Golf: An even longer walk spoiled

MIAMI - The world's top golfers will have to tackle the longest course in major history when Medinah Country Club hosts this year's PGA Championship, organisers say.

A 6767m layout when it staged the 1999 PGA Championship won by Tiger Woods, the par-72 No 3 Course at Medinah has been stretched to 6914m for the tournament on August 17-20.

Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin, was previously the longest major venue, playing 6871m off the back tees when it hosted the 2004 PGA Championship.

"When the players return here, they're going to really see a different golf course, a golf course that really has more definition," course architect Rees Jones said.

In a restoration project which began in 2002, Jones removed 300 trees, added new ones, rebuilt some of the greens and redesigned several greenside bunkers.

Woods clinched the second major victory of his career by a shot at Medinah in 1999, holding off a late charge by Spaniard Sergio Garcia.

Garcia fired a closing 71 that featured a stunning second shot from behind a tree on the 16th hole.

Medinah Country Club has also staged three US Opens - in 1949, 1975 and 1990 - and the 1988 US Senior Open.

THE MONSTERS

* Medinah, 6914m, 2006 USPGA

* Whistling Straits, 6871m, 2004 USPGA

* Augusta National, 6808m, 2006 Masters

* Columbine, 6799m, 1967 USPGA

* Carnoustie, 6731m, 1999 British Open

* Hazeltine, 6730m, 2002 USPGA

* Crooked Stick, 6671m, 1991 USPGA

- REUTERS