106th PGA Championship – Page 2

It’ll cost you $15 for a seltzer at the PGA Championship, ‘the largest all-inclusive event in the world’

Within the past couple years, the PGA rolled out a system called “Championship+.”

After a year of preparing, rows of biscuits are ready to be baked and just as many eggs are ready to be fried. Onions are ready to be chopped, bags of chips are ready for snacking, and boxes upon boxes of beer are ready for cracking.

These are just some of the behind-the-scenes workings we saw when taking a scenic golf cart ride, then walking up to a trailer and through a door marked “Production Kitchen” in a tucked-away corner of the Valhalla Golf Club. On the counter, thick binders with the title “Production Kitchen” emblazoned on the front carried pages and pages of information about what will be served May 13-19 during the 106th PGA Championship in Louisville.

The binders are big because this event is bigger than ever. It’s shaping up to be the largest PGA Championship in the history of the revered sporting spectacle, according to those behind the planning.

One of those is Eric Babcook, general manager of PGA of America Championships for the Patina Restaurant Group. The New York-based food service company was hired by PGA a few years ago, and as Babcook said, each running brings something new.

“There’s a lot of pressure, but that’s what we enjoy,” he told the Courier Journal during a media preview on May 10.

The level of pressure makes sense: The food service team stands to feed more people in seven days than a professional football or baseball stadium might serve their whole season.

The pressure might be on for organizers and the field of athletes, but hopefully, the experience is mostly fun for thousands of spectators walking the green fields of Valhalla.

Playing a part in the experience? Coming up with a game plan of what to eat and drink.

“You can get on the golf course and have this unbelievable experience of watching the best players in the world,” Babcook said. “Then you’re also eating some of the best food you can get.”

Your PGA Championship ticket includes some food and drinks

Patina Restaurant Group and contracted chefs and cooks prepare food ahead of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on Friday, May 10, 2024.

Within the past couple years, the PGA rolled out a system called “Championship+,” which covers access to the grounds of Valhalla Golf Club, as well as food and beverage offerings.

“That’s a unique thing,” Babcook said. “This is the largest all-inclusive event in the world.”

The tickets include one entree item, one snack item, and one non-alcoholic beverage per entry into a concession venue. Ticket-holders can enter “as many times as they like.”

If this sounds confusing, the blue signs will tell you what to do upon entry. The course has seven concession stands, called “markets,” instructing attendees to pick one beverage, one food entree, and one snack item.

You then show your wristband to a volunteer and go on your way.

“When you go to a concession stand, you’re not pulling out your wallet,” Babcook said.

“The idea is that you come in, you grab a soda or water, you grab a burger and you come back as many times as you want,” he added. “There’s no gimmicks here.”

The setup is intended to cut down on long lines, too.

What’s on the menu at Valhalla during the PGA Championship?

When building a menu for the PGA Championship, one executive chef on the team said he kept in mind how much walking people would do.

Having some quality and tasty fuel for a day on the course “makes for a better day,” chef Ed Milan told the Courier Journal. “People are going to be hungry.”

There will be breakfast and lunch entrees, along with Pepsi products. You’ll see beef hot dogs, bratwurst, a vegan option in Beyond Burgers, grilled chicken sandwiches, and, what is expected to be the most popular grab, cheeseburgers. The team expects to sell more than 100,000 burgers throughout the tournament,

“Everything is fresh,” Milan said. “When you go up to the concession stand, there will be people grilling hamburgers fresh. Nothing is frozen.”

Patina Restaurant Group and contracted chefs and cooks prepare food ahead of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on Friday, May 10, 2024.
While these things are included in tickets, a price list seen on Friday shows that a hot dog costs $8 and a cheeseburger costs $15.

Outside these stands, attendees will see tents selling alcoholic beverages including Michelob Ultra for $14, premium beer for $15 and a seltzer for $15.

Premium food and beverage areas around the course offer more options.

For more information, visit pgachampionship.com/championship-food-beverage#food-beverage-experience.

