We're hosting the 2005 PGA Club Professional Championship. Here's an interesting article from the Charleston Post & Courier sports columnist on what lies ahead for The Ocean Course...
Is a major next for Kiawah? BY KEN BURGER
Of The Post and Courier Staff
KIAWAH ISLAND--As the last putt fell Sunday afternoon at the World Cup, one could only wonder what's next for this island golf resort.
Having hit the world stage by hosting the 1991 Ryder Cup, Kiawah has since been the site for two World Cup championships and the Warburg Cup. All of which looks like a stairway to the stars. It's just a matter of how high they can go.
It's obvious that Kiawah wants to be a major player in the golf world. While events like this week's World Cup are nice and provide a warm, fuzzy venue for international team competition, they certainly cost more than they make.
Unless you consider them an investment in the future.
The Ocean Course became famous after the 1991 Ryder Cup known as the "War By The Shore." Since then, affluent tourists have lined up to pay $250 in greens fees to be humiliated on this championship layout. But the bigger payoff may be yet to come.
MOVER, SHAKER
The key could be the recent hiring of Roger Warren as Kiawah's director of golf. Warren, who is about to ascend to the presidency of the PGA of America, is a mover and shaker in the world of major golf championships.
"Our goal is to have the highest caliber event that befits a course as great as the Ocean Course," Warren said Sunday. "Technology is making some great courses obsolete. But the genius of Pete Dye's design of this course is that it combines the elements of length and wind and a challenging layout. So, our ultimate goal is to hold a major championship here at the Ocean Course."
But some say the Ocean Course has drawbacks. That it couldn't handle a major.
"The perceived negatives really don't exist," Warren said. "Can we handle 40,000 fans? Well, we handled 25,000 for the '91 Ryder Cup and we can easily build bleachers over these dunes and handle 50,000 fans. The other thing is parking, but we can overcome that as well."
WHAT, WHEN?
That being said, one only has to do a simple process of elimination to figure out which major championship is the most likely to come to Kiawah.
Obviously, the Masters and British Open are out. That leaves the U.S. Open or the PGA Championship. The USGA runs the Open and the PGA of America, which Warren will soon head, runs the PGA Championship.
"As president, of course, I would recuse myself from any votes involving Kiawah," Warren said. "But we would love to get a PGA Championship. The events we've had here in the past have all been team play. But people would love to see the best players in the world play stroke play on this golf course.
"That is one of my goals. It's what I was hired to do and I would be disappointed if it doesn't happen."
But when? Well, the PGA Championships are already booked through 2011. But Warren said there's also a possibility of a Senior PGA Championship or the Presidents Cup, which matches the U.S. against the rest of the world other than Europe, which is available for 2009.
So stay tuned. Something big is sure to happen here at Kiawah. We just don't know what, or when.