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Credit: http://www.direct-golf.co.uk/

I’m watching the PGA Championship on dvr delay and just watched Rory McIlroy make an ill-advised, and potentially career ending shot. On the third hole, his ball was in the trees, and up against a root. Rory swung hard with an iron and hit the root, causing his club to wrench from his grasp. The ball kind of squirted out, but didn’t clear the trees. As I’m watching, Rory is obviously in pain, icing the wrist even as he heads to try to get his next shot out of a bunker.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. That’s the invincibility of youth.

I’ve been in that situation (in the woods, up against a root) that it’s my natural habitat. Here’s the proper shot: take a three wood and putt hard. There’s no chance of injury, and the ball will scoot under the branches and out of the woods. You can then take your third shot at the flagstick from the fairway.

I’m going to blame his caddy for this one. The caddy should have handed him a wood to putt or a wedge to pitch out sideways and refused to offer another alternative.

Continuing to watch this unfold ... where is the adult to tell him its time to quit? Why is he risking further injury?

Apparently its all worked out ok. The medic told him that he wasn’t risking further injury by playing. But that was THREE HOLES LATER. Even if it all turns out to be sound and fury signifying nothing, it still was dumb and some adult (i.e. his caddy) should have stepped in to put an end to it.

Followup. Now much of the golf media is praising McIlroy for gutting it out. I’ll say again. It was dumb. The shot was dumb, and continuing to play was also. Tiger tried to play on a leg that wasn’t quite right and missed most of this season. Rory risked that, and more.

Stevie Williams is the bettors favorite to win the 2011 PGA Championship, at 2-1.

No. Scratch that. Although, given Steve’s display after Adam Scott’s victory last week, I wouldn’t be surprised if he thinks so.

The real front runner is Rory McIlroy at 10/1. He’s a fine choice, as long as the weather is to his liking.

Lee Westwood is in at 14/1, along with Luke Donald. Repeat after me: Westwood is never going to win a Major. This might be Donald’s tournament. He’s probably deservedly the current world number one—as much as that flawed system tells us about anything.

I find it interesting that Adam Scott, Phil and Tiger are next, both at 20/1. Given Tiger’s performance—especially with the driver—last week, I can’t imagine that anyone would put money on him to win. Repeat after me: Tiger will never win another Major. Phil’s a marginally better choice. I think he’s still got one or two more in him. Adam Scott has been playing as well as anyone lately; I hope for his sake that Stevie doesn’t become too much of a distraction.

The next group, at 25/1, also is interesting: Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler and Steve Stricker. All of these guys are inevitable choices to break through for a Major. Stricker is running out of time, though. I’m putting him at the top of my list this week.

The complete odds for the 2011 PGA Championship are below, courtesy of Bodog, the world’s largest betting destination.

The PGA Championship is the annual professional championship hosted by the Professional Golfers Association of America. It long has been the season’s final “major” (although it once was held in January), and is generally held four weeks following the British Open Championship.

That the PGA of America has its own championship —and indeed, that there’s a PGA at all—has much to do with the fact that professionals have been golf’s second class citizens for much of the recorded history of the game. Club and teaching pros were after all the servants of wealthy amateurs. At Open golf championships, gentlemen amateurs were introduced as Mister, while their professional counterparts were referred to without any honoriffic. Pros were not even allowed into the clubhouse at the courses where competitions were held; they were of the same status as the rest of “the help” and didn’t rate. In fact, it was not until the 1920 US Open at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio that the pros were allowed into the clubhouse.

In the United States, the formation of the United States Golf in 1895 led to the creation of two national championships to match those of the R&A’s Open Championship (1860) and British Amateur (1885). The US Open welcomed professionals in competition, but the USGA was, and remains, primarily an organization focused on amateurs.

Certainly feeling left out and under-served, a group of club professionals led by Walter Hagen met at New York’s Wykagul Country Club in January 1916 with department store owner Rodman Wanamaker. A month later, that meeting led to the formation of the Professional Golfers Association. The first Professional Golfers Association Championship was held later that year at New York’s Siwanoy Country Club. Jim Barnes won $500 and a diamond studded gold medal donated by Wanamaker.

The current trophy for winning the PGA is named for Rodman Wanamaker.

From its inception to 1958, the PGA Championship followed a match play format. That gave the PGA Championship a unique flavor, but made it unpopular among television producers, for the format could result in the marquee players being driven out before the weekend. (In this writer’s estimation, the change was a mistake that should be corrected).

The PGA Championship also has had some difficulty finding a place on the calendar. Prior to the 1960s, it often was played the week following the British Open, in late July. In 1971, it was played in Florida in February. It seems now to have firmly established itself in August.

It’s also worth noting that the PGA Championship is not a product of the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour split from the PGA of America in 1968, to form an association that focused on the needs of touring professionals. The PGA of America remained focused on “club” and teaching professionals. The PGA Tour, in fact, doesn’t manage any of golf’s “Majors.”

The PGA of America also organizes the Senior PGA Championship and with the PGA European Tour, the Ryder Cup.

Walter Hagen (1921, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927) and Jack Nicklaus (1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980) each hold the record with five PGA Championship victories. They played under different circumstances, however. Hagen won all of his in the match play format, while Nicklaus won in stroke, or medal play.

