US PGA Championship: What players have to say about Oak Hill restoration

By Mathieu Wood

The 105th US PGA Championship may be returning to a familiar spot this week in Oak Hill Country Club but for most of the field it is a new test that awaits them.

With a rich history as a Major Championship and Ryder Cup venue, the East Course in Rochester, New York, is staging the event for a fourth time and first since 2013, when Jason Dufner lifted the Wanamaker Trophy.

But after a 10-month restoration by architect Andrew Green that ended in 2020, the venue bears a greater resemblance to its original Donald Ross design.

Along with extensive work to all the green complexes and fairways, hundreds of trees have been removed and more than 200 yards added to the course.

The changes don’t stop there though with a new par-three fifth created, while the previous fifth hole has been extended to become the par-four sixth, which can now play in excess of 500 yards. On the back nine, there is no longer a pond guarding the par-three 15th green.

The rough has also been a topic of conversation in the lead up to the second men’s Major of the year, providing another challenging element for the world’s best to contend with.

Here, we hear from some of those in the field about the test that faces them this week.

Rory McIlroy

The Northern Irishman finished in a tie for eighth ten years ago at Oak Hill and is bidding to win his third PGA Championship.

“I look at a golf course like this and I think it's quite similar to what we faced at Winged Foot in 2020 in terms of long golf course: long rough, pretty narrow fairways, but there's a lot of openings into the greens

“You can run the ball up. The fairways are pretty firm and those aprons are certainly running. There's two different trains of thought of how to play that.

“It's playing from the fairway and being able to get a little closer to those tight corners, or you can just get it up there as far as possible and try and run it up the front of the green, which basically most greens allow you to do.

"You've got to keep it out of those fairway bunkers. They're very, very penal. What Andrew Green has done with the green complexes and sort of spread them out and you see all these extra sections, back rights and back lefts, if someone can keep their discipline and not start firing at those pins and know that middles of the greens is a pretty good leave on most holes. It's a long golf course, and par and length is going to be an advantage.

"But I think even more of an advantage is making sure that you're hitting into these greens from the fairways. It's a combination of everything, but I think discipline is going to be a huge factor this week."

Jon Rahm

The Spaniard, who had yet to turn professional when the PGA Championship was last held at Oak Hill, is aiming to make it back-to-back Major wins and complete the third leg of the career grand slam.

"I hadn't played it before so I didn't know what to expect. Obviously I saw the 2013 PGA, some highlights, and obviously knew it was a challenging golf course.

"But you can tell with this redo they wanted to make it a little extra difficult. I get a very similar vibe and feel around the golf course that you could get at Bethpage or Winged Foot, since we're so close to both those courses. Tough course.

"Whoever is setting up the golf course is going to have a lot of fun, because there's a lot of opportunities on holes with pin locations and tee boxes, so you can make this golf course as difficult as you want or not as accessible as you want, but obviously you can make a big difference in the scoring.

"I would say whoever did the redo has done a good job. It's challenging, but it's one of those where if you hit the shots you're supposed to hit, put it in the fairway, go to the centre of the green, nothing crazy should be happening."

Luke Donald

The European Ryder Cup Captain and former World Number One is one of just six players in the field that played on the East Course when it staged the US PGA Championship in 2003.

"I love what has been done here with the restoration. It looks amazing, like visually. They've really used the land beautifully. The greens have a lot of flow to them, a lot of slope, but not so much where it's impossible to create a good challenge with it being a fair challenge, as well.

"Certainly the rough is thick. The fairway bunkers, the greenside bunkers are very penal. They can move tees around to kind of make it very fun, this golf course. Playing earlier in the year with it being a little cooler, there's some very, very strong holes out there."

Robert MacIntyre

The Scot is making his 11th Major appearance and says this will be the toughest test he has faced in his career so far.

"It's long, it's tough, but the rough just makes it the hardest golf course I've ever played in my life. That's what it does. It's plain and simple."

Matt Fitzpatrick

The reigning U.S. Open champion knows all facets of his game will have to be on song if he is to be in the mix.

"It's just a brute of a golf course. It reminds me a lot of Winged Foot when we played just because you miss the fairways there, it was just chipping out.

"From the holes that I've seen, there's so many tough, tough golf holes where you have to hit just good shots. I think that's the great thing about it is it's a proper test.

"You know, you've got to play good golf. Whoever does win this week, in my opinion, will thoroughly deserve it."

Justin Thomas

The American is looking to become the first player to successfully defend a title in a Major since Brooks Koepka at the 2019 PGA Championship.

"It's tough. The thickest blades of grass. It's very, very thick.

"I felt like I had a lot of lies chipping and hitting irons that I had a pretty good idea how it was going to come out, and it didn't.

"So I think that's going to be something that a lot of people will have to guess correctly or adjust to as the week goes on."

Scottie Scheffler

The World Number Two has two top tens in three starts at the US PGA Championship.

"To me, this is just a really good major championship setup.

"The rough is very penal. The fairways are really firm, so they're hard to hit.

"We should get, I think, a few different types of weather this week. It'll be the usual challenges: thick rough, deep bunkers.

"Just try and stay patient out there and play a few good rounds."