BELOW-PAR FOR THE COURSE
ST. LOUIS — If you’re wagering on what the winning score will be for this week’s PGA Championship, consider this: Players anticipate there will be a lot of red numbers on the board from start to finish at Bellerive because the course will play wet and slow on both the fairways and greens.
Unlike a U.S. Open, where the USGA’s goal is a score around par, figure on the winning score this week being well into double digits — perhaps pushing 20-under par — in part because of a very hot summer in the area and heavy rain Tuesday into Wednesday.
To its credit, the PGA of America, which runs the tournament, is just fine with that. Unlike the USGA, which treats birdies like an enemy force, the PGA of America welcomes as many red numbers as the players can post.
“Certainly, the rain has softened things up, but I look at that as a very positive because I think we could have one of the most exciting PGA Championships ever played,’’ PGA chief championships officer Kerry Haigh said Wednesday. “If you put 98 of the top 100 golfers in the world on a beautifully manicured golf course with soft greens and little or no wind, I certainly hope and expect we’ll see a lot of birdies.
“The plan is that the players are the story. It is their major championship. We want to showcase the best players in the world on great golf courses. … Truly it’s the players are the show. We are not the show.
“That’s our aim for every championship is to make it fun, make it exciting, make it difficult, tough hole locations, opportunities to just make the golfer think. And if you can do that, I think the players enjoy it more. They react more. And hopefully, good golf and great golf is rewarded.’’
That’s music to the ears of the players.
“I think you’ll see guys shoot some low scores,’’ Jordan Spieth said. “There are some meaty holes out there where you really have to drive the ball well and hit a good long iron into the green, but there also are a lot of wedge opportunities that you can feed into these sections of the greens. That will be really exciting. You’ll see some hole-outs this week by the look of this golf course. We already had a couple [Monday in practice]. There’s nothing wrong with that at all. It’s still a fantastic test of golf out there.’’
Rory McIlroy, who has won two PGA Championships and is a fan of the course setups, praised Haigh and his team for not obsessing on what the win- ning score might be.
“I don’t think they really care whether the winning score is 5-under par or 20under par,’’ McIlroy said. “They sort of just let the conditions dictate what happens, and I think all the players appreciate that. We all like to play golf courses that are tough but fair, and I think that the PGA presents golf courses like that to us each and every year.’’