It didn't take long for Hank Kuehne to live up to his reputation. The biggest hitter in golf took on the longest hole at Oak Hill -- the 538m 13th -- with ease during a practice round.
He ripped his driver some 350 yards, then followed that with a 2-iron into the middle of the green.
"I'm pretty much one of only a couple -- if not the only person in the field -- that can actually get there in two," Kuehne said Monday at the PGA Championship. "I have to try to take advantage of my strengths."
That strength is not difficult to figure out.
Just watch the gallery gasp whenever the 27-year-old Kuehne takes a behemoth cut. Just look at how PGA Tour players stop what they're doing when Kuehne removes the head cover of his driver on the practice range.
Look at the statistics.
Kuehne not only leads the PGA Tour in driving distance at 292.3m, his drives measure more than 270m an astounding 86.5 percent of the time; the tour average in that category is 24.5 percent.
Still, Kuehne says he's not solely about power.
He already has heard some people writing off his chances at Oak Hill, primarily because the fairways are tight and the rough is the thickest at a major in at least five years.
"I think everybody just thinks because I hit it far, I don't hit it straight," Kuehne said. "I hit it a lot straighter than anybody really gives me credit for. People look at statistics and don't really know that much about the players and how they play."
People know this much about Kuehne -- as long as he is off the tee, it took him a longer time to get back to Oak Hill.
Kuehne, a recovering alcoholic, reached the pinnacle of his career five years ago when he beat Tom McKnight to win the 1998 US Amateur.
"I would have told you that you were crazy if I thought it would take me this long to get out here," Kuehne said. "One of the things that I've learned through everything I've been through ... is you can't take anything for granted."
Kuehne has been through plenty.
Hooked on alcohol in his teens, Kuehne was driving drunk in 1995 when he ran a stop sign and had an accident in which he broke his ribs.
After winning the US Amateur and turning pro, he injured his shoulder, which kept him from reaching his potential, and left him without any status going into this year.
Kuehne finally turned it around with a runner-up finish in Houston, and has made enough money to secure his PGA Tour card for next year. Next up was getting to the PGA Championship, knowing it was held at Oak Hill.
"After I made enough money to have status, it was one of my immediate goals to try to figure out how I could get into the PGA," he said.
Not to worry. The PGA of America offered him an invitation to the final major of the year, and his first as a professional.
He played the 1999 Masters, US Open and British Open as the amateur champion, and played a practice round at Augusta National with Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. He was crushing drives back then, but Kuehne wasn't sure where they were going. This isn't the same Oak Hill where Kuehne won his US Amateur.
"I remember it was a lot faster, a lot firmer," Kuehne said. "I think with the new tee boxes and everything else, I'll probably hit 12 drivers out there. I hit a lot of irons in the Amateur, but it all depends."
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS