FINISHING WHOLE
Game’s biggest stars looking for major to complete their 2018 seasons
ST. LOUIS — Take a look at some of the world’s best players’ résumés, and what you notice is a glaring void on their respective 2018 seasons — the lack of a major championship victory.
For the likes of Rory McIlroy, who hasn’t won one since 2014, Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 ranked player in the world who has only one career major, Jordan Spieth, who hasn’t won since the 2017 British Open and needs the PGA to complete a career Grand Slam, and Justin Rose, ranked No. 3 and with one major to his name, four great days at this week’s PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club can cure what ails them.
Even Justin Thomas, the defending PGA champion who’s coming off a win at last week’s WGC-Bridgestone, is hungry for his second career major.
Tiger Woods, who led last month’s British Open with eight holes to play, hasn’t won a major in more than 10 years. Phil Mickelson hasn’t won one since 2013.
The PGA Championship’s slogan used to read: “Glory’s Last Shot.’’
This week represents a last shot for some of these top players to make their 2018 with a victory.
Only three players are exempt from that — Patrick Reed, who won the Masters, Brooks Koepka, who won the U.S. Open, and Francesco Molinari, who won the British Open last month.
“It’s certainly close,’’ McIlroy said of his game, which last produced a major championship at the 2014 PGA. “I’ve kept giving myself chances this year. I haven’t closed out those tournaments as I would have liked, but at least I’m putting myself in position, and that’s all I can do. I can just keep putting myself in position and learn from those experiences, good or bad, and try to use what I’ve learned.
“So I’ve done well, I’m slowly getting back up the world rankings. I started this year at 11th; I’m back up to fifth. I’ve done a lot of good things. The only thing I haven’t done is win enough. I’ve given myself a lot of chances. I played in a lot of final groups and I haven’t played well enough when it’s counted. So that’s something that I’m just trying to go through and try to figure out what I need to do to make that little step from contending and getting into final groups to lifting trophies.’’
Johnson, who won two weeks ago in Canada, is looking to lift his second career major championship trophy to further cement his hold on the No. 1 ranking.
Johnson can lose the top ranking to Thomas if Thomas wins and Johnson finishes worse than a three-way tie for second. He can lose it to Rose if Rose wins and Johnson finishes worse than in a tie for seventh. Thomas could overtake Johnson if he finishes sec- ond and Johnson is 19th or worse.
“It’s definitely something that’s a big accomplishment and something that I’m very proud of,’’ Johnson said of the No. 1 ranking. “But there’s so many good guys that are right there, right behind me that I’ve got to continue to play very, very well if I want to stay in that position.’’
Johnson said a win at the PGA “would be a very, very great accomplishment,’’ adding, “It would make it into a great year.’’
Thomas talked about getting himself back into contention.
“Being the deepest field in golf and a great golf course and a lot of players trying to knock off that major here at the end of the year that haven’t gotten one yet this year, any tournament’s a tough one to win, but this one especially is,’’ he said.
Englishman Tommy Fleetwood is a player who’s seemingly in contention every week, yet he’s still searching for his first victory on U.S. soil and his first major championship.
“I’ve had a good run of putting myself in contention in a lot of events and a lot of the big events, and it just so far hasn’t happened ,’’ Fleet wood said. “Sometimes golf is just like that, and it’s just a case of keep doing what you’re doing and eventually it will happen. I feel like I’m close and closing in.
“Without a doubt, the next step in my career is to win in America, win a major. I have put myself in contention in the majors. At the end of the day, a lot of careers are defined on major championships. It’s important to keep things in perspective and realize that, you know, you could win five times in a year and not win a major, and some people would think, ‘Well, you haven’t won a major’ — for some of the elite golfers anyway. Hopefully, I’ll have a couple of majors by the end of my career when I’m done.’’