Lynch: Tiger Woods’ old mantra gets new life — whatever you say, say nothing

Woods dodges troublesome inquiries with an enigmatic ease that would have impressed Muhammad Ali.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Through nearly three decades in the public eye, Tiger Woods has remained a consummate corporate cipher, dodging troublesome inquiries with an enigmatic ease that would have impressed Louisville’s own Muhammad Ali. No one has ever said less more often, a muscle he’ll work strenuously while facing inquiries about his work on the PGA Tour’s new subcommittee tasked with talking to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.

On Monday, independent director Jimmy Dunne resigned from the Tour’s Policy Board and bemoaned a lack of progress in advancing the Framework Agreement with the PIF that he helped architect, the June 6 announcement of which blindsided players (including Woods) and sparked a bitter governance review during which a faction of player-directors repeatedly demanded accountability from those who worked secretly on the deal unbeknownst to the rest of the board. A day after Dunne’s departure, Woods was asked how optimistic he is about a Saudi deal being reached.

“I think we’re working on negotiations with PIF. It’s ongoing; it’s fluid; it changes day-to-day,” he said, revealing as much as a burka. “Has there been progress? Yes. But it’s an ongoing negotiation, so a lot of work ahead for all of us with this process, and so we’re making steps and it may not be giant steps, but we’re making steps.”

Unlike Rory McIlroy, who has said a deal with PIF is in the best interests of the game, Woods hasn’t detailed what resolution he’d like to see, an astute strategy in that it keeps his counterparts wondering if he wants one at all. He was a vocal critic of LIV and allied with McIlroy to reshape the Tour in an effort to prevent more players leaving, but that was before executives performed an about-face on the Saudis to rival that of Linda Blair in “The Exorcist.” Woods acknowledged that he and McIlroy are not so aligned in their thinking now.

“It’s good to see it differently, but collectively as a whole we want to see whatever’s best for all the players, the fans, and the state of golf,” he said. “How we get there, that’s to be determined, but the fact that we’re in this together and in this fight together to make golf better is what it’s all about.”

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: How to watch | Tournament hub

Pressed on what he wants to see happen, Woods blocked: “I’m not going to comment. Except that we’re making steps. That’s all I can say.”

Are you personally open to a deal with the Saudis?

“I’m personally involved in the process.”

Dunne called me Monday evening and described his position on the board as having become “superfluous,” describing a ghostly existence in which he wasn’t a decision-maker and wasn’t consulted by those who are — a predictable result of his role in the Framework Agreement. Woods was asked if he agreed with Dunne’s assessment.

“No,” he replied. “Jimmy and the amount of work and dedication that he put into the board and to the PGA Tour, it’s been incredible. It was a bit surprising that he resigned yesterday and just how it all came about, but, no, his role and his help, then what he’s been able to do for the PGA Tour has been great.”

It was a commendable effort at sincerity. Woods’ fellow director, Jordan Spieth, was also at pains to push back on a narrative that players now wield too much power, insisting that good governance has now been established. He used the word “balance” or a derivation thereof 11 times in his Tuesday press conference.

Tiger Woods smiled as his group approached the 5th green during a practice round in the PGA Championship at the Valhalla Golf Course in Louisville, Ky. on May. 14, 2024.

If Woods is opposed to or ambivalent about a Saudi deal, he finds himself now in an awkward position. No one will be collaring PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan during negotiations to raise human rights abuses by the government whose slush fund he runs. Those in the room are determined to treat this dispute as purely commercial in nature. But no matter how artfully it is dressed up — unifying the game for fans, offering clarity to sponsors, safeguarding the PGA Tour — the entire sport will assume enormous reputational risk if it chooses to be in business with a mercurial dictator who dissects dissidents.

Should a PIF the deal happen? If morality matters, absolutely not. The game shouldn’t be leveraged to sportswashers under the guise of unity.

Will a PIF deal happen? It’s more likely than not, since all parties are incentivized to make it happen.

If terms can’t be agreed upon, multiple scenarios become the subject of conjecture. Can the PGA Tour go it alone with private equity? Do those investors have the stomach for financing a battle against the Saudis? Will players try waiting out PIF’s willingness to torch a billion-plus annually on a failed product? Would PIF seek to upend Europe’s strategic alliance with the PGA Tour?

