TULSA, Okla., Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The final major golf championship of the year begins Thursday and it could turn out to be the hottest such event ever played.
A field of 156 players, led by world No. 1 Tiger Woods, will begin play at the PGA Championship on the Southern Hills Country Club course -- one of the nation's leading tests of golf that just happens to be sitting in the middle of a heat wave.
The hottest known conditions ever for a major championship were those in which the 1970 PGA Championship took place and that tournament also was held at Southern Hills. The average temperature that week was just above 100 degrees and the temperature is expected to exceed 100 for all four rounds of this week's tourney.
First-time major championship winners claimed the first three legs of golf's grand slam this year -- Zach Johnson at the Masters, Angel Cabrera at the U.S. Open and Padraig Harrington at the British Open.
Woods, however, is favored to win his 13th major title, especially after his eight-shot victory last week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
He will begin play at 8:45 a.m. local time.
