Whistling Straits: Who Has The Edge, Will It Separate The Field And Is This Really What A Golf Course Needs To Be?

These are questions I try to settle in 550 words for the Golf World Wednesday edition from the PGA Championship. (It's free and publishing daily, if you haven't subscribed.)

There were some intriguing comments about who the course favors during Tuesday's press conferences and in talking to players. I weigh those, plus my feelings about the scale of the place (it's bloated, relentlessly severe and makes Chambers Bay look manageable in spots).

But most important of all: is this is really a great test of skill and will it separate the merely great from the exceptional? Sadly though, this week may show that a golf course like this may be as good a test as an architect can concoct in a game eroding at its core in adapting to silly professional driving distances.

Anyway, here is the column.