Getting In the Mood For Southern Hills

If you are not attending, this ought to brighten your mood. Hope that air conditioning works in the media center!

My Golf World story looking at the vastly improved golf course has been posted. I'll elaborate more tomorrow with photos and thoughts. I know you can't wait.

SI's pithy anonymous pro has all sorts of interesting things to say about Tiger, drug testing, Tulsa and his pick, Jim Furyk.

John Huggan talked to former Tulsa resident and current Tiger coach Hank Haney about Southern Hills: 

"Southern Hills is in just about the best shape a golf course can be in," agrees Haney, who graduated from the University of Tulsa and knows the course well. "The greens and fairways are perfect and the rough isn't too deep. Players will be able to at least advance the ball when they miss a fairway.

"The course has been lengthened too, but it is still a place where good play will produce a good score. I liken it to the British Open in that the winning score hasn't been predetermined. It won't suit any particular type of player either. There are only two par-5s and one of them is 655-yards long, so the long-hitters won't have a big advantage. A lot of guys will have a chance to win.

"Which is as it should be. The course will play much better than it did in 2001, with the PGA setting it up rather than the USGA. The PGA knows how to set up a golf course."

John Strege profiles Anthony Kim, who went to Oklahoma and apparently grew up with The Great Santini:

Say this for Kim, at least: He isn’t afraid of imposing figures. History is his witness. He won a battle of wills with any boy’s most daunting opponent—a ruthlessly demanding father, who in Kim’s case often reduced him to tears, once by pretending to discard a trophy he had won with an over-par score. Dethroning Tiger might seem the easier challenge.

Kim quit speaking to his father for the better part of two years. Given his reputation for running his mouth, this showed extraordinary discipline, the kind Paul Kim used to demand of his son. The irony would not have amused Paul; the pain cut too deep. It still does. “I was so sad,” he says now. “I was wrong.”

Their estrangement ended in December, the day Anthony earned his PGA Tour card. Moments after the Tour Qualifying Tournament ended (he tied for 13th), he made the short drive from PGA West to his parents’ home in La Quinta, Calif. The family’s group hug lasted 10 minutes.

Jeff Billington and Michael Overall of the Tulsa World says the PGA will bring $60 million to the local coffers. 

Finally, the Golf World guys make their picks and I like Bomb's pick of Tim Clark and Rosaforte's selection of Stewart Cink.