None of those are readily answerable questions, but since they’re questions of commerce, they are a damned sight easier for the powers that be to consider than one simple question of conscience.

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Tiger Woods on the state of his game, PGA Tour-PIF negotiations and that goatee

Here are four things to know from Tiger’s pre-tournament press conference.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tiger Woods remembers the feeling of walking in his birdie putt at the 16^th hole at the 2000 PGA Championship en route to a playoff victory over Bob May that marked his third straight major triumph.

“I just remember the pressure that I felt, the chance, an opportunity to do something that Ben Hogan did in 1953,” Woods said on Tuesday during his pre-tournament press conference ahead of his 24^th career start at the PGA Championship. “With all of that pressure and we kept feeding off of one another. He would make a putt, I would make a putt, I would make a putt, he would make a putt. It was a fun back nine.

“We never really missed shots on that back nine and then in the three-hole playoff. For us to shoot those low of scores, it was special.”

Woods would like to rediscover some of that old magic as he pursues his 16^th major championship and a fifth PGA Championship title this week at Valhalla Golf Club. But he also is quick to point out that that was a long time ago and the course, which will play over 7,600 yards, has changed a lot over the years.

“We were talking last week when we came up (about) how many 2-irons I used to hit off this property. Now it’s, everything is drivers. Just because they moved it back, it’s longer. But the first hole I hit driver and a 60-degree sand wedge in there. Today I hit a driver and a 5-wood. So it’s a bit different.”

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: How to watch | Tournament hub

Here are four more things to know from Tiger’s pre-tournament press conference.

State of his game

Tiger hasn’t played since the Masters, where he made the cut but ran out of gas on the weekend. Asked to assess the state of his game, he said, “I wish my game was a little bit sharper. Again, I don’t have a lot of competitive reps, so I am having to rely on my practice sessions and getting stuff done either at home or here on-site.”

Tiger came here last week on a scouting trip and returned to practice on Sunday and Monday to take advantage of the better weather before the rain hit on Tuesday. He also pointed out that the course isn’t as difficult of a walk compared to Augusta National – “just stay out of the rough,” he said – and feels he can still stoke memories of his 2000 win.

“I still feel that I can win golf tournaments,” he said. “I still feel I can hit the shots and still feel like I still have my hand around the greens and I can putt. I just need to do it for all four days, not like I did at Augusta for only two.” He added: “At the end of the day, I need to be ready mentally and physically come Thursday.”

PGA Tour-PIF negotiations

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan (L) meets with Tiger Woods during the Pro-Am of the Genesis Open at the Riviera Country Club on February 14, 2018, in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

As a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board and with his role on the newly-created Transaction Subcommittee, Tiger knew he would be bombarded with questions about negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and he was ready to say very little. He kept the good stuff close to his Sun Day Red vest.

But here’s what he did share: “We’re working on negotiations with PIF. It’s ongoing; it’s fluid; it changes day to day. Has there been progress? Yes. But it’s an ongoing negotiation, so a lot of work ahead for all of us with this process, and so we’re making steps and it may not be giant steps, but we’re making steps.”

On seeing the future of golf differently than Rory McIlroy: it’s good to see it differently, but collectively as a whole we want to see whatever’s best for all the players, the fans, and the state of golf. How we get there, that’s to be determined, but the fact that we’re in this together and in this fight together to make golf better is what it’s all about.”

On Jimmy Dunne’s resignation from the PGA Tour Policy Board yesterday: “It was a bit surprising that he resigned yesterday and just how it all came about, but, no, his role and his help, then what he’s been able to do for the PGA Tour has been great.”

On fans tuning out pro golf amidst the turbulence between the Tour and LIV: “I think the fans are probably as tired as we are of the talk of not being about the game of golf and about not being about the players. It’s about what LIV is doing, what we’re doing, players coming back, players leaving, the fans just want to see us play together. How do we get there is to be determined. “

U.S. Ryder Cup captaincy – still TBD

If you bet on the next U.S. Ryder Cup captain being announced officially this week, well, you can rip up your ticket. Tiger confirmed he’s had discussions since the Masters with PGA CEO Seth Waugh but no decision has been made yet.

