Golf Special Edition: Top golfers who excelled ‘during and after’ the Whistling Straits 2004
Whistling Straits is a 7514 yard long golf course, which is probably the longest golf course in the history of major championships. The golf club has had a rather early debut. The course first welcomed the PGA Championships in 2004, and then the Senior Open in 2007. After a time span of 6 years, history seems like repeating itself and the Championship returns to the same 72-par course in Kohler at Wisconsin.
Whistling Straits is expected to host the future 2015 PGA Championship but like this striking promise, the beautiful course has a beautiful history of golfers who have been able to play exceptionally well in the past PGA Championship. The top ten players who have displayed exceptional performance at Whistling Straits 2004 are Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, K.J Choi, Ernie Els, Chris DiMarco, Ben Crane, Darren Clarke, Stephen Ames, Justin Leonard and Vijay Singh.
Adam Scott when last visited the Whistling Straits, ended his game at an impressive number 9. The 24-year-old then displayed a remarkable performance. Now Scott is 30 and his six years of golf after the 2004 Championship has only added to the experience and maturity to it rather than any major win.
At number nine, Phil Mickelson, the well-known lefty, appeared at Whistling Straits last time in 2004. He had been playing well but his game faltered on the last two holes. Had that not been the case, Mickelson would have probably won the Championship. At the 17th he failed to achieve a birdie he had aimed for, and was dropped down to number 6. Mickelson had played a good game but the last hole gave the lefty a bogey placing him 2 strokes behind the leaders.
Choi finished the game tied at the sixth place with Mickelson and Paul Mc Ginley. The 2004 PGA Championship gave the 40-year-old one of his best PGA finish. Y.E Yang, his fellow Countryman, was the winner of last year’s PGA tournament. Now it all depends on Choi whether he wants to take Yang’s win as a motivation factor and achieve a win at Wisconsin or not.
Ernie Els at number seven was at a one stroke lead difference with the number three on the board. Els scored a pair of birdies on the 15th and 16th hole. The 17th was a par but the 18th hole didn’t seem to agree with Els. Chris DiMarco was in the three man race with Singh and Leonard towards the top of the board and was the only one out of the three men who managed to break par with a 71 in hand. He lost his win, when he failed to achieve a birdie at the last hole.
Halfway through the top ten is Crane who was tied at the 9th place with Rober Allenby, Adam Scott and Stephen Ames. He faced a tough 2nd day at Whistling Straits and ended up with 4 bogeys and two double bogeys. However, his recent year has been remarkable since he has been able to earn his 3rd PGA Tour win at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Darren Clarke made a course record of achieving a 65 at the opening round in Whistling Straits which was, at the second day, tied with Miguel Angel Jimnez. Clarke scored 9 birdies in R1 but the last round had its effect on him and he ended it with a 4 over par 76. He was tied for a 13th place end. The number three, Stephen Ames at the Whistling Straits played a solid R1 and R3 with a 68 and 69 but at the last hole, he ended up with 4 bogeys in hand. Despite the bogeys, Ames ended his game with only 3 strokes less than the lead.
At number two Justin Leonard had a 2 stroke lead at the last round but somehow his putting malfunctioned. He missed a Putt on the 18th hole and the 12 feet took the cup further away from him. After this incident, Leonard’s game faded off and made the way for Singh and Dimarco. This year Leonard is rumoured to return with a vengeance.
The golfer who seemed to have excelled ‘during and after’ the Whistling Straits 2004 is non-other than Vijay Singh. He won the 2004 PGA Championship and played the three way playoff. He was unable to play a single birdie at the regulation but achieved the very important one at the first three play-off holes. This was his third major career win, which was sealed by the last birdie. Singh played an amazing 2004 PGA Tour ,which gave him the PGA Tour Play of the Year honours. Now 47, Singh is trying to recapture some of his 2004 magic back.
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