This post addresses the setup for an APBA Golf replay of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Sooner Hills). Future posts will provide a round-by-round summary for both the actual event and the replay. Of those golfers that participated in the actual event, I’ll be using 69 players from the 80 cards that comprise the 2022 season set.
Actual Event
The actual event took place May 19 – 22, 2022. The field initially consisted of 156 golfers. After two rounds, 78 qualifiers made the cut at +4. Although Tiger Woods was one of these, he withdrew with soreness following a 9-over third round. An excellent summary of the tournament and selected statistical data can be found here.
The Southern Hills PGA Championship course is listed at 7556 yards and a par 70. Various pin placements and tee locations shortened the course somewhat and resulted in actual lengths of 7503, 7486, 7293, and 7357 yards for rounds 1 through 4, respectively.
From the back tees, the USGA grades this course as a par 71 at 7481 yards with a rating of 78.2 and slope of 142. For the PGA Championship tournament, Southern Hills proved to be quite challenging with several long holes, including two par 5’s both well over 600 yards and a 527-yard par 4 (No. 16), which club members play as a par 5 at 567 yards from the tips.
Southern Hills previously hosted PGA Championships in 1970, 1982, 1994, and 2007. A pictorial hole-by-hole review is provided by GOLFPASS.
Caught up in controversy surrounding statements made about the LIV tour, Phil Mickelson, the 2021 PGA Champion, did not defend. In the final round of the 2022 event, Justin Thomas came from seven strokes back to overtake Mito Pereira, the 54-hole leader, and tie Will Zalatoris for the lead. Then Thomas went on to beat Zalatoris in a three-hole aggregate playoff to win the coveted Wanamaker trophy. The Golf Channel and CNN both offer excellent summaries of the final round.
During the month of May, little rain had fallen in Tulsa, thus the first two rounds were played on a dry course. The average scores for the qualifiers were 70.58 (round 1) and 70.23 (round 2). A light rain rolled in on Saturday as temperatures dropped from the mid-80’s to the high-50’s, and the average score for round 3 climbed to 72.44. The final round on Sunday proved a better day for golf with high temperatures in the mid-60’s and a return to sunny skies. With better conditions, the average score for round 4 improved to 71.36.
Winds remained moderate throughout the tournament with the direction shifting from southerly for the first two days to northerly for the weekend. The overall weather conditions for the tournament are summarized in the table below.
The Replay Event
APBA’s hole distances on the course boards for Sooner Hills total 7406 yards. Most of the fairways are tree-lined. Because of a creek that snakes through the property, water can be a factor on as many as 15 holes. Although the creeks are not wide, course rules do not permit rolling through them, which brings water into play more than one would expect from just a quick look at the boards. Hitting the ball out-of-bounds can occur on a few holes, as well. Thus, penalties from lost balls, unplayable lies, and from shots into water are inevitable, especially when the wind picks up.
It is not uncommon for the severe and normal doglegs on this course to result in situations where players are blocked by trees after errant tee shots. Several holes also have carry and/or roll adjustments depending on where the ball lands (FW or Rough).
Deep rough is strategically placed among the treed areas and around water. The deep rough can protect the player from rolling into the creek or out of bounds on some holes. Even so, being blocked by trees while hitting from a buried lie in deep rough can leave you with no option other than to play safe back to the centerline.
The greens on Sooner Hills are either mid-sized or small in some cases. Given that the length of many holes forces players to use longer clubs on shots to the green, finding and staying on them can be challenging, especially on windy days. Knockdown shots to the center of smaller greens is probably the best strategy when the wind is up.
A few of the greens have rules that direct the player to use one number lower or higher than the result indicated on the putting column of the player’s card. Otherwise, the greens are standard.
All sand traps are regular bunkers. Only a few bunkers have any special rules associated with them.
Sooner Hills has an “I” wind rating, where the chances of calm conditions are only 1 in 6. It also features a prevailing wind system with two possible directions. Quartering winds can occur on three holes. Game Caddie versions 5.2 and later handle these wind effects via the Modified wind control setting.
To get a sense of how this course plays, see my front nine and back nine exhibitions at Sooner Hills with Sergio Garcia and Geoff Ogilvy.
In order to match the actual conditions as much as possible and to ensure a representative field size for the final two rounds, all 69 players will make the cut for my replay. Given the Southern Hills hole layouts, the wind for the replay will come from the South (Prevailing – Type A) for rounds 1 and 2, and the wind will come from the North (Prevailing – Type B) for rounds 3 and 4. Major Tournament Putting boards will be in effect. The replay setup is provided in the table below.
In my next post about this replay, I’ll summarize the results of round 1 for both the actual event and my tournament.