“We’re still talking. There’s nothing that has been confirmed yet. We’re still working on what that might look like. Also whether or not I have the time to do it,” he said. “I’m dedicating my so much time to what we’re doing with the PGA Tour, I don’t want to not fulfill the role of the captaincy if I can’t do it. What that all entails and representing Team USA and the commitments to the PGA of America, the players, and the fans and as I said, all of Team USA. I need to feel that I can give the amount of time that it deserves.”

Tiger did not disclose a timetable on making this decision.

And the goatee?

Tiger Woods at a press conference prior to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.

Tiger was told that the Internet was loving his facial hair, which he showed up with this week at Valhalla. Asked if the goatee was a conscious decision or laziness, he laughed and said, “It’s the second. I’m definitely lazy. I cut myself this morning trying to trim it up so it is what it is.” Tiger Woods, just like us.

‘He’s a contract killer, simply:’ Brooks Koepka back to defend at PGA Championship (and why he could repeat)

“Here’s your assignment, go kill somebody this week. That’s how he approaches golf at major championships.”

LOUISVILLE – ESPN golf analyst Andy North has seen enough of Brooks Koepka and the clinical way that he has won five major championships in the last six years to deliver this assessment.

“He’s a contract killer, simply,” he said during a pre-PGA Championship media call on Friday. “He shows up to a major championship, opens his locker and there’s like the ‘Mission Impossible’ thing: ‘Here’s your assignment, go kill somebody this week.’ That’s how he approaches golf at major championships. I love it.”

One year ago, Koepka, 34, completed a remarkable return to glory, shooting 3-under 67 at Oak Hill in the final round to win the PGA Championship by two strokes over Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler. In doing so, Koepka became the 20th player to win at least five majors, and joined Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win the Wanamaker Trophy three times in the stroke-play era.

But the narrative surrounding Koepka before his victory was a very different one. He was battling injuries, had taken the money and run to LIV Golf and was thought to be washed up. Moreover, despite winning both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship twice heading into last year’s PGA, Koepka had played small in some big spots – rinsing his tee shot at the 2019 Masters and finishing second to Tiger Woods, squandering a final-round lead to Phil Mickelson at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah’s Ocean Course and blowing a 54-hole lead at the 2023 Masters by shooting a 74 and tying for second as Jon Rahm slipped into the Green Jacket.

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: How to watch | Tournament hub

Three major failures in a row since his last triumph was more than a coincidence; it was a disconcerting pattern that gnawed at Koepka. ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt bumped into Koepka on the Monday of last year’s PGA at Oak Hill and said Koepka was still pissed about his Masters failure.

“He’s like, ‘I’m never going to do that again.’ I said, ‘Meaning what?’ ” Van Pelt recounted. “He felt like he got a little conservative and then Rahm got him, and when he tried to put his foot on the gas, there was nothing there. He didn’t have it.”

In Koepka’s words, he had “choked.” His swing coach, Claude Harmon III told him that this was simply the beginning of Brooks 2.0. “If this is the second phase of your career, it’s a helluva start,” Harmon said.

But Koepka took the defeat hard and said he didn’t sleep the night after the Masters. Instead, he went back to his rental house and, according to a recent Q&A with Golfweek, received what he called the best piece of advice he’s ever been given.

Brooks Koepka acknowledges the crowd after his birdie on the 17th hole at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club. (Photo: Jamie Germano/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

“As you can imagine, after losing, you don’t always want to see everybody, but I sat out back with my best friend for six or seven hours and I will never forget the moment when he said: ‘Don’t ever be afraid to win,’ ” Koepka recalled.

After much soul-searching, he came to the conclusion that the only thing that truly matters when you get knocked down is how you respond.

“Thought about it for a few days after and really honed in on what I was doing and what went wrong,” Koepka said ahead of last year’s PGA Championship. “From there just never let it happen again. That’s the whole goal, right?”

