Bunker where Dustin Johnson grounded club removed from Whistling Straits

The 2015 PGA Championship returns to Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis., for the first time in five years.

The course is scary difficult, featuring undulated grounds and scattered traps, juxtaposed by the inviting scenery of Lake Michigan to its side.

However, one particular bunker that may have cost Dustin Johnson the title in 2010 has been removed, along with several others, from the links-style course to make room for a viewing area, PGA of America championship director Kerry Haigh told Doug Ferguson of The Associated Press.

The sand trap - which Johnson confused with dirt before grounding his 4-iron - cost him a two-shot penalty and, ultimately, a shot at the championship.

"Part of the changes we have made to improve the spectator experience for the championship is to bring and build more grandstands and viewing areas on the course that can view golf holes or the lake," Haigh said. "That includes viewing areas to the right hole 18 which does cover over part of the bunker that Dustin was in."

Haigh said there are plenty of traps still left on the course.

"With there being over 1,000 bunkers on the course, there are others that have been covered, but also still plenty left remaining in play," he said.

Already with one epic collapse at a major championship this year - three-putting on the final hole at the U.S. Open to lose the title to Jordan Spieth - Johnson won't have to worry about finding himself in that trap again.

The 31-year-old remains a favorite to take the tournament, which would be his first major title.