The final major championship of the golf season tees off this Thursday as the 96th PGA Championship will be held for the third time at Valhalla, and it figures to be quite a show. Tiger Woods might not get the chance to compete for his fifth PGA Championship because of ongoing back problems, and Dustin Johnson will sit out due to off-course problems, but don’t worry, the rest of golf’s biggest starts will be out in Louisville.
Most of the attention coming into the tournament will focus on Rory McIlroy (+519 to win PGA Championship), who reclaimed the #1 ranking in the world with wins at the British Open and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. McIlrory, who won the 2012 PGA Championship, also won the BMW PGA Championship in May and when he is on, no one is better equipped to take over the mantle of “Baddest Man In Golf” with Woods on the downside of his career. A focused McIlroy is dangerous for the rest of the field and the Northern Irishman looks like he is on a mission.
However, he’ll have to deal with Adam Scott (+1220), who was the #1 player in the world and has been playing pretty well himself. The Australian is coming off a T-8 at the Bridgestone and after a T-5 at the British Open, Scott has finished in the top 14 in each of the last five majors; four of those results have been top-10 finishes. Scott has finished in the top 11 in each of the last three years in the PGA Championship. How much fun would a Sunday shootout between these two be?
Sergio Garcia (+1608) and Rickie Fowler (+2027) have both gone head-to-head with McIlroy recently and even though they didn’t beat him, they would sure love another shot at him. Garcia has done it twice, finished T-2 with Fowler at the British Open and then he lost a three-stroke lead to McIlroy at the Bridgestone, but the Spaniard looks more confident and that could play a huge role in landing his first major. Fowler has beaten McIlroy in the past, back in a playoff at the Wells Fargo Championship in 2012 and he has had a brilliant year so far. Fowler has finished in the top 10 in two of the three WGC events, and he has finished in the top five of all three majors in 2014. A win would put him firmly in the running for Player of the Year.
Two more players to keep an eye on at Valhalla are former PGA Championship winners Martin Kaymer (+4770) and Keegan Bradley (+3053). Kaymer rolled through the U.S. Open for his second major title and he also won The Players’ Championship (golf’s unofficial fifth major) in May, but he didn’t challenge at the Masters or the British Open and the German hasn’t broken the top 50 in any WGC event this year. Bradley is coming off a T-4 at the Bridgestone and has finished in the top 20 in the last two majors. Bradley will also want to impress U.S. captain Tom Watson with the Ryder Cup on the horizon, so don’t be surprised if he makes a run this weekend in Louisville.
