Gearing Up For The PGA

Monday, April 30th 2007, 5:00 pm

By: News On 6

We've entered the last hundred days, thatâ€™s how much time they have left to get ready for the PGA Championship at Southern Hills. The News On 6â€™s Steve Berg went to see how they're doing. He reports this is the 4th time that Southern Hills has played host to the PGA Championship. In fact, we're the first city ever to have four here.

The picturesque setting at Southern Hills has been interrupted, for just a little while, by the sight of giant earthmovers and the rumble of construction.

"As it exists about a month ago, there's really just an 18-hole golf course, so now we've got to prep everything to have 250,000, 300,000 people come out here," PG Spokesman Ryan Jordan said.

You heard right. The PGA's Ryan Jordan says during the course of a week, somewhere close to the entire population of Tulsa will file through the gates at Southern Hills

"We exceeded our ticket sales from the 1994 PGA Championship just a few months after we started selling. So there's a lot more people that are going to be out here, so a lot more infrastructure," said Jordan.

That includes a whole new parking lot that will be able to accommodate some two-dozen buses. The main parking will be at ORU, and then shuttles will drop visitors off right next to the course.

"And then from there, it's just a short walk to the top of the hill," Tournament Chairman Al Bush said.

Tournament Chairman Al Bush says it's taken two years of work to get everything in order, and the anticipation is building.

"The hundred best players in America will be here, and they're always exciting,â€ he said. â€œAnd of course Tiger probably leads the pack I would say."

Over the years, the golf tournaments at Southern Hills have been one of the main ways that Tulsa can showcase itself to the nation.

"CBS is going to carry it, you guys are going to carry it and we're going to have 20 to 30 hours of live TV. They're going to be talking about Oklahoma in between shots I suppose, so it's huge yeah," said Bush.

Theyâ€™re also setting up 500,000 square feet of tent space at Southern Hills. In fact, they had to take about 10 feet off one of the hills at Southern Hills to make room for the tents. And yes, they will be air-conditioned for this August event.

For more information about the PGA Championship in Tulsa, click here.

Related stories:

4/12/2002 Southern Hills In Discussions To Host 2007 PGA Championship

6/5/2006 Fourth Time For The PGA In Tulsa

11/2/2006 PGA Store Opens In Tulsa

4/3/2007 - Golfing History Makes A Stop In Oklahoma