PGA Championship

Lost amongst all the talk of baseball suspensions and NFL training camps, the PGA Championship tees off on Thursday at Oak Hill Golf Club near Rochester, New York.

Thus your one-stop site to discuss any and all things pertaining to the championship.

 

You'd have to think Tiger is the overwhelming favorite, right?

 

As usual, all the pre-tourney hype seems to surround Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. I don't think either of those will win.

There's no way any mortal dominates a course in two consecutive weeks the way Woods did at Firestone in winning last week's WGC Bridgestone Invitational. He's got to come down to earth at least a bit.

It's been five years since anyone (Padraig Harrington, 2008) won consecutive majors, so picking Mickelson to back up his Open Championship with a win here seems to be a long shot.

It's been 13 years since anyone won back-to-back PGAs (Woods, 1999-2000), so picking Rory McIlroy isn't in my line of thinking, either.

There's so much balance in golf right now it's nearly impossible to pick a winner. I'll take the field and, to further narrow it down, make it a first-time major winner. Of all the majors, the PGA has a track record of producing more first-time, lesser-known winners (see Shaun Micheel the last time it was played at Oak Hill in 2003). Maybe Hunter Mahan or Bill Haas or Dustin Johnson. Who knows?

 

That's definitely the case. I actually think that the game has been very fortunate to have Els, McIlroy and Phil win majors in rapid order. Webb Simpson is a nice enough player, but I think that, at that point, there was serious danger that majors were losing some cachet.

 

The majors cannot lose cachet. They're the majors. Golfers far less well-known have won the U.S. Open than Webb Simpson. Doesn't change the fact they accomplished an historic feat.

 

Tiger who?

 

Want: Tiger

Predict: Jason Duffner

Would be happy with: Snedeker

Top 10: Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Hunter Mahan, Adam Scott

Sleeper: Bill Haas

Will disappoint: Mickelson, Rose

 

Dufner and Snedeker are on my short list, too. Dufner played quite well last week. Snedeker won the Canadian Open two weeks ago.

Woods is definitely the player of the year, having won at Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, Doral, Sawgrass TPC and Firestone. No one else comes close to that track record. But does that mean he's going to win a major this year? Far from guaranteed.

 

I really don't see him winning this week. He once again didn't drive it that well on the weekend at Firestone, even as he dominated. He just scrambled like a boss. You can do that on a course where you know the greens better that Lindsay lower back tattoo.

 

Noticed that 63-year-old Tom Watson is in the field. Watson has been having a rocky year on the Champions Tour, but had a couple of good rounds at the Greenbrier last month, so will be interesting to see how he plays here.

 

“How my dick ta’te?” --Tiger Woods (GQ, 1997)

 

Sure, if you're a lazy reporter who can't be bothered to look for a compelling original angle.

Oh, here's one - the last time the PGA Championship was held at Oak Hill, Woods finished at +12, in a tie for 39th place, 16 shots behind winner Shaun Micheel.