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A world-class field is set to compete in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship,
The where is sometimes as important as the why.
That’s the case this week, when the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is played at Olympia Fields Country Club. Yes, that’s the same Olympia Fields that’s been the site of four men’s majors, including the 2003 U.S. Open won by Jim Furyk.
For those who would still dismiss women’s golf as something less, below the caliber of the men’s game, weeks like this make that much harder to do. The PGA will be played on the North Course, just as it was in 2003, and little about the setup has changed.
“Frankly, we can play here,” said Stacy Lewis, who speaks from experience, having won the second of her two majors, the 2013 Women’s British Open, on the Old Course at St Andrews.
“Just to add a female to that list of past champions, where the guys have played U.S. Opens, it’s really an honor for us to be here,” Lewis added. “It’s nice to see things changing and going in that direction.”
It is not by accident. When the PGA began talks with the LPGA and KPMG about restoring the grandeur to the LPGA Championship, one thing they all agreed on was that it should be played on the best courses.
Last year, it was at Sahalee, site of the 1998 PGA Championship. Next year it will be at Kemper Lakes, where Payne Stewart won the 1989 PGA. And in 2019, the Women’s PGA Championship will go to Hazeltine, which has had two U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships — might not want to remind Tiger Woods of that — and last year’s Ryder Cup.
There’s been a similar strategy for the U.S. Women’s Open. Three years ago, the U.S. Golf Association pulled off
golf ’s ultimate double at Pinehurst No. 2, holding the men’s U.S. Open one week and the women’s Open the next.
Next year, the Women’s Open will be played at Shoal Creek, home of the 1984 and 1990 PGA Championships. In 2021, it will be at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, which hosted its fifth men’s U.S. Open in 2012.
And the Women’s British Open is routinely played at some of the most iconic courses not just in Britain but also in all of golf: St Andrews, Carnoustie and Royal Birkdale, to name a few.
“They’re no different than a male athlete,” LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said Wednesday. “They want to be put to the test in the greatest possible tests, in the most historic venues, and they want to separate the best from the rest.”
No one is saying the men’s and women’s games are the same. Physiological differences mean the men have more power and can hit the ball farther.
But there is so much more to the game than that. A 60-foot putt is a 60-foot putt no matter if it’s Brooke Henderson or Brooks Koepka lined up behind it. Jordan Spieth’s spectacular hole-out last weekend was almost as good as Sei Young Kim’s to win the Lotte Championship two years ago in Hawaii. (Not familiar with it? Google it. You won’t be disappointed.)
The point is, the women have plenty of game, and playing on courses made recognizable by the men will showcase that.
Whan remembers someone asking if the women were going to be “embarrassed” before they went to Oakmont for the U.S. Women’s Open in 2010. He laughed — and told them to come find him after the tournament.
“People who ask that don’t spend much time on the LPGA,” Whan said. “There’s nothing that’s going to intimidate this group of athletes.”
There’s no denying that playing a course better known for men’s majors adds a curiosity factor that doesn’t exist most other weeks. But that’s OK.
“You turn on the Golf Channel this week, and we have the attention of the golfing world. Some of that is what KPMG is doing. But some of that is Olympia Fields,” Whan said.
“They’re not just golfers. They’re not just LPGA players. They’re a sports story. And we don’t get that week in and week out. We get that a few times a year. This is one of them.”
It’s as true in golf as it is in real estate: Location matters.