The Loop

Lehman: Long and wild an advantage at Hazeltine

August 09, 2009

Minnesota's favorite son Tom Lehman was inspecting Hazeltine National Golf Club over the weekend and found reason to consider the longest and wildest among entrants in the PGA Championship there next week to be favorites. That would mean Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, of course.

"It favors long hitters, for sure," Lehman told Sid Hartman of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "The thickest rough is right off the edge of the fairway, so if you hit it just a little off line you're in trouble. If you hit it a lot off line, generally, you might get away with a little bit more. So, some of the guys who are notoriously wild off the tee, but very long, guys like Mickelson and Tiger, have an advantage."

-- John Strege