CHASKA, Minn. (AP) -- When players broke away from the PGA of America in 1968 to form what is now the PGA Tour, two properties had to be divided. The tour took the lucrative World Series of Golf at Firestone. The PGA of America was saddled with the Ryder Cup, which attracted hardly any attention in the U.S.
Just look at it now.
Try to count the more than 150,000 fans over three days who roamed Hazeltine, standing a dozen deep, shoulder to shoulder, and filled every grandstand even when a match was an hour from getting to that hole.