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"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
online golf column
by
Chris Dortch
August 11, 2010
Even as the
2010 PGA Championship is being played this week at Whistling
Straits in
Wisconsin,
preparation for next year’s PGA is ongoing in Atlanta.
Championshp
director Ryan Cannon is an old hand at preparation. Fresh out of
East Tennessee State in 2000, he went to work for the PGA of
America and was dispatched to Michigan and Oakland Hills, which
was about to play host to the 2004 Ryder Cup and the 2008 PGA.
Cannon literally immersed himself in the community as he did his
job.
“I spent
seven years up there,” he said. “I got my MBA from Michigan State,
met my wife and had my first child up there. I’ll always have a
strong affinity for Michigan. It played such a huge part in my
life.”
In 2008,
Cannon and his new family pulled up stakes for Atlanta, where he’s
been busy helping plan the 93rd PGA Championship at
Atlanta Athletic Club. And after that, he’ll be on the move again.
Moving every few years isn’t easy, but Cannon loves his job for
the opportunity it presents to be around the game he says, “has
been a part of my family forever.”
After a
brief detour to Whistling Straits this week, Cannon will return to
Atlanta and continue on one of his top priorities—the recruitment
of volunteers. The tournament needs more than 3,500 to operate and
has enlisted more than 2,000 to date.
“Our
volunteer recruitment is open to anyone who’s interested,” Cannon
said. “The golf communities in
Georgia,
Tennessee and Alabama are so strong, and we’ve wanted to make
people aware that they can get involved in a major championship as
a volunteer.
“There’s
something about being in the mix at a big sporting event; you have
to be there to experience it.”
Volunteer
forms are available on
PGA2011.com.
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Tickets are
available for the 2011 PGA and prices range from a $25 practice
round ticket to $850 for a President’s Club pass.
The PGA of
America offers an unbelievable deal for juniors 17 and under. Any
adult who buys a ticket can bring up to four juniors with him for
free.
“It’s a huge
opportunity,” Cannon said. “We started doing it in 2008 and have
seen participation grow exponentially every year. The PGA of
America is a non-profit organization started in 1916, and even
back then, one of its primary objectives was to grow participation
in the game of golf.
“If you have
a youngster who has any interest in golf, this is a tremendous
opportunity for them to see a major championship.”
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The Atlanta
Athletic Club has a rich history of playing host to major
championships:
• 1976 U.S.
Open, Atlanta Athletic Club: Coming into the final hole,
22-year-old Jerry Pate led John Mahaffey, Al Geiberger and Tom
Weiskopf by a shot. The 18th at AAC required an
approach that had to carry a lake that fronted the green. Playing
from the rough, Pate knocked a 5-iron to within two feet and made
the birdie for the win.
After that
great things were expected from Pate, who won the 1974 U.S.
Amateur, finished as low amateur in the 1975 U.S. Open and then
won the 1976 Open. But shoulder injuries derailed him. He never
won another major but finished second in the 1978 PGA and the 1979
Open.
• 1981 PGA
Championship, Atlanta Athletic Club. Vietnam veteran and
self-taught former driving range employee Larry Nelson shot rounds
of 70-66-66-71-273 to finish at 7-under par for the championship,
four strokes ahead of Fuzzy Zoeller and five ahead of Dan Pohl.
The victory
was the first of three major championships for Nelson, who didn’t
play golf until he was 21. Using Ben Hogan’s classic instruction
book, The Five Fundamentals of Golf to guide him, Nelson
taught himself to play. He broke 100 the first time he played, and
within nine months he broke 70.
Nelson went
on to win the 1983 U.S. Open at Oakmont, shooting 65-67 over the
final 36 holes to do it, and then won the 1987
PGA
Championship in a playoff with Lanny Wadkins.
• 2001 PGA
Championship, Atlanta Athletic Club. This was back in the day when
Phil Mickelson was still seeking his first major championship, but
he was denied by David Toms.
Toms made
the risky decision to lay up on the 490-yard 18th, and
he had to make a 12-foot par putt to beat Mickelson by a stroke.
"I hated to
do it," Toms said of laying up at the 18th. "The crowd was over
there oohing and ahhing and moaning like, 'You wimp.’ I just had
to put it out of my mind and hit two good shots and make a good
putt. And I did that."
Mickelson,
who closed with a 68, had posted a 266, the lowest score in major
championship history, until Toms made his clutch putt to finish at
265.
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