This is a bittersweet week for any true golf fan. While we are thrilled to have another week with all the excitement and drama a major supplies this is the last major of the season. And with all due respect to the FedEx cup Playoffs, a major is a major.
Certainly any win on the PGA Tour can change a player’s life but a victory at a major championship vaults a player to another level.
We measure a player’s success by the number of wins but we measure greatness by major championships.
This week is the last chance for fame and glory, as we say and this field is stacked with major possibilities, pun intended.
It’s rare that the lead story of major week isn’t who will win this week but rather how Dustin Johnson lost here in 2010. Johnson was set to make the playoff and possibly win his first major until he was hit with a controversial penalty for grounding his club in what looked like a trash heap but was designated a bunker.
It was a penalty David Feherty called,”one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in major championship history.”
Johnson certainly can compete here and he has had numerous chances in majors since then but we are wondering if Johnson has the mental strength to withstand the weekend at a major. He hasn’t shown it yet.
Story-line 1A is world number one Rory McIlroy’s comeback from his ankle injury to try and add another major to his already healthy resume.
He’s not world number one for nothing, he of four majors wins. But can he step out of rehab and compete on a course that is a challenge just to walk no less make world class golf shots.
Chomping at Rory’s tender ankle is the hottest golfer on the planet Jordan Spieth. Spieth captivated the golf world with back to back wins at The Masters and the U.S. Open. His chase for the Grand Slam went to the last hole at St. Andrews but he still can make history by winning a third major in the same season.
Only two men have won three professional majors in a season, Tiger Woods in 2000 and Ben Hogan in 1953. That’s heady company and Spieth would go down as one of the game’s greats at just twenty two with a major triple this season.
Bubba Watson with two Masters on his resume and a near miss here in 2010 has to be considered a huge factor. The fickle Watson plays mind games with himself and can talk himself out of playing well on a course that “doesn’t fit him.” This course fits him and half the battle with Bubba his his attitude.
With a positive attitude he contends with less than that he’s flying home on Friday night. He should be here for the weekend and in a big way.
Jason Day has a T9 finish at the U.S. Open this year and was two inches short of the the playoff at The Open Championship where he placed T4. Day seems to be there late on Sunday in every major and a win here wouldn’t be a surprise.
Rickie Fowler is another popular choice for a breakthrough win. His PLAYERS Championship win has boosted his profile and with Butch Harmon’s tutelage he has finally become a complete player. He’s played well the past few weeks and he was in the hunt right to the end at last year’s PGA.
And what about the two golfers that carried the PGA Tour for two decades: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Tiger tried to say he wasn’t aware of his world ranking as the 278th ranked player. Like we believe that. He hasn’t 
sniffed a top ten this year and the more he plays the more he struggles.
Yes, there are flashes of good golf but one good round among four isn’t what we expect from the greatest player of his day by a long shot. A fifteenth major isn’t of of the question yet but it won’t happen here.
Phil Mickelson’s world ranking is dropping also but only to number twenty three. Three top tens have been Phil’s best this year with a T2 at The Masters his best finish at the majors.
He can’t seem to find his game long enough to compete and maybe his health is effecting him more than he lets on. Or maybe Father Time is catching up to Phil the Thrill. He’s forty five and what man in his mid forties is the same as was at thirty? Does Phil have a Jack Nicklaus week left in him? He probably does but we’ll see if it shows up this week.
The PGA Championship struggles with its identity. The Masters has Augusta National and the U.S. Open is the toughest major. The Open Championship is the oldest and so very different.
But the PGA doesn’t have an individual persona it can hang its hat on. But is is the best field of all the majors. It is played on some magnificent courses. A victory changes the winner’s life and career in a monumental way.
It is the final major of the season and the last chance for fame and glory.
Related Articles
