posted August 11, 2009 at 14:49 EST in Golf Articles
PGA Championship - Amateurs Need Not Apply
by Charles Jay
In the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open, amateurs are not only welcomed but have often done quite well.
In the PGA Championship, there are NO amateurs. By definition (PGA - Professional Golf Association, get it), everyone is a pro, in one way or another. That is not to say there aren't some spots left open for those who might otherwise not find themselves playing in a major. By edict of the PGA of America, which has authority over the tournament, there are 20 spots left open for "club pros," generally those who teach the game. They gather every year to play the PGA Professional National Championship (formerly known as the National Club Pro Championship), and top twenty in their tournament make it to the field. It used to be 40, but the PGA was forced to lower it as the result of a little brouhaha they had with PGA Tour players. Contrary to the impression of some people is that the PGA and the PGA Tour are actually two separate entities, and on this issue they were very much at odds with each other.
These are the other ways players qualify. As you notice, all the players who have won this event get a lifetime exemption, which is something they have in common, in a sense, with the British Open and Masters:
* All former PGA Champions.
* Winners of the last five U.S. Opens.
* Winners of the last five Masters.
* Winners of the last five British Opens.
* The last Senior PGA Champion.
* The low 15 scorers (and ties) in the previous PGA Championship.
* The 20 low scorers in the last PGA Professional National Championship.
* The 70 leaders in official money standings on the PGA Tour (starting one week prior to the previous year's PGA Championship and ending two weeks prior to the current year's PGA Championship).
* Members of the most recent U.S. Ryder Cup Team.
* Winners of tournaments co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour since the previous PGA Championship (note: this does not include pro-am and team competitions).
Also note that the PGA reserves the right to invite additional players not included in the categories listed above, which means they can grant special exemptions if they choose to, which would most likely go to players of distinction who for some reason don't meet any of the above requirements.
The field is 156 players, so there is room for 136 regular tour players. Keep one thing in mind - this has always been a good tournament for players to win their first and only major. Among them in recent years (with their BetUS golf betting odds in parentheses; that is, if they are playing this year and are not part of the "field" bet):
* Rich Beem (+25000)
* Bob Tway (+35000)
* Wayne Grady
* Paul Azinger (+75000)
* Steve Elkington (+20000)
* David Love III (+10000)
* David Toms (+6000)
* Shaun Micheel (+25000)
* Jeff Sluman
* Mark Brooks (+50000)
One of the great performances ever was put forth by Toms, who won in 2001 by posting a score of 265, which happens to be the lowest raw number ever in a major. Tiger Woods had the lowest score in relation to par, at 18-under, in both 2000 and 2006. In 2000 he toed at the end of 72 holes with Bob May, who is not in the field this year.
Last year's winner was Pedraig Harrington, who shot three-under at Oakland Hills, and for him it was his second straight major, having captured the British Open just prior. There are only two players in the field who have won this particular tournament more than once - Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh.
Woods has by far the best track record here, having won titles in 1999, 2000, 2006 and 2007, with a second-place finish in 2002 and a tie for fourth in 2005. With the win this past weekend at Firestone, he has now won 28% of the PGA tournaments he's entered. Phil Mickelson is the next most efficient at 9%. Woods has also played in 52 majors, and won 14 of them, which comes out to a frequency of 27%. Showing good form coming into the tourney is important to Woods; before each of the last three majors, he has won the most recent tournament where he's competed. Those others took place two weeks before the major, while this one was in the previous week.
Woods will be trying to rebound from a big downer at Turnberry, where he missed the cut in a major championship for only the second time as a pro. He has won at least one major title in each of the last four years.
