BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Oakland Hills might have a new nickname by this time next week.

The famed golf course, known as a "monster" for more than a half-century, was tweaked to make it even tougher for the 90th PGA Championship, which starts Thursday.

"It's a beast," said Rocco Mediate, the U.S. Open runner-up, who played the new-look course last year in a British Open qualifier. "It will be one of the hardest courses of all time."

Rees Jones wouldn't mind if the best players in the world end up agreeing with Mediate.

"I don't want them to like it," Jones said. "I want them to think it's a fair test."

Donald Ross created the original design that turned a rolling pasture into a course in 1918.

"The Lord intended this for a golf course," Ross said when he saw the land.

Robert Trent Jones reshaped it for the U.S. Open in 1951 — leading to Ben Hogan's quote about bringing "this monster, to its knees" — and Jones' son followed with changes two years ago to help the course maintain its challenging reputation.

"When I interviewed for the job, I said, 'I've been waiting for this call my whole life,"' Rees Jones recalled recently. "The changes my father made at Oakland Hills, which was the first course strengthened after World War II, catapulted his career."

Jones lengthened 15 holes, combining to add 346 yards to the setup from the 1996 U.S. Open, made many fairways narrower and altered the placement, depth and size of bunkers.

Australian Adam Scott, No. 4 in the world ranking, said the course was in perfect condition after practicing on it a week before the PGA Championship.

Scott said navigating the famous greens and tricky fairways will be of paramount importance.

"There are a couple of tee shots, because of quite undulated fairways, that you have to make a decision where you're going to hit it off the tee," Scott said. "But, really, with the greens being so severe, if you get a good picture in your mind of what the greens are like, you can leave your shots into the greens in good position."

Oakland Hill's signature hole — the 406-yard, par-4 16th — now has water curling around the right side of the green instead of the relatively safe haven of sand or a hill.

The tee was pushed back 37 yards at the par-3 17 — making it 238 yards — the fairway was made skinnier and a bunker on the right side of the green was made larger and moved closer to the front.

Making a difficult hole harder, bunkers were added on both sides of the fairway at the 498-yard, par-5 18th that forces players to hit an accurate drive about 320 yards to clear all the traps.

Jones said players should take advantage of birdie opportunities at Nos. 1, 2, 6, 15, 16 and be happy with pars on Nos. 18, 17, 14, 8 and 5.