Colin Montgomerie impressed by his first visit to French Lick Resort

FRENCH LICK, Ind. (WISH) — The 76th Senior PGA championship will be held at the French Lick Resort May 19-24.

The Pete Dye design will host its first major championship. Montgomerie made his first trip ever to Indiana on Monday, and was impressed by the course, which can be stretched to a robust 8,100 yards.

“I’ve played a lot of Pete Dye courses, but this is right up there,” he said. “It’s right up there with the best of them. This golf course is a championship golf course in every way you could imagine.”

The Pete Dye course was named “Best New Public Course” in 2009 by Golf Digest and has hosted 14 championships since opening five years ago. It was recently ranked No. 93 on Golf Digest’s list of America’s top 100 courses.

“This is a terrific, terrific venue,” said Montgomerie.

Montgomerie said it was “real easy” to see why the PGA of America picked it as a major championship venue.

Montgomerie won the 2014 event by four strokes over Tom Watson and six over Jay Haas and Bernhard Langer in what was a leaderboard filled with some of the most recognizable names in golf.