Harrington holds off Garcia, Curtis to wrap up memorable PGA Championship Volunteers from home and abroad made PGA Championship happen

By Christian Davis
C & G Sports Writer

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — Giant white tents and trailers, delivery vans on newly graveled roads, miles of cable and construction workers.

If you took a trip heading west on Maple Road in Bloomfield Township any time in July, once you passed Lahser Road, you knew the PGA Championship had truly come to Oakland Hills Country Club.

The major tournament brought with it an army of volunteers and employees to transform the famed club into a venue that could accommodate the best players in the world, thousands of spectators and enough media to bring the fourth and final golf major of the 2008 season to the masses.

PGA Championship Tournament Director Ryan Cannon admitted that getting Oakland Hills ready for the 90th PGA Championship, which was held Aug. 4-10, wasn’t easy.

“We have to build a city here that can hold 40,000 people that will operate for seven days,” Cannon said July 31 while sitting in a trailer, which housed his temporary office. “That comes with a tremendous amount of infrastructure.”  

Cannon said construction on the North and South courses began June 2 with the construction of access roads for deliveries. Work on the course has continued since then, seven days a week.

“You never really finish,” Cannon said. “You just sort of stop working and then the championship happens. I don’t think we ever really feel like we’re done.”

Along with numerous bleachers, scoreboards and corporate hospitality chalets, a 30,000-square-foot golf shop was constructed next to the eighth hole. Another giant undertaking was the construction of the media center, which covered what is normally the driving range for members.

While the golf course — tee boxes, greens and fairways — will remain in immaculate condition when the members get their club back, the tournament does take a toll on the grounds. Cannon said he understands the club’s members are sacrificing precious time on their course.

“The tricky part to all of this is that we have to do all this work on a private club that has a membership that is used to having their course all summer,” he said. “We have to try and fit our construction schedule within a very short amount of time because the membership wants to get back to enjoying the club. So we push it right to the limit.”

Pushing it to the limit means literally deconstructing the infrastructure as play continued on championship Sunday.

Cannon said he hopes that within six weeks of the tournament all buildings and construction projects will be off the grounds.

Course Superintendent Ben McGargill said it would take some time before the course looks exactly as it did before the PGA came to town.

Most of the work, he said, is restoring the grass that has been damaged by the new structures and foot traffic from spectators.

“It won’t be done next spring, but it’ll be pretty close,” McGargill said, adding that the PGA and Oakland Hills will share the expense of restoring the course.

You can reach Sports Writer Christian Davis at cdavis@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1062.