A Lot Is New For This Week’s PGA Championship In Upstate New York

The classic Donald Ross designed golf course has hosted three of the world's premier professional golf championships; three U.S. Opens, three PGA Championships and the Ryder Cup. Few golf courses can boast such a tournament resume and this year the layout will feature brand new challenges, for one of golf's four major championships.

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Oak Hill Country Club is the host course for this week's PGA Championship. The best golfers in the world have gathered in upstate New York for golf's second major on the calendar. However, this year even the pros that have played the Rochester course won't recognize the layout from tournaments past. In addition, there will be another environmental factor that the golfers will have to get used to.

According to syracuse.com, three of the 18 holes on the infamous East Course were not there when the PGA Championship was last played at Oak Hill in 2013. The report says that some trees were removed from the course, creating more vistas and recovery options for the golfers. The bunkers have been steepened and made even more difficult, similar to what the famed-designer Donald Ross intended back in 1924. The new holes and bunker designs won't be the only new challenges for the 2023 field of golfers.

Each of the previous times, that the PGA championship has been played at Oak Hill it was in August. Back in 2017, the PGA of America made the decision to move their major championship to the month of May. Rochester, New York can be a little chilly in May. However, Oak Hill was already locked in for 2023. The forecast for the practice round on Wednesday morning is a frosty 37-degrees. Thursday's first round high for the day will be 58-degrees.

Those are some pretty chilly temperatures for a group of professionals that live in some of the most temperate and warm climates in the world. It should be a fun weekend. If you are heading out there, they are expecting some rain on Saturday and Sunday, so be prepared.