The Wanamaker Trophy
Every professional sport has an event which determines the season’s champion. Baseball has the World Series, football has the Superbowl, basketball has the NBA Finals and golf has the Majors. Unlike other sports, golf’s Majors aren’t a singular event. Instead, its 4 different events that brings the best golfers in the world together to challenge for golf’s most prestigious award. Golf’s four majors are entirely independent events hosted by four different entities. The Master’s is the first major, played every year at Augusta National golf club in Augusta, GA. Next comes the U.S. Open, hosted at various courses determined by the United States Golf Association. Third is the Open championship, which most Americans call the British Open. It’s the oldest of all the majors and takes place in England or Scotland, on a rotation of courses determined by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. The final major of the year is the PGA Championship and it is run by the Professional Golfers’ Association of America, and it starts today at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York.
For those that are completely western New York geographical ignorant (like I was until I arrived here this week), Pittsford is a suburb community of Rochester, located about 60 miles east of Buffalo. Historically, Rochester played an important role in the Underground Railroad system, which provided a means for slaves to migrate north to Canada and become free. Famed abolitionist Frederick Douglas resided in this area as well as optical lens pioneers John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb, and of course Eastman Co., founded in 1889 by George Eastman after his invention of the Kodak camera. The city of Buffalo, birthplace of the bar room favorite ‘Buffalo Wings’ is just a short drive away, as is the Canadian border and the breathtaking Niagara Falls.
This year is the 85th PGA Championship tournament and it promises drama and excitement at Oak Hill C.C. A wonderful, historic golf course, Oak Hill was originally designed by the famed golf course architect Donald Ross. Tiger Woods is trying to extend his streak of consecutive years of winning at least one major, Rich Beem is trying to become a repeat PGA champion and hometown candidate Jeff Sluman has the most electric crowd energy behind him being the local favorite. For those that have played or at least attempted the game of golf, you know that it is a game that demands concentration, consistency and being able to control your emotions and nerves when the pressure is on. The best golfers aren’t necessarily the longest hitters, or even the richest people. The best golfers are the ones most dedicated and most consistent. And it is only through a rigid regimen of training, practice and more practice that this consistency is gained.
Even if you aren’t in to the sport of golf, the business of golf has its own attraction. From land acquisition and development, to maintenance equipment and apparel, the golf industry is a multi-billion dollar operation. Today, the PGA of America is the largest working sports organization in the world with more than 27,000 men and women golf pros. These golf pros aren’t the touring professionals like Tiger Woods or Vijay Singh, these are the pros that actually work at golf courses, mostly teaching the golf swing to members and students as well as performing a myriad of duties and responsibilities in the day to day operation of a golf course. The tournament itself has touring pros as well as PGA pros entered in the event, which is why some people refer to it as ‘the working man’s Major’.
Oak Hill will be a solid test of golf for all the participants, and the player who’s able to best control his ball will eventually win the Wanamaker trophy. Named after the department store magnate Robert Wanamaker, who put up a trophy and an initial purse of $2,580 for the tournament back in 1916. Over the years, the expansion of golf along with media contracts and sponsors, has dramatically increased the amount of money these guys are playing for. Last year’s PGA purse was $5.5 million, with the overall winner receiving $990,000. It doesn’t matter if you like golf or not, just the size of the potential ‘licks’ that can be gained in just 4 days of golf should make you want to pay closer attention to the year's last major. If you want to see golf at its finest, grab a nice beverage and a bucket of Buffalo Wings and check out the intensity on the back 9 this Sunday on CBS…you might even see a Tiger on the prowl.
