PGA Championship 2011 Press Conference: Quotes, Comments and a T-Shirt

Martin Kaymer hosted the PGA Champions Dinner on Tuesday night where he served what he called a traditional German Christmas meal of goose with red cabbage and knoedel, which is like a dumpling. 

He was particularly pumped about the rock star parking spot reserved for him right next to the clubhouse. Kaymer called on David Toms, one of the 17 former champions to attend, for a story and Toms did not disappoint. 

He recalled what happened while he played the final round at the 2001 PGA with Phil Mickelson.

As Kaymer explained it, Toms’ story goes as follows,

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“The last round, 90 percent of the spectators were for Phil, a little group of people were for David. And he said, a crazy girl, she always screamed that Phil should win.

David said she was so annoying, and almost when you walked off the green to the next tee box, she was screaming at him,  ‘Phil will get you, Phil will get you.’ 

And David went to his caddie, and said, ‘Hey, next hole, you're going to take her out with the umbrella. I just don't want to see her anymore.’”

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Of course the caddie did not do that, but it was an experience Toms remembered as well.

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“She had such a high-pitched voice that you had to hear it,” he said.  “I guess it was last Monday when I came in to play early, and it was almost like I could still hear her voice when I was going from green to tee.  Hey, she was just a rowdy fan, a rowdy Phil fan.”

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He actually said it with a smile.

The 260-yard, par three, 15th hole at Atlanta Athletic Club, which Toms had a hole in one on in 2001 has been quite the topic of conversation this week because it has been lengthened.

Steve Stricker played a practice round with Mike Small, University of Illinois golf coach and former teammate of Stricker’s at Illinois, who got into the tournament with his finish at the PGA Club Professional tournament.  

Small gave Sticker the description of the hole that he likes best,

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“He said, ‘ It’s a dogleg par three.’ That’s pretty good.  You play over there to the left, if you can hit it in the bunker, and then you play over there on the green to the right.

You’re going to see that bunker is going to get a workout over there.  It’s too long.  It doesn’t need to be that long.”

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Luke Donald said, "I’m never a big fan of long par threes. I think some of the world’s greatest par threes are short.  The seventh at Pebble, 12th at Augusta, Postage Stamp. You can keep naming quite a few that are short and at the same time quite tricky.”

Charl Schwartzel quipped, “Is that a par three? I thought it was a par four. It’s just a beast of a hole.”  

Rory McIlroy added about the 15th, “If you make four threes out there this week, you’re probably going to gain a couple of shots on the field.”

David Toms, 2001 PGA Champion, who had a hole-in-one with a five wood when he won said simply,”  First of all, five wood is not going to be enough club for me.”

He said he was playing a practice round with Harrison Frazer and Ryan Palmer, and they asked him about the hole-in-one while playing the 14th hole.

“We look up and Webb Simpson made a hole in one on 15 right in front of us as we were walking up to 14 green," Toms said. “I don’t know what club he hit, but it was a heck of a shot, obviously.” 

Toms recalled his thoughts in 2001 when standing on the tee. “I can remember in 2001 standing on that tee and just saying to myself, ‘Hit the ball solid. You want to get it over the water.’ And now, at the back tee, I’m going to say to myself,  ‘Hit it real solid.’”

The length did not bother everybody.  Dustin Johnson hit a three-iron to the 15th Monday and a four-iron to it on Tuesday. He’s looking forward to the two drivable par fours, the sixth and the 13th.  Johnson, he may not even hit driver. 

“I think it’s going to be about 285 front or something like that,” he said about the sixth.  “For me it’s a three-wood, depending on the wind, but it’s going to be a three-wood.” 

Johnson is still being asked about last year’s PGA Championship and the infamous bunkergate episode. To demonstrate his attitude about it, his group has designed a T-shirt that says “What Bunker?” Sales support charity.  

Davis Love III will play his 25th PGA, “A lot of those records I’m compiling, just tells me that I’m getting older, but I’m also hanging in there,” he said. 

Love, who has always been along hitter, is now watching the games of the younger players. “You think you’ve seen the ball go as far as it can, and along comes a Gary Woodland and Bubba Watson and ( Rogert) Garrigus. These guys are just killing it,” he said.

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour or PGA of America.