August 10, 2008 -- My first impressions of the 90th PGA Championship were not overwhelmingly positive. The conditions were really trying and the course was just brutal. I genuinely felt for the players who were having to test their skills on a course that wasn't rewarding skilled shots.

Padraig Harrington's patience during the early part of the week led to his success on Sunday. (Photo: Ted Pio-roda, Turner Sports)

But then, with a few superb adjustments by The PGA of America and a lot of rain from the skies above on Saturday, the feel of the tournament turned completely around. As the fairways and greens softened, the great shots from the best players in the world were rewarded as great shots, and you could see the golfers separated by their excellent play.

If you look at the scores, this was evident in many ways. Of the top five finishers, eight of their scores on the weekend came in under par. On Thursday and Friday, those same five players combined to shoot two of their ten rounds under par.

And that actually is the topic of this week's A Lesson Learned. In a nutshell, you have got to play the course as it exists. That might sound intuitive to many of you, but it actually is a lesson too many golfers fail to learn.

As stated, this week seemed to be almost two separate tournaments. On Thursday and Friday, you had hard, fast conditions on a course that was bordering on unfair. I know that if I had been playing, I would have suffered greatly from a lack of patience. In fact, I would have been downright irritable.

But Harrington, despite his pronouncement earlier in the week that he "just didn't have it," was able to perform the one critical task in order to win a championship like the PGA Championship. He stayed patient, he accepted it would be a mental grind, and he didn't shoot himself out of it.

To Sergio Garcia's credit, he gave himself a great opportunity as well. Both of these players put on such a great show on Sunday, but only because they were in a position to do so by not blowing up earlier in the week.

By not losing their composure and accepting that the course would not allow for a specific type of play, the two adjusted their styles of play. And by waiting for an opportunity when the course would allow for the superior skilled shots to allow for lower scores, they were ultimately able to take advantage when the rains came.

A great example was what might be the most significant shot of the tournament. Padraig Harrington was in the rough, 142 yards from the green on the final hole, and he was about to hit his third shot on the long par four. Though he got a good break with a favorable lie, the ball was in the rough and he was hitting a seven iron to an uphill target.

On Thursday and Friday, it would have taken a miracle for him to hit a shot that somehow would have stayed anywhere on the green. Had he hit the exact shot he hit on Sunday during the first two rounds, the ball may have ended up halfway to the clubhouse.

But knowing the course, knowing how it was playing on Sunday vs. the other days, he was able to make a good swing and hold the green, fifteen or so feet away from the pin.

Again, when skill mattered, when the course allowed skill to matter, Harrington was ready.

So our lesson this week is this; you can't force your game onto a course that doesn't allow for it. If the conditions mean you can't hold a green with anything more than a wedge, don't fly your shots to the pin. If the wind has dried out the fairways, perhaps hitting a driver to the dogleg isn't a great idea.

Manage your game and your expectations -- and when the conditions turn around, make your adjustments and play more aggressive. You may not win three out of six major championships like Padraig Harrington, but you'll play and score better for it.

Good luck!