the difference between the effect of boxing and the effect of golf on the human system is that golf hurts more and the pain is more enduring, for it is psychological

Day 8: "Flora"

This photograph was taken on the first day of the PGA Championship in 2004, at Whistling Straits in Kohler, WI. It is a links course, set up like the pure golf of Scotland. The weather was brutal (cold and windy) and the course conditions bordering on impossible (after a long, hot summer, the greens were hard as glass and the rough long, thick, and unforgiving). It was bad enough for spectators, who faced dangers of exhaustion or exposure just from following the players. Much worse for the competitors themselves.

I loved it. I thought the scenery was enthralling, and the golf was some of the best I can imagine. Those conditions require determination, inventiveness, and a sense of innate superiority. It was a terrific tournament.

[the title quotation is by Henry Leach]