A year away, excitement builds for PGA Championship’s return to Kiawah Island

On the eve of the 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course, Roger Warren stood in the clubhouse and looked over the 18th green “with a real sense of pride, a high degree of satisfaction.”

The competition that followed justified his feelings. The world’s greatest golfers loved the course, making the years of preparations all the more worthwhile.

A year from now, he hopes to replicate the scene and the elation.

The PGA returns to the Ocean Course in next May, and, even now, a year in advance, expectations run high. Although the coronavirus outbreak has caused a pause in a couple of areas, preparations create an aura of excitement.

Strong pre-registration for tickets and sold-out hospitality areas on the 18th hole send the unmistakable signal that even in uncertain times, fans look forward to the May 17-23, 2021 competition.

“We had a great tournament and we anticipate another one,” said Warren, the tournament’s general chairman and president of the resort. “We already knew we had a world-class venue in the Ocean Course, and the tournament emphasized that.”

Rory McIlroy won the 2012 tournament, played in August, and he undoubtedly will be among the favorites in the spring of 2021. But he and the elite field will face a different challenge.

“The wind blows more in the spring, and that increases the difficulty,” Warren said. “When the wind blew one day in 2012, we saw some scores at a level they weren’t accustomed to shooting.”

Indeed, only one player broke 70 on the “wind day” in 2012.

“But the fans will like the temperatures better in May,” Scott Reid, the championship director, said. “That’s a big plus.”

Reid said construction on infrastructure will begin in early February. However, the arrangements away from the course might be different from 2012.

“Development on the island has changed where we can place some things,” he said. “We have the 2012 plan, but there are some challenges in fitting all the pieces into the puzzle with different areas available.”

The main criticism from 2012 — traffic and parking problems coupled with officials’ seemingly lack of concern at the time — did not go unnoticed. “We learned from that,” Warren said.

Cars still will travel the two-lane road toward Kiawah, but the parking area has been reconfigured, and eliminating the parking fee should keep traffic moving.

“Today with no tournament, it’s still an hour from downtown Charleston to Kiawah, and in traffic it’s a bit longer,” Warren said. “We want to give our fans a better understanding of what to expect. We didn’t do that last time and it was a shock to them.”

Reid likened the access to traffic attending a USC or Clemson football game. “It’s a lot of people trying to get to one place at the same time, and it’s going to take some time,” he said. “In this case, it’s a major golf championship on an island.”

The coronavirus delayed the sale of tickets until August, but Reid believes the pre-registration numbers point to about 150,000 fans for the week.

Online registration to purchase tickets has opened, and tickets will be sold online only. Register at www.pgachampionship.com and click on 2021 to establish a place in line for an opportunity to buy tickets after sales begin. Information will be emailed to fans prior to the beginning of sales.

“Except for the ticket sales being pushed back, everything is pretty much on schedule,” Reid said. “Even though we’re a year away, we can feel excitement building. We’ll be ready.”

Chip shots. Furman golfer Natalie Srinivasan, a senior from Spartanburg, added to her high-profile honors by winning the Annika Award, symbolic of the best player in women’s college golf. Already the winner of the Women’s Golf Coaches Association’s player of the year prize, Srinivasan earned the Annika by vote of her peers, coaches, golf media and sports information directors. . . . USC senior Jamie Wilson earned a berth on the All-SEC’s first team, adding the honor to being named Ping honorable mention All-America and Ping All-Southeast region. . . . Orangeburg pro Marion Dantzler might qualify for the PGA’s Champions (Senior) Tour in terms of age, but he showed his game could compete at any level with his recent 13-under-par 59 at Orangeburg CC, his home course.