Live From the Wednesday's PGA at Hazeltine: The Best Field in Golf

Golf writer Andy Reistetter is on site at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota and is providing daily reports covering both inside and outside the ropes.

Here are his notes from Wednesday 8/12/09.

By field, I mean the level of competition, not the real estate in Minnesota.

"All you need is 80 acres of corn and some cows," is how Dave Hill characterized Hazeltine back in 1970 when he finished second to Tony Jacklin in the U.S. Open by seven strokes.

While the real estate at the Augusta National Golf Club may be more refined, the condition and redesigned Hazeltine National Golf Club takes second place tomorrow to no other Major or golf course, as the 91^stPGA Championship gets underway.

Let's look at the field of players ready to compete for the Wanamaker Trophy.

First there are the 13 former PGA Champions. Between them, they account for 17 PGA victories. Tiger Woods has the most with four (1999 Medinah, 2000 Valhalla, 2006 Medinah and 2007 Southern Hills).

Vijay Singh is the only other multiple winner, with two (1998 Sahalee and 2004 Whistling Straits).

Defending Champion Padraig Harrington (2008 Oakland Hills) and Phil Mickelson (2005 Baltusrol) would love to become a multiple winner of the PGA.

Rich Beem, 2002 PGA Champion is defending his win here at Hazeltine.

Bob Tway fresh from his victory over Greg Norman in 18=986 at Inverness in Toledo, OH, is in the field. Every winner back to 1995 is here.

Nick Price PGA Champion in 1992 and 1994 is not in the field. Likely he has a similar perspective as to when he missed a victorious return to Turnberry in the Open after winning there in 1994.

I can't win so let the spot go to a younger guy who can. Didn't he see Tom Watson compete and almost win at age 59?

Colorful John Daly (1991 Crooked Stick) is here after missing the cut at the Buick Open shooting 76-88. Let's hope he is rested up after a killer schedule playing six weeks straight in Europe, Scotland, Canada, and America.

Other past champions playing include Shaun Micheel (2003 Oak Hill), David Toms (2001 Atlantic Athletic Club), Davis Love III (1997 Winged Foot), Mark Brooks (1996 Valhalla), Steve Elkington (1995 Riviera), and victorious Ryder Cup Captain Paul Azinger (1993 Inverness).

The next category for entry into the PGA Championship is winners of the last five U.S. Opens. That adds Lucas Glover (2009 Bethpage Black), Angela Cabrera (2007 Oakmont), Geoff Ogilvy (2006 Winged Foot) and Michael Campbell (2005 Pinehurst).

2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson is in. 2008 Masters Champion Trevor Immelman twittered out due to a re-injured left wrist. Alternate Bob Estes is in after earning $1.4MM since last year's WGC-Bridgestone.

Stewart Cink, 2009 British Open Champion at Turnberry, is in the PGA Championship. The only other two guys who have won the Open in the last five years (back-to-back wins) are already in the field—Padraig Harrington and Tiger Woods.

2009 Senior PGA Champion Michael Allen is in the field still looking for his first PGA TOUR victory in his 339^th start.

Sixteen golfers are playing in the PGA this year after finishing in the Top 15 with ties last year at Oakland Hills CC. Four golfers tied for 15^thplace, including the cooled off Paul Casey who won his first PGA TOUR event at the Shell Houston in early April and two European Tour events.

His highest finish in the last five events is a T47 at the Open at Turnberry.

Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis were outdueled down the stretch by Harrington last year and finished tied for second place.

PLAYERS Champion Henrik Stenson and two-time 2008 FedEx Cup playoff victor Camilo Villegas finished tied for fourth place last year and are looking to move up to the top notch this year at Hazeltine.

Then come the 20 PGA Professionals that earned their trip to the big show by virtue of their performance in the PGA Professional National Championship in New Mexico on the first day of July.

This group is led by two-time Champion Mike Small, head men's golf coach at the University of Illinois. The 43-year old golfer has appeared in four prior PGAs with his best finish, a T69 in 2007.

