2012 PGA Championship: Weather Could Determine the Outcome

As beautiful a site as Kiawah Island Golf Resort is, the host course of the 94th PGA Championship will punish the golfers before the weekend is over. The course is located on a magnificent beautiful barrier island just a few miles from Charleston, South Carolina.

Being built on a barrier island that sits along the Atlantic Ocean while amazingly picturesque is fraught with a number of very interesting weather issues.Weather will very likely be a factor in the PGA Championship before the final hole is completed and a winner is crowned on Sunday.

Many are aware that the wind coming off the Atlantic makes this Pete Dye links style course play more like a layout situated in Scotland. However, while winds are strong, the South Carolina climate in August is far more intense than a cool Scottish seaside location.

According to The Weather Channel forecast, today the high will be a sticky 90 degrees, so heat will be a factor, but the real excitement begins on Friday. The weekend forecast for the area puts Friday with a high of 87 degrees and a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms, Saturday is much the same with a projected high of 85 and a 50 percent chance of rain. Sunday looks a little better with a high of 85 degrees and a rain chance pegged at 40 percent.

Rain storms in the South often bring lightning, so suspending play and thus slowing things down is a very real possibility this weekend.      

Add those conditions to the wind and the ever present humidity. It will play a factor, causing things not only to be uncomfortable, but it will test both the physical and mental toughness of the competitors as well.      

So as the world’s greatest golfers look at the many daunting challenges presented to them by the Island course at Kiawah, they will have to add weather to that mix.