Last chance for McIlroy, Spieth
GOLF: Rory McIlroy took stock of his game and the shots required at Baltusrol and reached a most logical conclusion. 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 US 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 yesterday 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 today, had contended in five straight majors. He finished 13 shots behind in the US 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 five centimetres of rain overnight, though the Lower Course was in remarkably good shape for a full day of practice yesterday 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 five until the final two holes. He is among the top power players in the game, and his driving is aesthetically beautiful because of his balance.
That wasn’t lost on McIlroy as he blasted a 345-yard drive off the first tee in the long drive competition and made his way around the course. He looks ready to go, and he will find out Thursday what kind of traction he has.
McIlroy was asked to describe his season in one word, and after some thought, settled on ‘‘neutral.’’
That’s another way of saying he has been spinning his wheels.
‘‘I feel there’s been times where I got a little bit of momentum, and then sort of got set back a little bit,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s been a little stop-start in a way. But it’s hard. I’m trying to stay as positive as I can. I feel like I am positive because my game is in good shape. But I guess just maybe running out of patience a little bit and trying to make it happen.
‘‘I don’t know if there’s one word to describe this year,’’ he said. ‘‘But I think you get a sense of how I’ve felt about the year and trying to get better and trying to get my name in the mix, and hopefully I can do that this week.’’
His record in the PGA Championship is in his favour. McIlroy has won the Wanamaker Trophy twice in the last four years, and he has three other finishes in the top 10.
New Zealander Danny Lee has been grouped with Luke Donald and Matt Kuchar.