PGA Championship at Whistling Straits recap

Whistling Straits and the American Club  in Kohler hosted the PGA Championship this year.

It concluded Sunday night with Jason Day winning the PGA Championship.

It was his first major tournament win.

Day broke into tears as he hit the tournament winning putt on 18, breaking a streak of bad luck and bad results in the final rounds of tournaments. Before Sunday, Day held the lead after 54 holes in a tournament eight different times, but only turned one of those leads into a win.

Among the professional golfers was Rory McIlroy. McIlroy suffered from a ligament damage in his left ankle playing soccer with friends on July 4. Whistling Straits was his first championship competition since the injury.

Golfers and fans braved muggy conditions on the final two days and witnessed another spectacular showcase of Herbert Kohler's Whistling Straits course. Spieth finished second and rose to number one overall in the World Golf Rankings.

Also, on Sunday the PGA Director of Golf at Bulls Eye Country Club in Wisconsin Rapids, served as a Playing Marker.

On Saturday sunny skies welcomed players to the third round of the PGA Championship with almost no evidence of the storms that blew through at the end of the Friday’s second round.

Crews worked throughout the evening to restore tents and temporary structures that had been knocked over, not to mention the PGA Championship scoreboard which took a hit as well. But you wouldn't even know there was a storm if you visited the course Saturday.

Fans and players dealt with a different weather phenomenon Saturday – heat and humidity. Saturday was a truly muggy summer day even on the lake shore, and fans spent time between holes soaking up mist, and drinking bottled water.

The high heat index was around earlier the week and it caused a K-9 from Brown County Sheriff's Office to die in the back of a squad car in Kohler.

PGA had its own on site m eteorologist and he watched data and computer models like a hawk. Brad Nelson with Schneider Electric, out of Minneapolis, has been doing this job for eight years now. He said Whistling Straits can be such a challenge because of the changing wind speeds and direction.

During the week leading up to the weekend Championship finals, the PGA and the wives of the players volunteered in the community. PGA of America Spouses and PGA TOUR Wives Association joined forces on August 12 with PGA REACH and the Kohler Company at a local garden space that promotes youth literacy and l earning to garden.  In addition to charity work, it took some 3,500 volunteers to put the entire PGA weekend together. 

In addition, PGA Championship at Whistling Straits hosted 70 Wisconsin business woman on August 12 for an exclusive professional development experience called “Beyond the Green.”