Augusta in April might be every golfer’s dream, but will Belleville in August be a sweltering PGA Championship nightmare? Bob Harig looks at every major course in next year’s lineup.
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The 13th at Augusta National changed Sergio Garcia’s life forever in a good way at the 2017 Masters. After a horrible tee shot, Garcia made a remarkable par save that helped lead to his first major title and he even wound up naming his first-born after the hole. Garcia made a stunning octuple-bogey 13(!) on No. 15 during his first round last month, all but ensuring his only official weekend activity at the course would be to slip the green jacket onto the eventual winner.
Rickie Fowler was hoping to wipe away the past. Justin Thomas was hoping to relive it. Neither got what they were looking for Sunday at the U.S. Open. The buddies who shared a house near Erin Hills also shared the misery after a wind-swept final round in which they never got themselves into the mix. Fowler, as was the case in previous majors where he’s contended, did nothing to put real pressure on the leaders. Thomas, looking for more from where his record-setting 63 came from the day before, was out of contention by the middle of the front nine. “Well, it wasn’t going to be like yesterday, regardless,” Thomas said, acknowledging that record-setting days don’t come around all that often. Fowler
To say Brian Harman loves the outdoors would be an understatement. Depending on the season, when he’s not playing on the PGA TOUR you can probably find Harman hunting ducks or wild turkeys or deer. He likes to fish, too, and life at home on St. Simon’s Island on the Georgia coast presents plenty of opportunities to get outdoors and do all of those things. Harman also marks his golf balls with dots that look like deer tracks. Shoot, he even proposed to his wife, Kelly, while they were turkey hunting – taping the engagement ring to her brand new camouflage pants. It’s a family thing. “I grew up hunting with my dad,” says Harman, who defends his title at the Wells Fargo Championship this week. “That’s how we spent time together. That’s how we still spend time together.” Harman’s favorite thing of all to do is bow hunt for deer. He uses a 31-inch Mathews Switchback compound bow made of carbon fiber and feels he can be accurate with it from 50 yards or so. “It’s more about getting in there close to them when you’re bow hunting,” Harman explains. “Paying attention to which way the wind’s blowing, stuff like that. It’s kind of a like chess game.” Deer tend to be most active in the morning and the late afternoon, he says. Harman has several favorite hunting spots where they have tree stands or blinds to wait for the deer. “Your aim has to be good,” he says. “You’ve got to be quiet. You have to know how to sit still. “It’s kind of a skill that’s been lost to my generation, being able to sit still and not be on your phone all day.” Harman killed a 163-inch, 13-point buck when he went hunting with fellow TOUR pro Kevin Kisner in Texas last year. The deer weighed about 180 pounds. Harman is not just killing for sport, though. He has a freezer full of deer meat, as well as ducks and the fish he’s caught. “We eat everything that we kill,” Harman says. “I’m not really a trophy hunter. I just like nature. And I like knowing where my food comes from, too.” Harman also likes cooking it – particularly when he’s settling down in front of the TV to watch his alma mater, Georgia, play football. His favorite cut is a shoulder roast. “I wrap it up in tinfoil with a bunch of different stuff and I stick in the oven at 210 for 10 or 11 hours,” he says. “It’s great for game days. It’s wake up in the morning, throw the shoulder in, it tastes just like pot roast. “Most of the other stuff turns into ground meat like chili, spaghetti. If I had a better place to age it would be like eating steaks, but I don’t have a good place to age it yet.” Harman says there are trail cameras in the areas where he hunts. The photos that are taken help Harman and his friends identify the older deer to track. “We take pictures during the summer and just try to pick out two or three that are old deer and we hunt those deer in particular,” he says. “We don’t kill young deer. … “Obviously, if we were solely hunting for food we’d be a little less selective. But that’s part of the sport of it. But we take care of it. We respect the stuff that we harvest.”
