Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2019 - 20

Tournament History
For those a little rusty on the tournament history, it is, next to
the U.S. Women's Open, the second longest-running of LPGA
events (the first staged in 1955 at the Orchard Ridge Country
Club in Fort Wayne, Indiana). The format that year was an odd
blend of three rounds of stroke play and a final 36-hole round
of match play, and Beverly Hanson outlasted Louise Suggs, 4
and 3, to take the first title.
Then known as the LPGA Championship, the tournament
became a partnership in 2015 between KPMG (one of the socalled
" Big Four " of accounting firms), the LPGA and the PGA
of America, the latter charged with managing the tournament.
One goal of the merger, Haigh notes, was to elevate the event
into an even better major championship than it had been previously.
Purses immediately leapt to $3.5 million. Last year,
they climbed to $3.65 million. This year's purse is up another
$200,000 to $3.85 million.
" Another part of that change was to bring the tournament to
prestigious and great golf courses, and Hazeltine certainly fits
into that, " Haigh says.
Hazeltine is no stranger to majors, men and women's, having
hosted the U.S. Women's Open in 1966 and 1977. (Win your bar
trivia bets by being able to name the winners: Sandra Spuzich
in 1966 [+9] and Hollis Stacy in 1977 [+4].)
Course Setup
Though this is the first go-round for the
Women's PGA Championship, the tournament
reassembles much of the same team
that handled logistics for the 2016 Ryder Cup.
Haigh and Hazeltine superintendent Chris
Tritabaugh will deal with most of the action
inside the ropes, while Renee DeLosh, who
handled hospitality at the Ryder Cup,
is now the championship director.
In a masterpiece of good timing,
Tritabaugh was on a family vacation
in Hawaii when the polar vortex
descended on Minnesota in late
January, but he expected no problems
from the cold: " The almost 100 percent
bentgrass we have on our short
surfaces stands up really well to winter
weather, and we have some snow on
the ground which will help insulate it
from the really cold temperatures. You
never know, of course; Minnesota is
always a little bit of a crap shoot. But
I don't expect any impact from the
weather. "
Before the Ryder Cup, Haigh said
to Tritabaugh, " You're our agronomist
for this event, and we're going to trust
20
MINNESOTAGOLFER Spring 2019
your judgment when it comes to the course. " The partnership
obviously worked well.
" Working with Kerry has been one of the highlights of my
career so far, " Tritabaugh says. " He has his hand in so much at
these events it's mind-boggling. But his ability to set up a golf
course in a way that's fair and enjoyable for players? He's just
one of the best at it. "
With the Ryder Cup still fairly prominent in their rearview
mirror, the pair haven't really had any major adjustments to
make. The two most notable changes will be the routing and the
length of the rough. Unlike the Ryder Cup teams, the women
will play the course in its normal sequence, par-72, from a maximum
length of 6,807 yards.
" Kerry has set up a bit of a hybrid of our gold tees, which
are our member tees, and our blue tees, which are the back
tees, " Tritabaugh says. " The number is a bit longer than what
our member tees normally play, which is a testament to the
women-not only how far they hit the ball but how accurate
they are from back there. But from the standpoint of our membership,
I know they'll be excited to watch the women playing
from spots they play from daily. "
The fairways will be about the same width as they were at the
Ryder Cup. The difference will be in the rough.
" The rough will be higher and more dif " We've
always had
a great turnout in
Minnesota. ... I'm
looking forward to it. "
-Karrie Webb, World
Golf Hall of Famer
LEXI THOMPSON
ficult than it was at the Ryder Cup where, at
the home captain's request, we kept it fairly
low, " Haigh says.
Tritabaugh chuckles a bit at the memory:
" The European team had some criticisms
about that-of course the losing team
always does. But there was a lot of intent
behind it: to make the course yield birdies,
create excitement from the fans and get the
crowd into it to make noise.
" For the women, it's going to be
tougher. We'll do some mowing of the
rough early in the week, but then we'll
allow it to grow up as the weekend
goes on-about the same you'd anticipate
for a major championship on the
men's side. "
Players to Watch
As of early February when we went
to press, the No. 1 ranked player was
Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, who has
10 LPGA wins under her belt, including
last year's U.S. Women's Open and
the 2016 Ricoh Women's British Open.
And if Ariya should falter,
there's
always her sister, 2013 LPGA Rookie of
the Year Moriya Jutanugarn, to watch
out for.
mngolf.org
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2019
