2015 PGA Championship: Hot, Unsettled Weather to Greet Spectators for Start of Play at Whistling Straits

By Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

August 13,2015; 9:14PM,EDT

 

 

For the fourth and final time this year, the world's best golfers will compete for one of the sport's major championships.
The 2015 PGA Championship will take place at Whistling Straits golf course in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, from Aug. 13-16. After inclement weather forced an extra day of play at the British Open last month, players and spectators may have to dodge showers and storms again as play kicks off in Wisconsin this week.
Play may face delays on Friday, AccuWeather Meteorologist Paul Walker said.
Spotty showers and thunderstorms will be around on Friday with the greatest risk for a thunderstorm coming during the afternoon hours.
"Golfers teeing off later in the day may experience wet conditions and possible lightning delays," Walker said.
Daytime highs will settle in the middle to upper 80s Fahrenheit during the four days of play, which are slightly higher than normal for this time of year. A temperature near 80 F is typical for mid-August in Sheboygan.
The hot and unsettled conditions will stretch into Friday as humidity grips the area.

The start of the weekend is expected to bring dry, mostly sunny skies with some patchy clouds.
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The Whistling Straits course is described as featuring "open, rugged and wind-swept terrain" and sits along 2 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. Golfers will have to be mindful of a lake breeze during the afternoon and evening, according to Root.
"Wind is the great X-factor in golf," Bradley Klein, architecture editor of Golfweek Magazine and author of numerous books on golf course design, told AccuWeather prior to the U.S. Open.
Since wind direction can change by the day, or even by the hour, it gives golfers one more hurdle to overcome as they're focusing on distance and shot trajectory.
Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits out of the bunker on the 18th hole during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Valhalla Golf Club on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014, in Louisville, Kentucky. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
"While the lake breeze will help to cool some of the days off, [it] can bring occasional gusts that will ultimately affect the game," Root said.
This is the third time the course has hosted the PGA Championship; the most recent occurrence was in 2010. In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Rory McIlroy, the defending PGA champion and runner up in 2010, said he remembered hot and humid weather having an impact that year.
"From what I can remember, it was pretty hot and humid here so there was a lot of moisture in the air and the guys probably didn't get the golf course as firm as they would have wanted it," McIlroy said.
Like Chambers Bay golf course, the host of this year's U.S. Open, Whistling Straits' fairways are made of fescue grass.
Drier ground conditions will allow the ball to run farther, so players will need judge their landing spot to get the ball to stop where they want. If the ground is wet, it's easier for a golfer to pick and choose the landing zone as the ball rolls less, according to Klein.