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- This weekend, the best golfers in the world will meet in New York at Bethpage Black to compete in the PGA Championship.
- Bethpage Black is a course with plenty of history and has played host to some outstanding tournaments in the past, most notably, the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Open.
- The course on Long Island is also notoriously difficult and even warns the players before attempting to conquer it.
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The greatest golfers in the world have gathered at Bethpage Black this weekend to compete in the 101st PGA Championship.
While Bethpage Black might not be as iconic as Augusta National, it’s a course with plenty of history, that has played host to some outstanding tournaments in the past, most notably, the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Open.
Bethpage Black presents an interesting challenge to golfers. Between its length and its notoriously tricky rough, the course is sure to cause chaos even for the most cool-headed of golfers.
Below we go through what makes Bethpage Black one of the most challenging courses players will face all year.
The course is notoriously difficult.
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It’s in the title of this post, but it’s worth saying again — Bethpage Black is not a course for the faint of heart.
When Tiger Woods won the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, he was the only golfer in the field to finish his four rounds under par. Phil Mickelson finished in second, shooting even par, with Jeff Maggert (+2) and Sergio Garcia (+3) as the only other golfers to finish better than 5-over.
Bethpage Black has a way of humbling even the best golfers in the world.
Three of the course’s par-4 holes measure longer than 500 yards, and three others are at least 470.
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So what makes Bethpage Black such a challenge? First and foremost, it’s a long, long course, measuring a whopping 7,459 yards over its 18 holes with just 70 strokes to par.
The most treacherous stretch of the course comes at Nos. 10, 11, and 12, where players face three straight par-4s, two of which measure longer than 500 yards.
While other courses reward a strong drive with the opportunity to hit a relatively simple iron onto the green, Bethpage Black demands perfection from both the drive and approach in order to reach the green in regulation.
Due to the split-start of the groups at the PGA Championship this weekend, some players will be forced to take on this difficult set of holes as soon as they step to their first tee box of the day.
Bethpage Black is a public golf course, and widely considered one of the best in the country.
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While many of courses that host majors have exclusive membership, Bethpage Black is a public course, open to any and all players ready to pay the greens fee.
Golf Digest named it the eighth-best public course in the country, putting Bethpage Black among the likes of Pebble Beach, Whistling Straits, and Shadow Creek.
Even the most passionate golfers are rarely afforded the chance to play at courses like Augusta National, which remains solely for members, guests, and those taking part in the Masters. But Bethpage Black is a course for the people.
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See Also:
- The person who won $1.2 million on Tiger Woods at the Masters bet $100,000 that Tiger will win the next 3 majors and finish the Grand Slam
- Tiger Woods and the 11 other golfers with the best chance to win the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black
- The lawyers suing Tiger Woods in a wrongful death lawsuit say crucial video evidence was destroyed
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Tyler Lauletta)