PGA Championship

Wonder how much press Rory gets in the papers across the UK, with all the Olympic hubbub making headlines.

 

Not sure what the answer is except to not go back, which would unfortunate. It's not only bitching by writers who spent an hour (or more) going to and from the course each day. Spectators endured much worse trying to get on and off the island.

 

Jim Nantz said yesterday morning, the TV crews guy got off the island after 8 p.m. Saturday and had to catch the first bus to the island at 4 a.m. Sunday.

 

I think the biggest complaint, at least from following one of the guys at the P&C, is that there's a four-lane road onto and off the island and SCDOT chose not to make it three lanes one way coming in in the morning and going out in the evening, like a hurricane evacuation route sort of thing. That would have made sense to improve traffic flow.

I've been to Charleston a number of times but never to Kiawah, so I'm not sure how feasible that would have been. I know when the U.S. Open was at Congressional they flat shut down River Road -- the main road in front of the course -- and made everyone come in on shuttles. At least from the media lot, it was very efficient. Rarely waited more than five minutes for a shuttle and we were at the media center in no more than 10 minutes.

 

Cosmo, that is what the New Hampshire Highway Department does with I-93 for Sprint Cup races at Loudon, a track in the middle of scenic nowhere. And it works, or at least, reduces traffic congestion to terrible from horrific.

 

Lots of folks live on/have houses on Kiawah who might not have been going back and forth for the tournament. Maybe they felt it was important to provide them at least a modicum of access.

 

Moral of the story: Don't hold a major sporting event with tens of thousands of people present on an island.