The PGA Championship starts today from the Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York. Now in its 95th edition, the PGA Championship has gathered one of the finest fields in the history of the tournament.
The PGA Championship is known as ‘Glory’s Last Shot’, that for the most part because is last Major Championship of the golf year, thus the ‘last’ chance in the year for the players to earn their place in the history of the sport.
Of the 156 elite golfers playing this weekend, there will be 99 of the Top 100 present; only Louis Oosthuizen is not playing. The 30-year-old South African is set to be on the sidelines for another two months as he undergoes a period of rest, rehabilitation and strengthening for long-standing neck, back and hip injuries.
The PGA Championship is one of Men’s golf four Major Championships, but as there have been golf greats winning it, there is Rich Beem or Y.E. Yang defeating Tiger Woods. Or Shaun Micheel, who this year returns to the site where his heroics a decade ago led him to his only Major and lone PGA Tour win.
The heavy favorites to win this weekend are Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. But this is a field of 156 very capable pro players, and on any given weekend, anyone can rise up to occasion and take home for a year the replica of the Wannamaker trophy. Let’s take a look at some of this players:
Jason Day
Although he comes from finishing T-53rd at Firestone last week, the 25-year-old Australian has a knack for showing up at the Majors, mainly the Masters and the U.S. Open. This year he was contending on both and finished third and T-2nd respectively while adding a T-32nd at The Open.
But he has never done well at The Open and although he has missed the cut the last two years here at the PGA Championship, he finished T-10th in 2010. This year he has 20 consecutive cuts made and five Top 10s and is currently 13th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk
It’s looking as if Oak Hill is going to reward straight hitting and will be set up almost like a US Open course. Two former U.S. Open winners McDowell (2010) and Furyk (2003) are possibly two of the steadiest players on tour; they rarely miss fairways and never seem to become flustered.
G-Mac has not been seen at the Majors this year. He missed the cut at The Masters, the U.S. Open and finished T-58th at The Open. But it’s hard to overlook the fact that he has three wins this year, two in the European Tour, where he is third in the Race to Dubai, and one on the PGA Tour at the RBC Heritage. That win at Harbour Town gives him loads of opportunity here at the PGA Championship.
Furyk has a couple of Top 10 finishes on his last two starts and knows that he must play his way onto the U.S. team that will play the Internationals on the Presidents Cup Oct. 3-6 at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. He is making a late season push, and it shows on his recent outings, like McDowell, this course fits his game like a glove to his hand.
Boo Weekley
Talking about ball strikers, there is not a single PGA Tour list where Weekly is left out. He is currently sitting 10th in the FedEx Cup standings, and is also currently 59th in the Official World Golf Ranking, but no one outside the top 43 has more OWGR points in 2013 than Weekley's 106.82.
At the PGA Championship he has one top-10 and two top-25s in four appearances in the PGA Championship. On Tour this year he has four Top 10 finishes this year including his win at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial on May ending a five-year drought and winning his third plaid jacket. Now, if only the PGA Championship would give plaid jackets to the winner.
Hideki Matsuyama
The 21-year-old Japanese rising star was tearing up the Tour back home and is more than ready to play with the big guys. He has proven to be more of a major championship threat than his fellow Japanese star Ryo Ishikawa. Two years ago he was the lowest Amateur in the Masters, and he started playing the Majors as a pro this year, finishing T-10th at the U.S. Open and T-6th at The Open.
He played alongside Tiger Woods on his first two rounds at Firestone last week. He got to witness first hand Woods’ 61 on Friday, getting a free-lesson on how to destroy a course 101, firing 68 while almost witnessing history. Four Top 25 finishes in five starts , Matsuyama has game and he can bring it this weekend.