PGA NOTEBOOK

All better: Several pros mocked Whistling Straits’ 18th hole after the 2004 PGA Championship, saying it seemed contrived and had too small a green. Fuzzy Zoeller called the 500-yard par-4 “a joke” and added, “There’s nothing good about it.” Now it’s all good. Architect Pete Dye expanded the fairway, allowing players to try to bomb it over the giant bunker complex on the left. Steve Stricker used the new strip of fairway as a lay-up area in the first round — and got up-and-down for par after a gorgeous wedge shot from 142 yards. Dye also recontoured the clover-shaped green. That allowed Tiger Woods to attempt — and pull off — an incredible shot to close out his second round. Seemingly stymied in a narrow bunker 212 yards from the hole, Woods cut a 5-wood and landed it on the front of the green. The shot was so impressive, Woods got a half-hug from caddie Steve Williams. “I had no play straight,” Woods said. “I had to play a slice [because of] the stance — and pulled it off.” Woods came up inches short on his 45-foot birdie try.

Only ace: Tom Lehman, the 2010 Senior PGA champion, has made the only ace of the PGA Championship, using a 4-iron to take down the 217-yard 17th hole. In the 2004 PGA at Whistling Straits, Robert Gamez (17th) and Hale Irwin (seventh) had aces.

Chicago Tribune