KEY POINTS:
The PGA Championship, always the lowest profile of the four majors, faces a double whammy as it tries to pull a big audience this week - there's no Tiger Woods and the Olympic Games get under way.
But it's a hugely significant event for New Zealand's top-ranked golfer Mark Brown. He gets to play his first major championship.
Brown's win at the Johnnie Walker Classic in India in March has opened all sorts of doors, not the least an invitation to play at Oakland Hills near Detroit.
He could hardly have found a tougher course on which to make his major championship debut. Oakland Hills, founded in 1916 by two of Henry Ford's colleagues, has always been a golfing treasure. It's hosted six US Opens, two PGA Championships and a Ryder Cup.
Twelve years on from when Steve Jones won the 1996 US Open (Frank Nobilo was 13th equal and Michael Campbell tied for 32nd), the course Ben Hogan once dubbed "The Monster" has been lengthened and modified to a level where, if you break par, there's a good chance you'll win.
It has a 231m par three to complete the first nine and a finishing stretch of five holes which include two 450m par fours and a 214m par three.
Campbell gets a start despite his lowly world ranking, because of his five-year exemption for winning the 2005 US Open. He'll be encouraged by his showing in the Open Championship, where he played all four rounds.
But how Brown fares will be the story I'll follow closely this week. The World Golf Championship event in Ohio where he's playing at the moment - another perk of the Johnnie Walker win - couldn't have come at a better time.
He hadn't played competitively for three weeks and his last two outings were mid-field finishes at the Scottish and European Opens following a missed cut at the French Open. As the first alternate for the Open, he waited nearly 10 hours on day one at Royal Birkdale for a no-show. There wasn't one.
Brown's world ranking might have slipped to 70 but he is the only Kiwi inside the top 100 and is currently a solid 35th on the European Tour Order of Merit.
The PGA Championship has the highest quality field of all the majors. There are no amateurs and, while the PGA of America allow 20 club professionals to qualify, 97 of the world's top 100 players will tee up at Oakland Hills. This is the 15th straight year the PGA Championship has featured more players in the top 100 than any other major.
As was the case at the Open, the absence of Woods means any one of a dozen players could start as favourite. Phil Mickelson has won before, a host of under-30s have won in the past few months and Kenny Perry, the hottest player in the past two months, is finally going to play a major championship this year.
It would be nice to think a laid-back guy from Petone might make an impact, too.
