Under consideration for a future PGA Championship, Crooked Stick instead has been told that it won’t host a major anytime soon.
According to a report Wednesday by the Indianapolis Star, the PGA of America has informed Crooked Stick that it lacks the sufficient space to host a modern major championship, putting it out of the running for the 2019 PGA Championship.
It was reported in September that Crooked Stick, which hadn’t hosted a major since 1991, was under consideration for the 2020 PGA Championship. After the BMW Championship, won last year by Rory McIlroy, PGA president Ted Bishop was asked if he envisioned another major championship being contested there.
“The golf course works and the market is outstanding,” Bishop told the Indy Star in September. “It just gets down to logistical issues the site presents and, I think, if they can be worked out, there is a great chance it’s going to happen.”
Apparently those issues were too much to overcome.
More than 150,000 spectators attended last year’s BMW Championship, including about 40,000 on Sunday, and was voted the PGA Tour Tournament of the Year.
In an email to club members, obtained by the Indy Star, Kerry Haigh, the PGA of America’s chief championships officer, wrote, “My honest answer is that it appears that there is not sufficient space to make a modern day PGA Championship work based on our contractual requirements to our Patrons, television and others.”