The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Subplots galore as PGA Championship begins
The scene is set for a cracker of a US PGA Championship at Oak Hill in New
York.
As ever there are so many subplots in the week of a major but this week seems to boast even more than usual.
We have an out-of-sorts defending champion in Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm chasing his second major of 2023, Jordan Spieth in pursuit of a career Grand Slam, Jason Day back in form, we’re all wondering which Rory McIlroy will appear and then there’s the LIV Golf guys.
All this happening in a week where Tiger Woods isn’t even playing. For me, this major seems to boast the best field of the year.
It’s all taking place on a stunning course too. I was lucky enough to play there in 2013 and of course my uncle Bernard led Europe to Ryder Cup glory there in 1995.
Dustin Johnson leads the LIV Golf effort following his play-off win at the LIV Golf event at the weekend while Day has been celebrating his first PGA Tour win in five years on Sunday too.
Day was a big-time player five years ago. Honestly, you couldn’t find a fault in his game. But he has been bothered by vertigo, leading to dizzy spells which he claims are worse when under pressure.
It’s a far from ideal situation for a professional golfer but credit to the man, to fight through that and come back and win the Byron Nelson in Texas.
Then there’s Spieth, and Rory will know exactly how he is feeling as he chases a career grand slam. Only five men have done it so the pressure which comes with trying to join the most exclusive of groups must be huge.
Rory goes through it every year at Augusta when he plays in the Masters.
Missing out this year forced him to take some time off, and considerable expense, to reset and regroup.
Thomas knows how to win the PGA Championship of course, having lifted the trophy last year.
But it is a very different champion who has arrived this week. He has spent the last few months trying to work on his game and has been spotted working with Aimpoint as he tried to overhaul his putting.
He is searching for something he feels is missing in his game and it will be fascinating to see if he can pull it all together this week.
One man who doesn’t seem to have any worries at the moment is Masters champion Rahm.
He’s at the top of his game, on top of the world rankings, and in with a great chance of winning again this week.
If he does you can guarantee the talk of whether he can win all four majors this year will begin.
COULD LUKE DONALD BE CAPTAIN AT OAK HILL TOO?
My uncle Bernard is spot-on with his assertion we could be ushering in a return to the era of repeat captains in the Ryder Cup.
Bernard was the last man to do it more than once, leading the European team three times between 1991 and 1995 with Tony Jacklin having the captaincy in the four matches before him.
Since then it has been a different captain for every match but the mass departures of players for LIV Golf has left a void.
Luke Donald is captain now and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he is asked to do it again for the 2025 match at Oak Hill.
I expect Justin Rose will be a strong contender to succeed Luke at some point but he might still fancy qualifying for the team as a player for a good while yet.
We are already building up a bank of experienced players led by Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton, Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm but they will certainly have designs on playing rather than the captaincy for the foreseeable future.
That’s why I wouldn’t be surprised if Luke is asked to stay on.
TIME TO MAKE MOST OF SECOND CHANCE
It has been a whirlwind week since I discovered I was still a DP World Tour player after all.
We asked the question back in November of whether I should retain tour privileges on the alltime money list. I was 41st on the list when a few players had resigned from the tour and was told nothing had changed.
I accepted my fate and went to Tour school and had been making plans for the Challenge Tour.
I spoke to Thomas Bjorn and he felt I had a strong case and was justified in at least querying the original decision.
So you can imagine the range of emotions I felt last Wednesday when I was told there had been an error and I should have retained my card. Stunned, disappointed and elated all come to mind.