Will a May PGA Championship return to Oak Hill? PGA CEO gives hint

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill bought off to a begin nobody might have anticipated when the positioning was chosen eight years in the past.

Monday’s first observe spherical was delayed till 8 a.m. due to frost.

When the PGA of America awarded the upstate New York monitor its fourth PGA Championship in 2015, the match was nonetheless slated for mid-August. Two years later, it was introduced the PGA could be moved to May beginning in 2019, serving to the PGA Tour finish its season earlier than Labor Day and avoiding potential battle with the Olympics.

A frost delay went from extremely unlikely to near-inevitability for the a hundred and fifth PGA. The common low in Rochester is 48 for the month of May, however temperatures have been within the 30s Monday morning and lows shall be within the 30s by means of Thursday morning.

Justin Thomas even thought it had snowed in Rochester three weeks in the past.

“It was four weeks ago, shush!” a reporter corrected the defending champion on Monday.

The a hundred and fifth PGA Championship was the final one with a northern venue already chosen by the PGA of America when it introduced “Glory’s Last Shot” would grow to be the 12 months’s second main. But within the six years since, Pennsylvania’s Aronimink and New Jersey’s Baltusrol in 2026 and 2029 have been added to the schedule, though each of these websites are about 5 levels hotter in May on common than Rochester.

“We think we’ve added more courses than we’ve taken away by moving to May,” PGA CEO Seth Waugh mentioned Tuesday.

When requested what he thought in regards to the potential for Northeastern programs to host extra PGA’s, Waugh gestured exterior the interview tent and pointed to the blue skies.

“How are we looking out there right now? The course is perfect,” he mentioned. “It’s an outdoor sport, and we’re obviously going to go back after this championship — we haven’t hit a ball yet, so we’ll see how it all plays out and then come back and think about it for ourselves and see what the club wants to do and other clubs.”

Rory McIlroy, whose spouse is from Rochester and is an Oak Hill member, mentioned he was hopeful the match would return to upstate New York and different northeastern venues.

“The northeast is sort of my favorite golf to play in this country,” he mentioned. “I love the golf courses up here and I love the tradition, and a lot of the historic golf course architects started their journeys up here and have built some amazing golf courses. It would be a shame if we weren’t able to come back here.”

Thomas added the course may be simply a bit in need of its peak situation due to the early time within the 12 months. Oak Hill sometimes opens round April 1st however has been closed all 12 months to put together for this match.

“You can definitely tell it’s probably three or four weeks away from being, like, really, really good. The course is great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s Rochester, New York, in May,” Thomas mentioned. “You’ll have some iffy areas around the greens, and some of the greens are maybe different than others if they’re shaded or whatnot.”

The frost delay on Monday turned out to be minimal. Pros have been out in shorts and light-weight sweatshirts by the early afternoon as highs pushed into the upper-60s.

Similar situations persevered Tuesday, though a sharp chilly entrance is ready to transfer by means of within the afternoon and in a single day, bringing gusty winds all afternoon Tuesday and dropping temperatures sufficient to current one other likelihood of frost for each Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

“That may delay the start [of Thursday’s round],” PGA Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh mentioned. “Hopefully it won’t. But if it does, we’ll adapt.”

Luckily, that drop seems to be the final gasp of cool climate for the championship as highs for the weekend are anticipated within the 70s.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, incomes levels in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his highschool golf staff and nonetheless *tries* to stay aggressive in native amateurs. Before becoming a member of GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but in addition producing, anchoring and even presenting the climate. He could be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.