Gentlemen, Start Your Fluids: Quail Hollow To Get 2017 PGA

Ron Green Jr. has the scoop**, including the worst denial quote ever. Thanks to reader Harrison for this.

Quail Hollow Club president Johnny Harris declined comment today saying, "It’s not appropriate for me to comment until after the announcement on Tuesday.”

**Link working now

Comments

[Jim S]

What a great way to phrase it. I think I'll use that sentence structure myself in the future.

"It's not appropriate for me to deny taking steroids until my illegal prescription gets filled on Friday."
- Rafael Palmeiro

Geoff--the current link is broken.

[digsouth]

So the rumor Dye has been caled in to add 600 creeks and streams may be true? ;)

Children will be allowed to have swordfights with the red stakes.

digsouth

[lloydcole]

Don't tell them your name, Pike!

[George]

N.C. in August? Hope the players don't mind the heat index being over 100 degrees.

[Jeremy]

I guess this means the 2022 Ryder Cup is a done deal as well.

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

One of us Southern Shackelfordians has pointed out that next year at AAC we can all just sweat together. Yeah, maybe. But there is more to it than that. August in the South is very hot and humid with heat indexes of >100 degrees in the afternoon the norm. That is great for irrigated Bermuda grass. But our afternoons are also fraught with thunderstorms that often seem to come from a very angry God. That's OK as long as I am out there by myself or with a few other golfers. We can take the nearest refuge and let it blow through. How are you going to do that when there are 20,000-40,000 people to care for? A lethal thunderstorm can happen anywhere and has, e.g., Hazeltine. But that was freakish. There is nothing freakish about some of the storms I have witnessed this summer after 2:00 when I can walk. I also drink at least a gallon of free water during a 3.5-hour round in the summer. Spectating is different from walking and carrying, but being out in this heat and humidity would be just as bad over the course of 8-10 hours. At $5 per 16-ounce bottle of water, that would be $40. Make it $5 a quart and that is still $20 just to avoid heat stroke. It is true that anyone assumes the risk of injury when watching any sporting event. But the PGA in August in the Deep South is nuts, as any of my relatives, living and otherwise, would know.

[Wisconsin Reader]

Man . . . The PGA sure does love the deep South heat. . . The way it keeps getting hotter by 2017 it could be tropical everywhere South of Chicago - without the sea breezes. . . Tiger will be in his 40's - still chasing Jack's record - with Peter Uihlein (having won the Masters and the National Open at Erin Hills earlier in the year) as his biggest obstacle. . . I hope I am still around to watch - in my air conditioned man cave.

[Average Golfer]

It'll be hotter than two squirrels screwin' in a wool sock.

[Used to be Former S&T convert]

Golf is an outdoor sport, elements are part of the equation and heat is an element just like wind and rain, ask Monty about Oakmont (PA). I live in Charlotte and there have been no more than 3 afternoon thunderstorms in August this year, as always weather is unpredictable most everywhere.

I have heard that QH is testing one of the new bermuda strains on one of their practice greens. There will be a lot of changes at Quail before 2017...

[RM]

I was drinking gatorade in the shade at 9am when I walked off the course at the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst because of the heat. Passed a few people getting medical attention along the way. Hell, it's too hot to even take out the trash here in Atlanta in August. But I do like Quail Hollow as a major venue. That's one course where I believe the hype is legit. But I also think it's very unnecessary. I think being the annual host venue of what is (arguably) the very best regular tour event should be enough to satisfy their urge for reputation.

[d.b.cooper]

lol, Average Golfer.

[Used to be former S & T Convert]

@RM-- I wouldn't be surprised if QH gives up the tour event at the end of their contract (2014) now that they get the PGA, and are possibly in the discussion for a future Ryder Cup.

[Mr Frisbie]

+1 (again) to KLG! maybe we Triad-ians can get the Wyndham to move to the Wells Fargo, er Wachovia, er Quail Hollow, whatever, slot! perhaps that is why Wyndham only inked a 2 year deal to survey the changes in NC PGA Tour golf scenery. i deny the fact that i volunteer in an undisclosed air-conditioned location at the Wyndham!

[Willie]

Hey Avg. Golfer, I think I wore that sock once. My toes still itch.

[Charles Boyer]

Thunderstorms?

Try HURRICANES.

Yes, they are very rare, but ask a Crown Town resident of 20 years or more about Hurricane Hugo and what it did to their town.

Or go up the road to Raleigh (a little more than 2 hrs away) and ask them about Hurricane Fran.

[Brad S]

The switch to bermuda greens at Quail is imminent. I hear they lost a few this summer and an ultradwarf bermuda cultivar will save some serious bucks in maintenance. Tifeagle, Miniverde, Champion...take your pick.

[Taffy]

Hugo was a bitch. They better go to Champion Bermuda because bent can't hack summer in NC if this summer is any indication.

[Taylor Anderson]

I love that every time we start talking about the south hosting a golf tournament, the topic becomes the weather.

Well, guess what? The midwest has been in the 90s most of the week and Boston's got a high of 93 tomorrow. New York is at 97.

It's August. It's hot almost everywhere. Who cares? Play golf.

[Used to be former S & T Convert]

Hugo was an '89 September hurricane (remember it well - no power for 11 days) so the hurricane threat would be more of a concern for the Ryder Cup QH is trying to land in '24.

Of course a few weeks after Hugo there was a quake in San Fran something the USGA surely factored for the '12 Open at Olympic.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

Have to agree with T & A. Suck it up, people.

[Hawkeye]

Why don't they consider moving the PGA to February/March instead? The 1971 PGA at PGA National in Florida was played in February, so it's been done. August is a wicked month, anyway.

[d.b.cooper]

Feb/March would eliminate a lot of great courses and sector of the country from hosting.

[padan]

Quail has shut down to re-grass or dig up their greens (have heard both from folks). Either way, the talk is that they will put bent back in for this year. There are a bunch of courses in the Charlotte are shut down and putting hybrid bermuda in for greens and getting rid of the bent.

As for thunderstorms, we have had plenty of them in the afternoons this summer and are way up on rain at our club.

It will be unfortunate if Quail does not re-up with WellsFargo for the PGA Tour event. It really is a highlight for the city each year.

[Dorothy Campbell Hurd Howe's Ghost]

It's golf people. It's outside. Sometimes it rains/snows/steams/boils/freezes, etc. Sometimes it's uncomfortable to fans (see Green Bay football in December, Nascar in July, etc.) and sometimes in golf the weather becomes part of the story (recently Carnoustie, Southern Hills, Hazeltine, K Club). But really boys, just quit your belly aching and enjoy watching these elite athletes overcoming the odds.

Really, you don't have to go. You could watch it at home and it will still sell out.