Tiger’s Major mission
THE 100TH PGA CHAMPIONSHIP IN FORMER WORLD NO 1’S SIGHTS Woods has not won a Grand Slam event since 2008.
Tiger Woods says he has improved enough after spinal fusion surgery to snap a five-year win drought just ahead of the season’s final Major, the 100th PGA Championship.
Woods, a 14-time Major champion, tees off next week at Bellerive after briefly leading last month’s British Open at Carnoustie. The former world No 1 boosted his ranking from beyond 1 200th last December to 50th.
“I went from just hoping to be able to play the tour to now I feel I can win again,” Woods said.
“Within a year to get down to 50 is a pretty good accomplishment. At the beginning of the year, if they had said you’re playing the Open Championship, I would have said I’d be very lucky to do that.”
Woods, who hasn’t won a Major title since the 2008 US Open, struggled with back pain the past two years but has served notice his shotmaking skills are returning to form. He shared second at the Valspar Championship in March and in June shared fourth at the National after his best final round in six years.
“I’ve had an opportunity to win a couple of times this year. I had a great chance at Valspar early in the year and even at Carnoustie I had a great shot at it,” Woods said. “My game has got good enough where I feel like I can win again.”
Woods has one last Major before turning 43 in December. Only 14 times has a player 43 or older won a Major and only two men have multiple wins beyond their 42nd birthday – Old Tom Morris in the 1864 and 1867 British Opens and Julius Boros at the 1963 US Open and 1968 PGA Championship.
Woods has not won any event since the 2013 WGC Bridgestone Invitational, but held the outright lead with eight holes to play at Carnoustie before a double bogey and bogey wrecked his chances.
“It’s going to sting for a while because I had a great chance at it,” Woods said. “I played myself into a great position. I made a couple of mistakes there at 11 and 12, and it cost me the tournament.”
Woods shared sixth at the Open, his best Major result since 2013, and will chase his first consecutive top-10 Major finishes since 2010 at Bellerive.
Coming back from severe back pain, Woods now faces his hardest stretch since surgery with a run of five events in six weeks starting with the WGC Bridgestone and PGA Championship plus at least the first two PGA play-off events and likely the first three.
Woods, whose 79 career PGA victories are three shy of Sam Snead’s all-time record, is making a solid case for a Ryder Cup spot as a captain’s pick.
He has already agreed to serve as an assistant to US captain Jim Furyk for next month’s showdown in France but says his chances to play are “trending”. – AFP
2017:
Hollow
2016:
Jimmy Walker (US), Baltusrol Jason Day (Aus), Whistling
2015:
Straits
2014: 2013: 2012:
Island
2011:
Justin Thomas (US), Quail Keegan Bradley (US), Atlanta AC Martin Kaymer (Ger), Whistling Straits Yang Yong-eun (Kor), Hazeltine Padraig Harrington (Irl), Oakland Hills
2010:
Rory McIlroy (Nir), Valhalla Jason Dufner (US), Oak Hill Rory McIlroy (Nir), Kiawah
2009: 2008: Spieth seeks Career Slam
Three-time Major winner Jordan Spieth can complete a career Grand Slam by winning the PGA Championship at Bellerive. He would join a select list of golf legends that have achieved the feat, including Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan. Spieth won the 2015 Masters and US Open and 2017 Open Championship. After taking third at this year’s Masters and sharing ninth at the Open Championship last month at Carnoustie, the 25-year-old American has shown flashes of his once-formidable putting skills.
Can Tiger add to his list?
Tiger Woods delivered his best Major finish in five years by sharing sixth at the Open Championship at Carnoustie last month. The 14-time Major winner shared second in March at the PGA Valspar Championship, his first top-five finish in five years, and enjoyed his best final round in six years to share fourth at the National. Battling back from back surgery that left the former world No 1 wondering if his career was over, Woods led at Carnoustie on the back nine on the Sunday and has climbed to 50th in the world rankings. At age 42, time could be running out.
No 1 Johnson fancied for title
World No 1 Dustin Johnson won his only Major title at the 2016 US Open, but with a third-place showing at this year’s US Open at Shinnecock and three PGA triumphs for a third consecutive season, there’s little doubt the long-driving 34-year-old American deserves to be favoured at the 100th PGA. His best showing in eight PGA Championship starts has been a share of fifth in 2010, where a two-shot penalty for grounding his club in a bunker doomed his chances.
McIlroy’s Major drought
Rory McIlroy has not won a Major title since outracing the darkness at Valhalla in the 2014 PGA Championship to edge Phil Mickelson by a stroke. But the 29-year-old from Northern Ireland has been playing well lately. He shared fifth at the Masters and second in July’s Open Championship at Carnoustie, giving him eight top-10 finishes in 14 Major starts since his 2014 PGA win.
Will Rose bloom at PGA?
Britain’s Justin Rose won his only Major title at the 2013 US Open, but last year’s Masters runner-up was also in the second-place pack behind Italy’s Francesco Molinari at last month’s Open Championship. He has PGA Tour titles this season. He hasn’t finished a US event outside the top 10 since the Players in May. But the 27-year-old’s best PGA Championship result was a share of third in 2012 at Kiawah Island. He has missed the cut six times so far. – AFP