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Inside the Ropes: Kiawah Island figures to be windy, tough test in PGA

Those who missed the typical Open Championship weather three weeks ago at Royal Lytham and St. Annes are likely to get more than a dose of it this week in the PGA Championship.

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, which will be host to one of the four majors for the first time, might be more like the championship links layouts in the United Kingdom than any other course in the United States.

While there may or may not be a bit of rain, expect the wind to blow off the Atlantic Ocean although it will be considerably warmer, with temperatures in the high 90s.

"I would be absolutely shocked if the wind didn't blow in a round," said Stephen Youngner, head pro at the Ocean Course. "(And) there is no prevailing wind here."

Keegan Bradley, who last August joined Ben Curtis and Francis Ouiment as the only players since 1900 to claim a major title in their first appearances in one of the Grand Slam events, will defend the title he won at Atlanta Athletic Club in a playoff over Jason Dufner.

Bradley saw the Ocean Course for the first time on PGA Championship media day a few months back and realized what a daunting challenge the Pete Dye-designed course will present.

"I heard (from people who have played the course that) it was really hard, and they were right," said Bradley, who is coming off a victory in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. "It's brutal. It's a good test. It's very fair, which is nice, but it's going to be tough. You can play as many practice rounds as you want around here, but if the wind switches around ... it's a different golf course.

"If the wind blows, I think that the winning score could be over par. I'm not sure what the greens are going to be like, what the rough is going to be like, but it's going to be challenging no matter what the weather."

Dye designed the Ocean Course specifically for the 1991 Ryder Cup, infamously known as "The War on the Shore," in which the United States regained the Cup in a contentious atmosphere when Bernhard Langer missed a five-foot putt on the final hole.

While the links-style course should have played right into the Euros' hands, they claimed that it was almost unplayable at times.

"It was the hardest golf course I'd ever seen when we came to play it in '91," said David Feherty, the CBS and Golf Channel commentator who was a member of the European side.

Dye returned to tweak the Ocean Course, which can be played as long as 7,937 yards, in 1997, 2002 and 2003, and it has been called the most difficult course in the United States by Golf Digest.

Tiger Woods played it last week and called it "a big ballpark."

Colin Montgomerie, one of the loudest critics of the layout in 1991, returned to Kiawah Island and the Ocean Course for the 1997 World Cup of Golf, which was won by Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley of Ireland.

"The course has improved over the last six years," said Monty, who took home the individual title in the World Cup and teamed with Raymond Russell to help Scotland finish second.

"It's grown into a popular, well-respected golf course, one of the world's finest, if not America's best resort."

Of the recent changes, Dye said: "(They) told us not to make it any easier. I don't know if we made it any easier or any harder. We'll find out. But the players are playing so great today, they will get around. They will find a way to get home somehow or another."

There are two ongoing themes of majors in the last few years going into the event:

First, 16 different players have won the last 16 Grand Slam events, the latest being resurgent Ernie Els at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in the Open Championship.

And Woods again will try to end his major championship drought, which dates to the 2008 U.S. Open. He remains stuck on 14 in his bid to surpass Jack Nicklaus' record of 18.

"Is Tiger suited to win at Kiawah? That's a tough call," said Denis Watson, who captured the 2007 Senior PGA Championship on the Ocean Course. "He's obviously still got it, winning three times this year. He hits a lot of quality shots, but there are times his swing doesn't look as flowing, as natural as it used to be.

"I would expect a player as tenacious as Tiger will figure out the best way to play there. It depends on how firm and fast it's playing. I could see Tiger hitting that stinger around there, shaping shots."

Lee Westwood, Luke Donald and Adam Scott, after his late meltdown in the Open Championship, remain the best players in the world without a major title.

No matter who comes out on top, it figures to be War on the Shore II.

COMING UP

PGA TOUR: PGA Championship on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island in Kiawah Island, S.C., Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 1-7 p.m. EDT on TNT; Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. EDT on TNT and 2-7 p.m. EDT on CBS.

LAST YEAR: Keegan Bradley rallied from five strokes down with three holes remaining in regulation and beat Jason Dufner by one stroke in a three-hole aggregate playoff at Atlanta Athletic Club. The 25-year-old Bradley fell off the pace when he hit his chip shot into the water en route to a triple-bogey 6 on the 15th hole. However, he carded birdies on the next two holes, including a 40-foot putt on No. 17 that pulled him back into a tie after Dufner made bogeys on three consecutive holes. On the first extra hole, Dufner missed his six-foot birdie putt before Bradley holed his from two feet closer, and Bradley then held on with two consecutive pars. He joined Francis Ouimet (1913 U.S. Open at Brookline) and Ben Curtis (2003 Open Championship at Royal St. George's) as the only players since 1900 to capture a major in their first attempt.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Dick's Sporting Goods Open at En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott, N.Y., Aug. 17-19.

TV: Friday, 12:30-2:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday and Sunday, 3-6 p.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.

LAST YEAR: John Huston, who turned 50 only 25 days earlier to become eligible for the Champions Tour, opened and closed with rounds of 7-under-par 65 to claim his first Champions Tour victory by three strokes over Nick Price. Huston, who captured seven titles on the PGA Tour, pulled away with four birdies in a span of six holes in the final round, through No. 17. Huston, who was playing in his third tournament on the senior circuit, claimed his first victory since the Southern Farm Bureau Classic on the PGA Tour.

LPGA TOUR: Jamie Farr Toledo Classic at Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio, Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 6:30-8:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday, 1-6 p.m. EDT, and Sunday, 6-11 a.m. EDT, on the Golf Channel each day.

LAST TIME: The tournament, which was founded in 1984, returns from a one-year hiatus from the LPGA Tour after its organizers regrouped financially. Na Yeon Choi of South Korea opened with an 8-under par 64 in 2010 and seemed to be on her way to a wire-to-wire victory. However, after closing with a 71, she needed a three-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to turn back In-Kyung Kim of South Korea, Christina Kim and Song-Hee Kim of South Korea.