Who hosted the hazeltine national golf club about seven years ago?”
Much has been made of the supersized Hazeltine, at 7,674 yards the longest course in major championship history. That’s 300 yards longer than it was the last time the PGA was here, just seven years ago. Most of the new length comes on the par 5s – three are 600 yards or longer. The thinking is that No. 7, at “only” 572 yards, will be the lone par 5 that players can still reach in two. For Woods, though, the holes may as well have bull’s-eyes on them. He knocked his second shot on 15 – at 642 yards, the longest hole on the course – over the green and into a bunker. Harrington and Rich Beem were right next to the green in two, as well. Woods also had a birdie on 12, a 518-yard par 4. After making the turn at 2 under, Woods jumped into a share of the lead with journeyman Michael Bradley with birdies on Nos. 2 and 3. And No. 3? The second-longest hole, at 633 yards. Harrington, who played with Woods on Sunday at Bridgestone, was at 2 under as they made the turn. He bogeyed his first hole o
The fans stopped at the crosswalk on No. 3 and pulled out their course maps. “It’s 633 yards,” one said. “Wow,” the other said, pausing as he looked left and right, unable to see either tee or green. “This is a monster.” And that’s not even the longest hole at Hazeltine National, home of this year’s PGA Championship. “Looking forward to playing a major one day that does not promote itself as the longest ever,” Geoff Ogilvy said on Twitter. Good luck with that. Ever since the green jackets “Tiger proofed” Augusta National, lengthening a course has become the easiest way to make a major tougher. Sure, you can plant a few trees, let the rough grow as thick as shag carpet and roll the greens so they’re as slick as ice. But if you really want to rein in Tiger, Phil, Bubba and the rest of the gang, though, the simplest thing to do is add yardage. Lots of it. Hazeltine measured what now seems like a quaint 7,360 yards the last time it hosted the PGA, just seven years ago. Now it’s a whopping
