It is way too early to tell who will win the 91st PGA Championship, but there is one thing for certain. You cannot win the event on Thursday, but you sure can lose it.
Bo Van Pelt captured his first PGA Tour victory by winning a playoff Sunday at the U.S. Bank Championship Sunday afternoon at Brown Deer Park. Van Pelt, who outlasted John Mallinger, might not be able to defend his title. U.S. Bank is pulling its sponsorship and without an obvious replacement the tournament is on the endangered list for 2010 and beyond.
With cool, blustery conditions more suited to Scotland, the field of competitors will chase third-round leader Frank Lickliter in the final round of what could be the final installment of the U.S. Bank Championship today at Brown Deer Park Golf Course.
The cool, windy conditions are making for close compeition at the U.S. Bank Championship. By the end of play Friday, there were 12 players within four strokes of the lead heading into a weekend that promises to be a shootout. At the top of the leader board is Australian Greg Chalmers (pictured), who fired a second round 3-under par 67 to give himself a two-shot cushion over Chris Riley, Jeff Klauk and Kris Blanks. Kevin Na, Marc Turnesa and Steve Flesch trail Chalmers by three shots.
Facing windy conditions unusual for Brown Deer Park at this time of year, 64 players finished the first round of the U.S. Bank Championship with scores of par or better. If the wind freshens and the temps drop, that number will also be lower. Brown Deer Park is not a bomber's paradise but instead a tactical golf course that requires patience and precise shot execution. Just ask Greg Chalmers (pictured) and Jeff Klauk, who shared the first round lead.
This week could easily mark the swan song for the professional golf tournament that has found a home in Milwaukee since 1968. That's a 41-year history. A long, long time. But, the tournament is threatened, and likely to end. Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly, two Wisconsin pros, have a mysterious plan to save the tournament. But until concrete plans emerge, it could be so much whistling in the wind, like many plans to save this tournament have been in the past.
It's too bad for Mark Wilson that the end of the PGA Tour season is just three weeks away. The Menomonee Falls native is in the middle of perhaps his finest stretch as a professional ... Wilson tied for 24th place at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, finishing in the money for the 10th consecutive start. Over that span he has three top-10 finishes, seven top-25s and is a cumulative 79-under par (including 34-under the last two weeks). He hasn't missed a cut since
Fox Point native Skip Kendall, who had struggled with his game for much of the year on the Nationwide Tour, seems to have found something ... For the second consecutive week, the 43-year-old Kendall tied for third place, this time at the Cox Classic presented by Chevrolet in Omaha, Neb. He made 11 birdies and just one bogey over the final 36 holes and shot 68-64 ... Kendall went into the tournament ranked 53rd on the money list and shot up to No. 31 with $117,249. The top 25 at the end of the