The next category to qualify for the PGA is the Top 70 money earners for the last 12 months from the 2008 WGC—Firestone through the 2009 Buick Open. Top on this list are guys like Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk and Brian Gay.

Narrowly qualifying for the PGA were No. 68 Jeff Overton, No. 69 Lee Westwood, and No. 70 Jason Dufner.  

The above criteria accounted for 108 participants—roughly two thirds of the 156 person field.

All members of the 2008 United States Ryder Cup Team are eligible for the PGA, provided they remain in the Top 100 of the Official World Golf Ratings.

Americans J.B. Holmes and Boo Weekley qualified as Ryder Cuppers. Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, Denmark's Soren Hansen, and England's Oliver Wilson also qualified under the same Category 9 exemption. Evidently, the European Ryder Cup Team is welcomed to compete as well.

The next category is for tournament winners of PGA TOUR—sanctioned events, since last year's PGA Championship not otherwise qualified.

Five guys, including opposite WGC field champion Michael Bradley (Puerto Rico Open), Nathan Green (RBC Canadian Open), Will Mackenzie (2008 Viking Classic), Ryan Palmer (2008 Ginn Sur Mer Classic), and Marc Turnesa (2008 Justin Timberlake Shiners Hospitals), made it in this category.

That makes 118 players.

An additional 36 players were invited by the PGA of America who did not qualify in the previous categories.

Included in this esteemed category are upcoming American President's Cup Captain Fred Couples, but not International Captain Greg Norman.

Native Minnesotan and previous Ryder Cup Captain Tom Lehman now residing in Scottsdale, AZ, was invited. Native Minnesotan, and the only current PGA TOUR member who resides in Minnesota Tim Herron, was not. He is No. 8 on the list of alternates and likely not to get in the field.

2009 Ryder Cup Captains Corey Pavin and Colin Montgomerie are in the field. Don't forget the PGA of America runs and receives financial benefit from the Ryder Cup competitions.

The three youngest players in the field have the PGA and this special invitation category to thank for their tee time at Hazeltine on Thursday, and an opportunity to win a mega first place prize.  

Japan's phenom Ryo Ishikawa will not be 18 years of age until Sept. 17. This is his fourth PGA TOUR event in America, with 71^st as his best finish at the Transitions Championship.

He missed the cut in the other three events. Both he and his idol Tiger Woods played together the first two rounds of the Open at Turnberry and missed the cut.

He has won four times on Japan's PGA TOUR.

Better known is Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who turned 18 on May 4.  He has played well in 10 PGA TOUR events, with a T10 at the U.S. Open his best Major performance.

In his first event in America, he beat Tim Clark after he beat Tiger Woods, before losing to eventual champion Geoff Ogilvy in the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.

Making his first appearance on the PGA TOUR in America will be 21 year old Chris Wood. As an amateur he placed joint fifth at the Open at Royal Birkdale in 2008. This year he came back as a professional after placing fifth in the European TOUR Q-School.

He finished T3 one stroke out of the Cink-Watson playoff and earned over $400,000.

Another youngster in the field who is no longer thought of as being young is Anthony Kim.

Old timers in the field include 50-year old youngsters Bob Tway, Tom Lehman, and senior PGA Champion Michael Allen.

The oldest player in the field is 53-year old club pro Chris Starkjohann from Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA. He was low club professional in the 2009 Senior Open at Canterbury that Allen won, and has one victory on the Nationwide Tour in 1998.

The winners of the WGC-Bridgestone (Tiger Woods) and Legends Reno-Tahoe (John Rollins) were already in the field, so the reserved spots were filled by alternates Scott McCarron and Matt Kuchar.

That is it—the field of 156 golfers in the 91^stPGA Championship set to start Thursday at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, MN, just outside Minneapolis-St. Paul.

The field will be cut to the low 70 golfers and ties after the first two rounds.

Regardless of the eligibility category that enabled them to make the field, their performance alone will dictate whether or not they make the cut or win the PGA Championship and have their name etched on the Wanamaker trophy.

Good golfing!

P.S. My picks for the winner other than Tiger Woods—Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk and Lee Westwood.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering for the tournaments and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel. He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]