Nobody knows when we’ll have another major golf tournament in Tulsa, maybe not in my lifetime, but they are always a financial boon to the city and usually a lot of fun for me to cover.

I have covered over a dozen big-time golf tournaments in my 33 years working in the Tulsa media; either for radio or print. That includes, three PGA Championships, two Tour Championships, one U.S. Open, one U.S. Senior Open, eight LPGA Tour events, and two NCAA Division 1 Women’s Golf Championships.

I have never had a problem getting a press credential to cover any sports event, with the exception of one Cincinnati Reds game a few years ago, because I was with an out-of-state newspaper. However, the PGA uses a public relations firm, Fleishman Hillard, to vet media outlets seeking a press credentials. Somebody at the P.R. company apparently decided I was only worthy of getting credentials for the Wednesday practice round and first round of the tournament on Thursday.

The explanation I was given; As a bit of background, we are working with a much smaller on-site media footprint this year, and there is an online media hub that will have a plethora of assets including all player interviews for your use.

There you have it.

The sports columnist from a local weekly newspaper, a paper that has been around for 21 years, gets relegated to covering only one day of the actual tournament.

So, with that being said, I thought, well, I’ll just write about Wednesday and Thursday then, and that’s it. I even had the backing of another media member who encouraged me to do that very thing, saying, “What do you have to lose? There won’t likely be another PGA event in Tulsa again in our lifetime.”

However, I realize that would appear to be simply whining and doing you, the reader, a disservice.

My View From The PGA Championship

The largest gallery of fans following one particular group of players was that following the round-one pairing of Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Rory McElroy. The big question, as I wrote last week, was whether Woods’ injured right leg could take the grind of walking up and down the slopes of Southern Hills. As we learned following Saturday’s third round, it could not. He admitted after what was his worst round ever in a PGA Championship event, that he was in a lot of pain and he withdrew from the tournament.

I met up with my son during the practice rounds on Wednesday, and it was great to be able to walk the course and hang out with him for a while. I think it was the first time we attended a golf tournament since the U.S. Open in 2001.

Many people were complaining about the concessions charging $18 for a 25-ounce can of beer. My answer, don’t buy it. As hot as it was on Thursday (86-degrees) most people couldn’t even finish the entire beer before it got warm. The money would have been better spent on water or Gatorade.

Although it was hot during the practice rounds and first couple rounds of the tournament, it wasn’t anything like the 100-plus degree temperatures we experienced when the PGA Championship was held in August, 1994 and 2007.

England’s Tyrrell Hatton criticized the condition of the greens at Southern Hills following a disappointing end to his second round. Hatton made a move up the leaderboard with four birdies in a row, but bogeyed the 16th and 18th to card a 68 and end the day two under par, seven shots behind leader Will Zalatoris. Last month at the Master’s Tournament, Hatton said Augusta National was “unfair at times” after closing rounds of 79 and 80. Regarding Southern Hills, he said, “Obviously (I’m) pretty disappointed with the finish to be honest. Three good putts on the last three greens and obviously none of them went in. I kind of did my bit there. Wasn’t the easiest to hole putts this afternoon. Maybe a combination of not being able to be cut and rolled added to that, but they were pretty bobbly, so not the easiest to putt on.”

The greens didn’t seem to affect Zalatoris who shot a 65 on Friday (5-under) to go to 9-under at that point of the tournament. The greens also didn’t seem to bother Bubba Watson who shot a 7-under 63 on Friday. Maybe it was just Hatton’s putting that was off.

The Champion Is

Following a poor fourth round by Mito Pareira, Zalatoris and Justin Thomas finished in a tie for first place at 5-under and played a three-hole playoff. They both scored a 4 (-1) on the 13th hole. Then on the par-4 No. 17 hole, Zalatoris scored a 4 and Thomas carded a birdie, to lead by a stroke heading to No. 18. When Thomas parred 18, it was over and he had won the PGA Championship for the second time (2017 was his first title). Amazingly, Thomas had started the day 7 strokes behind the leader.