The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort is on deck.
The South Carolina course is set to host the 2021 PGA Championship. The tournament is set for May 20-23.
It’s the second time the course will host the PGA Championship. In 2012, Kiawah Island staged South Carolina’s first-ever major golf championship, as Rory McIlroy took home the Wanamaker Trophy after winning by eight shots.
The Ocean Course occupies the far eastern end of a barrier island of the South Carolina shore, 15 miles due south of Charleston. The course was designed by Alice and Pete Dye and built at a furious pace, opening (barely) in time to hold the 1991 Ryder Cup, the famous “War by the Shore” at which the U.S. eked out the narrowest of victories.
The native site was a wild combination of tidal marshes, freshwater ponds and sand dunes. At the suggestion of Dye’s wife, Alice, the playing corridors for the holes were built up to afford views of the Atlantic Ocean to the south as well as to expose golfers to the winds. The result is an extremely challenging experience of golf in the raw. For the 2012 PGA Championship, the par-72 Ocean Course played at 7,676 yards.
