Fourth Of Four Majors Watch

John Huggan weighs in on the PGA's current standing in the major rotation.

"There really is nothing unique about the US PGA," sighs former Ryder Cup player and now BBC commentator, Ken Brown. "Maybe if it had a permanent rota of three or four courses, it would have more cache.

"Then again, just being the fourth biggest championship in the game makes it a pretty big deal. Compared with every other tournament played around the world, fourth is still pretty impressive. But it is definitely number four if you have to choose."

Let's face it; the US PGA is lucky to be a major in the 21st century. Were the four quarters of what was once called the "Impregnable Quadrilateral" chosen again tomorrow, surely only two of today's constituent parts would make the cut. Joining the two Opens, the PGA Tour's flagship Players Championship and a travelling World Match Play Championship would better reflect the modern golfing world. A brace of majors in the United States, one in Great Britain and the fourth moving between the likes of Australia, South Africa and, the way things are going, China, is at least less biased than the status quo, three of the four majors played in the same country.

Larry Dorman says that Oakland Hills will be the year's toughest major and talks to several players about it.

“I played Augusta this year for the first time and Torrey Pines and the U.S. Open, but those don’t even come close to how hard Oakland Hills will play,” said Daniel Chopra, the winner of the 2008 Mercedes-Benz Championship. “I played it last year for the British Open qualifier and, in my mind, it was the toughest golf course I had ever played, and I still believe that."

Peter Lonard also played Oakland Hills in the British Open qualifier last year.

“I thought it was the hardest golf course on earth,” he said, acknowledging that he arrived at the qualifier on a low, feeling burned out by too much golf. “But I’ve matured since then,” he added, laughing. “I think it’ll be very good. I’m looking forward to it. I’m sure the rough is going to be thick, the course is really long, a lot of undulations, cantered fairways. It’s going to be a hard track.”

Of particular concern to Chopra are the fairway bunkers, some of them new, all of them deep and penal. “The rough is a nonissue because they’ve got bunkers on both sides of the fairways and they’re deep,” he said. “These bunkers are all designed small so you roll in, you literally just have to trickle into the bunker and get down to the bottom of the flat to have a chance to reach the green.”