Other Records:

• Oldest winner: Julius Boros in 1968 (48 years, 142 days)
• Youngest winner: Gene Sarazen in 1922 (20 years, 174 days)
• Greatest winning margin in the match play era: Paul Runyan beat Sam Snead 8 & 7 in 1938
• Greatest winning margin in the stroke play era: 7 strokes, Jack Nicklaus in 1980
• Lowest absolute 72-hole score: 265, David Toms (66-65-65-69), 2001 (This is the lowest 72-hole score ever recorded in any major championship.)
• Lowest 72-hole score in relation to par: −18, Tiger Woods (66-67-70-67, 270) and Bob May (72-66-66-66, 270), 2000; Tiger Woods (69-68-65-68, 270), 2006
• Lowest 18-hole score: 63 – Bruce Crampton, 2nd round, 1975; Raymond Floyd, 1st, 1982; Gary Player, 2nd, 1984; Vijay Singh, 2nd, 1993; Michael Bradley, 1st, 1995; Brad Faxon, 4th, 1995; José María Olazábal, 3rd, 2000; Mark O’Meara, 2nd , 2001; Thomas Bjørn, 3rd, 2005; Tiger Woods, 2nd, 2007

The Fourth Major, the PGA Championship extends back to 1916. It was a match play event until 1958. Below is a list of the past results of the Championship.

Inaugurated in 1937 at Augusta National Golf Club, the Senior PGA Championship was organized by none other than Bobby Jones. In the first competition, Jock Hutchison came away with the winner’s share of the $2,000 purse (about $30,000 in today’s money).

The PGA Senior Championship moved from Georgia to Florida in 1940, hoping for better weather. Sarasota hosted two years, and Ft. Myers another before World War II interrupted play. Following the war, the Championship was moved to Dunedin, Florida. The PGA eventually would move its offices there.

From 1945 to 2000, PGA National in Dunedin and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida was the event’s semi-permanent home. Since 2001, however, the event has been on the road: Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ (2001); Firestone Country Club, Akron, Ohio (2002); Aronimink Golf Club, Philadelphia (2003); Valhalla, Louisville, KY (2004); Laurel Valley GC, Ligonier, Pa (2005); Oak Tree GC, Edmond, OK (2006); The Ocean Course, Kiawah Island (2007); Oak Hill CC, Rochester, NY (2008); Canterbury GC, Beachwood, OH (2009) and Colorado GC, Parker, Colo. (2010). The tournament returns to Valhalla in 2011.

To qualify, players must be at least 50 years old. Other Eligibility requirements follow:

• Any past winner of the Senior PGA Championship
• Any past winner of a regular major championship
• Any past member of the United States Ryder Cup team
• The top 15 finishers in the previous year’s Senior PGA Championship
• The top 50 on the Champions Tour money list (previous year and current year)
• Any winner of a Champions Tour event since the last Senior PGA Championship
• The top 35 finishers from the Callaway Golf Senior PGA Professional National Championship
• Any winner of the previous five U.S. Senior Opens
• The winner of the last Senior British Open
• The top eight players from the previous year’s European Seniors Tour Order of Merit
• The top four players from the previous year’s Japanese Seniors Tour Order of Merit
• A one-time exemption for those who have just turned 50 and have won a PGA Tour, Japan Golf Tour, or European Tour event in the last 5 years
• The top 30 on the career money list, both Champions Tour and combined Champions Tour and PGA Tour
• A one-time exemption for former PGA Professional National Champions turning 50
• Invitations for those not meeting criteria above also are made

A list of winners follows:

As I’ve read dozens—perhaps a hundred—articles on Dustin Johnson’s the consensus seems to be settling in that the fault lies with player and caddy. Johnson admittedly didn’t pay much attention to the local rules sheet and if in doubt should have asked. I don’t disagree.

But I think the problem for Johnson was that he had no doubt. It never occurred to him that the bare area was a bunker.

I’ve attended two major championships—the Senior Championship at TPC Dearborn and the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills—as well as the Buick Open and the LPGA’s Jamie Farr. In all of those, the crowds had by the end of the weekend stomped out large bare spots along the sidelines that in sandy soil would have looked for all the world like the spot Johnson encountered.

Going strictly by the USGA’s definition of a bunker, I can see where there might be some confusion:

“A ‘bunker’ is a hazard consisting of a prepared area of ground, often a hollow, from which turf or soil has been removed and replaced with sand or the like.

With the crowds standing around, many obvious signs of bunker status likely were obscured. Further, crowds don’t stand in hazards. Still, there was that lip right in front of him ...

A couple of other thoughts:

First, there are just too many bunkers on that course. It’s absurd that even the designer doesn’t have a handle on the number. I’ve seen several estimates, and several attempts by golf writers to enumerate them. None agree. So there’s no way to actually know whether that was a “prepared area of ground” or a random hole. The designer can’t look at a blueprint and say “indeed, I put a bunker there.”

Second, I wonder about the absence of the “blue dots.” According to the sheet that Johnson didn’t read, “where necessary, blue dots define the margin of the bunker.” I suppose they didn’t think it necessary here.

In the future, the PGA—and it will return to Whistling Straits for another PGA and the Ryder Cup in the next ten years—should define as a bunker anything within the ropes and as a waste area anything outside the ropes.

And finally, given the uncertainty about the nature of the bare spot, I think what the PGA should have proceeded under rule 1-4: If any point in dispute is not covered by the Rules, the decision should be made in accordance with equity.

There was doubt about the nature of the terrain. No one could prove that it actually was a “prepared areal,” and so Johnson should have been given the benefit of the doubt.

It’s to Johnson’s credit, however, that he didn’t argue any of these points. I actually think he’s learned a lot in missing out on two majors this year. If he’s half a man, he’ll be back in contention later, lessons learned.

Just a final musing ... it occurred to me as I was writing the title of this post that it won’t be long before the bulk of the population no longer knows the origins of the -gate suffix.