Koepka held a one-stroke lead heading into the final round of the 2023 PGA after shooting 72-66-66. A month after his Masters letdown, he was ruthless in crunch time. He raced out of the gate, making three consecutive birdies from inside 10 feet starting at the second hole to build a four-stroke lead. He dropped shots at Nos. 6, where he drove in the water, and No. 7. Hovland remained hot on his heels until late in the championship.

But there would be no letup on the second nine. Koepka stuck his approach at No. 10 to 8 feet and rolled in the putt. After a bogey at 11, he knocked his second shot from the rough to 11 feet at the next hole and poured in the birdie putt. After Hovland made birdie at No. 13, Koepka sank a delicate 10-foot downhiller for par to protect a one-stroke lead.

This time, he kept the gas down, nearly driving the 14th green to set up another birdie. Hovland finally blinked at 16, driving into a fairway bunker and embedding his second shot into the lip of the bunker en route to a double bogey. Koepka smelled blood and stuck his approach to 5 feet, making birdie to take a commanding four-stroke lead. It was over. Koepka signed for a 72-hole total of 9-under 271. With his hands on the Wanamaker Trophy for the third time, Koepka reflected on how failure at the Masters lead to his validating win at Oak Hill.

“I definitely wouldn’t have, I don’t think, won today if that didn’t happen, right?” he said in the aftermath, but as for what specifically he learned from the defeat, he’s not telling. “Definitely take it and keep using it going forward for each event, each major, any time I’m in contention, but I’m not going to share. I can’t give away all the secrets.”

Koepka 2.0 may just be getting started. Heading to Valhalla, Harmon said Koepka is as well-prepared as ever to chase more majors. The hunger remains to get to double-digit majors. “If you can’t get up for the biggest events, I don’t know, I think there’s something wrong with you,” Koepka said at the Masters.

In his only previous start at the Louisville course, at the 2014 PGA, Koepka finished with rounds of 66 and 67 to place 15th. At the Masters in April, he failed to break par in any round and was a non-factor, but he won in his most recent start on LIV, regaining his touch on the greens. North, for one, wouldn’t bet against him to repeat at the PGA Championship as he did in 2018-19.

“He’s a completely different player four weeks a year than he is the other 48 weeks a year, and I love that about him,” North said. “I think the fact that he can raise his game at majors where most people’s games go the other way, that’s really a huge testament to him and his mental makeup and how he just determines that he’s going to beat everybody once he shows up at a major.”

Or as Harmon III put it, he likes climbing Mount Everest.

“He likes being in the death zone. Everybody says they like being up there. But you got to step over dead bodies to get to the top,” he said, “and then you got to step over dead bodies to get back down.”

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This top 100 player withdrew from 2024 PGA Championship, marking his third WD in four starts

He withdrew from the CJ Cup Byron Nelson two weeks ago after a first-round 80.

For the third time in four starts, Taylor Montgomery has withdrawn from the field, this time at the PGA Championship, set to get underway at Valhalla Golf Club on Thursday. C.T. Pan has been added to the field.

Montgomery, who is currently ranked 100th in the Official World Golf Ranking, also withdrew from the CJ Cup Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch two weeks ago after a first-round 80 that included six straight bogeys and a double on his final nine of the day.

While paired with Ben Griffin, Montgomery missed the cut at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans but previous to that start he pulled out of the Valero Texas Open after an opening-round 81.

Montgomery has made the cut in seven of his 13 starts this season and already has amassed over $1 million in earnings, with an 11th-place finish at the Players Championship his high water mark of the season.

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: How to watch | Tournament hub

Steve Stricker withdrew Sunday morning, which opened a spot for Alex Smalley.

The 106th PGA features a field of 156 players, including 32 major winners and 16 past PGA champs, including two-time winner Brooks Koepka, the defending champion.

Valhalla will play as a par 71 measuring 7,603 yards. The winner of the PGA gets a lifetime exemption into the event as well as a replica of the Wanamaker Trophy.