Last chance for McIlroy, Spieth
Rory McIlroy took stock of his game and the shots required at Baltusrol and reached a most logical conclusion Tuesday. He believes the PGA Championship will be his best chance this year to win a major.
He overlooked the obvious. It now is his only chance this year to win a major. McIlroy is not alone. Except for the three players who have achieved the ultimate in golf this year by winning majors - Danny Willett at the Masters, Dustin Johnson at the U.S. Open and Henrik Stenson at the British Open - the PGA Championship is all they have left.
The focus starts with McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day. They began the year as the modern version of the “Big Three” because they had captured five of the previous six majors and took turns at No. 1 in the world ranking.
But they have come up empty in the majors - so far.
Spieth is feeling it as much as anyone, mainly because he nearly won them all a year ago with a major performance that ranked among the best ever. So when a question was posed to him Tuesday that expecting 20 more years like that would probably be a tough benchmark, Spieth leaned toward the microphone and interrupted. “Probably?” he said. Even with two victories and a chance at the Masters that he threw away with one bad swing at the wrong time, he has been noticeable in the last two majors by his absence from the leaderboard. Spieth, who turns 23 on Wednesday, had contended in five straight majors. He finished 13 shots behind in the U.S. Open and 22 shots behind at the British Open.
“I set my own expectations so high,” Spieth said. “So have I met them this year? Not yet.” He still can. So can Day, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour this year. Stenson’s victory at Royal Troon surely gave hope to players who have yet to win a major, from Sergio Garcia to Lee Westwood, from Rickie Fowler to Matt Kuchar.
Baltusrol was soaked with nearly 2 inches of rain overnight, though the Lower Course was in remarkably good shape for a full day of practice on Tuesday in sweltering conditions that only add to the pressure of players trying to break through.
McIlroy was especially optimistic given the length of Baltusrol, exceptionally long (7,462 yards) for a par 70 that doesn’t have a par 5 until the final two holes. He is among the top power players in the game, and his driving is esthetically beautiful because of his balance.
McIlroy was asked to describe his season in one word, and after some thought, settled on “neutral.”