US PGA CHAMPIONSHIPS: On a grey, overcast morning at Hazeltine Golf Club - located some 30 miles from the twin cities of Minneapolis-St Paul - the wails of a lone Scottish piper seem an unlikely acoustic interjection in the otherwise peaceful countryside in this fertile and agricultural part of Minnesota.
There was a good reason, however, behind yesterday's early-morning musical recital. It came as the accompaniment to the dedication of a bridge spanning the creek adjacent to the 16th hole which honours the late Payne Stewart, who scored a key birdie there on his way to a play-off win in the 1991 US Open. The design for the single-arch stone bridge was inspired by the Swilken Bridge on the Old Course at St Andrews.
The addition of the bridge is not the only thing that has changed at Hazeltine since Stewart's win. At 7,360 yards, it is 211 yards longer than when it played host to the 1991 US Open, but, unlike the previous two majors in the US this year, which were held on newly-lengthened and toughened courses, length can be deceiving.
Hazeltine will not play that long at all.
"I was shocked," admitted defending champion David Toms. "I'd heard how long it was going to be - but I don't think you have to be a long-hitter."
One of the main reasons that Hazeltine's length is deceptive is that the fairways are 30 yards wide and players can confidently hit driver on most par fours and fives. These fairways have been cut to one-quarter inch to facilitate maximum spin on approach shots, and the relatively large greens - with a Stimpmeter reading of 11.5 - will allow for some run-up, so that recovery on wayward tee-shots should be possible, even though the rough is a punitive four inches deep.
However, all the evidence of past winners on this course indicates that, although length and accuracy are welcome additions to any player's armoury, they are not absolutely vital. Stewart was never considered one of the game's longest hitters and he won the US Open here; and Luke Donald beat the likes of Charles Howell in the 1999 American collegiate championship, despite being out-driven by 40 to 50 yards.
"Because of its length, Hazeltine has a reputation of being a brute and a heavyweight, but a lot of the yardage is on the par fives," said Mike Schultz, the club's head professional. "I wouldn't call it a long hitter's course. It's more like Muhammad Ali, finesse and stuff. It's not a big bomber like Joe Frazier."
Another aspect to the course which encourages those who don't bomb the ball as long as Tiger Woods or Ernie Els is that two par fives, the 636-yards third and the 597-yards 11th, are unreachable for even the very longest hitters unless there is a favourable wind. These three-shot par fives are the equalisers that negate the length of players such as Woods.
This is a course that evolved out of necessity. When a new motorway threatened the Minikahda Golf Club in Minneapolis in the late 1950s, Totton Heffelfinger, a former president of the USGA, led a group of club members in a search for new land. He met Robert Trent Jones Snr, and the course architect drew up a design that featured such things as so-called "runway tees", which stretch 100 yards, and large, undulating greens, and with four par fives measuring close to 600 yards. Hazeltine opened for play in 1962.
It first staged a major championship in 1970, when England's Tony Jacklin won. But that victory, in the eyes of Hazeltine members, was overshadowed by criticism of the course led by Dave Hill, the runner-up. His comments led to a number of modifications, most notably transforming the par three 16th from 214 yards into a par four of 384 yards that featured a peninsula jutting out into Lake Hazeltine, one of some 10,000 lakes in the state of Minnesota.
Today, that hole has been marginally lengthened, to 402 yards.
The other key change was converting the narrow 17th hole from a 344-yard par four into a 182-yard par three with a two-tiered green bisected by a swale.
Hill returned to the course to give the changes his approval,
and Stewart's play-off win over Scott Simpson in the 1991 US Open - capped by a momentum swinging birdie on the 16th - brought attention back on to Hazeltine.
For this year's championship, new bunkers were installed on nine holes - bringing the total to 98 - and several tees were extended, most dramatically on the 12th where it was brought back by 33 yards.
As a late-comer in championship terms, it has a lot of making up to do on traditional venues, although it has already been confirmed as the venue for the 2009 US PGA Championship, which would indicate that its future as a major venue is very much secure.
