play. And this course doesn't really strike me as a fit for Jordan. There are going to be a ton of people on Rory, but I'd just like to see him back up the Quail Hollow performance with another good one before diving in at +1100 in a major championship field.
The name that jumps out at me is the one that's shockingly 7th on the board - that's Dustin Johnson at +1800. He withdrew in advance of last week's Byron Nelson with a knee injury, but was also seen doing backflips off his boat…
So needless to say I think his knee is fine. His form has kinda teetered off in recent starts (no top 10's in his last 6 starts including a MC at his Masters defense) but he's still ranked #1 in the world and he's got the kind of complete game that can get it done here. Plus he grew up and lives in the lowcountry. This is his domain. It just feels like he has no business going off at the same odds as Viktor Hovland (no disrespect to him) so that's the value I'm jumping on. DJ +1800 it is.
Other Plays
Tony Finau To Win +3300 - Not even a FOMO play here. Tony hits bombs. Let's go Tony.
Cameron Smith To Win +4500, Top 10 +400 - Great example of a guy with a well-rounded game. Awesome short game. Knows how to flight it low too
Si Woo Kim To Win +15000, Top 10 +900 - Three career wins, two on Dye designs. Held up to the pressure of winning a PLAYERS Championship.
Bubba Watson Top 10 +500 - Sneaky good year from him. Another guy who can flight it low. Good history at Dye designs too (5 of 13 career wins)
Marc Leishman Top 10 + 550 - Another Australian similar to Cam Smith. I love Aussies this week.
Robert MacIntyre Top 10 +1100 - I'm going to keep picking Bob Mac until he makes himself a well known name. It's gonna happen eventually.
No Hole in One -110 - Usually the odds on "no' here are much steeper. I gotta take "no" close to even, especially with the length and wind on these par 3's.
3-man Playoff +1800 - Why the hell not? We haven't had any playoff in a major since Sergio-Rose at the '17 Masters. We're due. Why not make it a 3-man playoff?
Couple small notes before we get out of here. Beginning this year, players will be allowed to use a rangefinder during tournament play in an effort to speed up play. I have my doubts that that will be the outcome, but it'll be weird to see for sure. Other thing is that the PGA Tour shifted last year to Top 65 and ties make the cut. The PGA Championship is sticking with Top 70 and ties. So if you're grinding out DFS plays, be aware that a few more guys will make the weekend than on the rest of the Tour.
Should be an awesome tournament at an awesome course. Kiawah is consistently rated a Top 10 course in America and we don't get to see it often. I'll be here all along the way.
Enjoy the Ocean Course at Kiawah.