A new-look PGA Championship with Cypress Point? Rory McIlroy weighs in

Newtown Square, Pa. – It was bound to happen, and on Tuesday morning, in a white tent almost in the shadow of the massive stone club of Aronimink Golf Clubwhere 108th PGA Championship playing this week, it did: The Secret Work of the Resurrection Committee Walter Hagen went public.

The incident happened during a press conference with Rory McIlroytwice winner of The PGA Championshipboth times in the stroke play. Hagen won it five times, all in matches.

“Have you heard of this stealth committee, the Committee to Revive Walter Hagen?” McIlroy was asked.

That word, again.

There had been speculation, not widespread, that McIlroy knew about the committee’s work. Hagen is one of the great sports legends from Rochester, NY, where Erica Stoll, McIlroy’s wife, grew up. Plus, McIlroy is so in the loop. He knows Jimmy Dunnefor one thing. But McIlroy hadn’t listened.

The reigning Masters champion leaned in (in the modern, figurative sense of the phrase), apparently eager to learn more.

The Hagen Committee is working to combine the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with The PGA Championship in a unique stroke-play/match play format that would see the PGA Championship be the first major of the year, played in February.

The PGA Championship – with AT&T as its sponsor and continuing to raise large sums for the many good works done by the Monterey Peninsula Foundation – would begin with a 54-hole qualifier played at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in late winter. The medalist would receive the Bing Crosby Medal, along with an automatic berth in the fields of the year’s three remaining Grand Slam events, plus a berth in the FedEx Cup playoffs and a winner’s check large enough to send all of his children to college and grad school.

(The Crosby Medal, for early performances by circulating artists, depicts the iconic singer and golf impresario hereafter, pipe in mouth.)

The top-16 finishers from Crosby’s 54-hole event at Pebble then qualify for the weekend match portion of the PGA Championship. Eight games Saturday morning (loser goes home), four games Saturday afternoon (ditto), two Sunday morning (again), one Sunday afternoon. The player who goes 4-0 on the weekend receives the Wanamaker Trophy as PGA Champion, the player’s name is engraved on it, along with Walter Hagen, Rory McIroy and other figures of the game.

Weekend play would be held down the road (17 Mile Drive) from Pebble Beach, at the golf course of Cypress Point Club.

Ties would be decided by a sudden-death playoff starting on the par-3 15th hole on the course, sometimes cited as the most fragrant hole in golf.

The work of the committee was explained to McIlroy.

“Sounds amazing,” he said.

You may want to let that comment settle in for a moment before continuing.

“I thought we didn’t like 54-hole tournaments though?” McIlroy asked.

The reporter reiterated that the 54 holes of stroke play were the qualifying portion of the five-day event, the preamble to the weekend of match play at Cypress Point.

“Ah — OK,” McIlroy said. “That’s just the qualification? OK, that’s good.

“Any opportunity to play Cypress Point would be fine with me, absolutely,” added McIlroy, warming to the subject. “And the match play has been a big talking point, maybe talking about it for the tournament championships at the end of the year going forward.”

“I think match play is the purest form of the game,” said the career Grand Slam winner and Ryder Cup winner. Some have speculated that Tiger Woods’ stroke-play greatness stems from his unique adaptation of a match-play mentality to 72-hole stroke-play events. “I think it’s a shame we don’t have any matches actually played on the schedule, other than the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup. It would be nice to play more matches on the schedule, for sure.”

According to a committee source, McIlroy is expected to receive an invitation to join the committee before the US Open. This website, and likely other golf news sites, will have updates as warranted.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com.