Good weather this week a good sign for more PGA Championships in the Northeast

PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The high on Wednesday at Oak Hill is forecast to reach 54 degrees, which is exactly what some worried would await a May PGA Championship in the Northeast.

Some have even speculated that this year’s championship could be the last played at the iconic course, given the unpredictable weather this time of year in Upstate New York. But this cold front is starting to feel like the exception to the rule.

When asked about the future of Oak Hill now that the PGA Championship has settled into its May date, PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh swept his arms toward the sun-splashed golf course and the fans that were lining the fairways.

“How are we looking out there right now. The course is perfect,” Waugh said.

Despite Wednesday’s temperatures and the likelihood of a frost delay on Thursday to start the championship, the forecast for the week calls for temperatures in the 70s and only Saturday’s third round could be impacted by rain. The condition of the course has also encouraged PGA of America officials with thick, uniformed rough and fast and firm fairways.

In many ways, this week’s championship is a test of how the Northeast venues like Oak Hill and Bethpage could remain viable options since the event transitioned from August to May in 2019.

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“We feared we’d lose a place like this and Whistling Straits and we may not have,” Waugh said. “When we made the decision [to move to May] it was kind of, OK, where’s it scary to think about the weather? On the other hand, we’ve added Texas, we’ve added Florida, we’ve added the whole southeast. Even Tulsa, in August its 100 and something [degrees], so it’s sort of the Southwest, Southeast that we’ve added and we may not have lost as much of the country as we feared.”

Waugh pointed out that during the third round at last year’s PGA Championship in Oklahoma, a friend sent him a screenshot of the weather at Oak Hill, noting it was colder at Southern Hills. For Waugh and the PGA, this week’s conditions have prompted the association to rethink what’s possible in May.

“Totally open,” he said. “We’re very open to think about where else is possible. Certainly here and Whistling Straits, I don’t know how realistic that is but we’ll think about it.”