More recently it saw McIlroy’s second major victory. The then-23-year-old shot a bogey-free 66 in the final round to take the tournament by eight strokes over next-closest David Lynn. It was a record margin of victory in the event, besting Nicklaus’ seven-stroke margin in 1980 (and matching McIlroy’s own eight-stroke margin of victory in his first major, the 2011 U.S. Open).
This year the PGA Championship returns to the Ocean Course for the tournament’s 103rd anniversary, and though the world has changed dramatically since 2012, Kiawah Island’s beauty remains untroubled, as it has since the island’s earliest beginnings.
It was from here in 1670 that a chieftain of the native Kiawah people led English colonists to settle at what would become Charleston, one of America’s most important founding cities. The island was taken by pirate George Raynor in 1699, served as a sanctuary for recovering American soldiers and their families during the Revolutionary War, was seized and occupied by Union troops in the Civil War, and sold for logging in the early 1950s, having spent much of its history controlled by just two or three families. By 1974 it was a resort, and under the current owners (who acquired it in 1993) it has flourished as a formidable and responsible place to enjoy some of the best of what life has to offer.
The four remaining courses at Kiawah Island are Osprey Point from Tom Fazio; Oak Point by Clyde Johnston; Turtle Point from Jack Nicklaus; and Cougar Point, by Gary Player. With each offering its own personality, together the courses make up one of America’s finest clusters of golf, complemented by an equally diverse range of accommodations and other pursuits.
Kiawah Island is a one-of-a-kind destination for families, buddies, couples, businesses or anyone looking for a coastal port of call, whether you make the journey by boat or otherwise.