I actually missed a long write up on the Masters, but hopefully you caught the Side Action Podcast episode on it. This year the PGA has moved the usual 4th major championship up to May. I think that was a great idea, so that way the 4 majors are one a month from April, May, June and July. Here is the event preview.
101st PGA Championship – May 16th-19th – Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, NY (Long Island)
Bethpage Black is such a beautiful golf course and actually part of the NY state park system. The Championship layout is 7465 yards. The last time a major championship was held there was the 2002 US Open – Tiger Woods won it. The course is known for deep rough and challenging bunkers.
Can Tiger Do It Again?
Tiger Woods broke his over decade long drought as he steadily and methodically played smartly around Augusta to win his 5th Masters title and 15th Major. As I mentioned, Tiger has won a Major at Bethpage before. He will be a big public betting favorite for this event. However, it will be take a lot for him to win a 2nd major back to back. The last time he was able to do that was in The Open and PGA back in 2006. The field is much deeper than in the mid-2000s. Plus, no one is going to under-estimate Tiger this time. Clearly, it is going to be great theater with all the Tiger fans ready to cheer his re-emergence. The PGA starts the event off right with Tiger, Francesco Molinari and Brooks Koepka (the Top 3 Masters finishers) as an opening group on Thursday.
The Field
- Brooks Koepka – Koepka is a Major tournament player. He has finished in the Top 15 in 7 of this last 8 Majors he has played in. In 2018, he won the US Open and the PGA, and nearly caught Tiger on Sunday at the Masters for a 2nd place finish. He should be the actual favorite in this tournament – currently ranked 3rd in the world, as well.
- Dustin Johnson – DJ must be annoyed seeing his training partner, Koepka, be so successful at Majors. However, DJ is the #1 player in the world for a reason. His game translates to nearly all courses, however his lack of consistency may scare you off. He had a great Sunday at the Masters to tie with Koepka at 2nd, and finished 10th in the 2018 Masters followed by a 3rd place US Open finish. However, since winning the 2016 US Open, DJ has missed 3 cuts in Majors. I like DJ at Bethpage given the length and his ability to play out of difficult terrain. He has to avoid that one day that knocks him out of contention.
- Rory McIlroy – Rory was favored at The Masters, but the tough start cost him for a 21st place finish. Like DJ, he has missed a lot of cuts – 4 times since 2016. Still, Rory’s new mental approach to the game may finally pay off at Bethpage.
- Francesco Molinari – Man, he had it at the Masters, but 2 balls in the water on the back nine cost him the Green Jacket. Molinari has been on a roll with 3 Top 6 finishes in a row at Majors. That is why I like his chances at the PGA.
- Rickie Fowler – Another favorite at the Masters who did what he always does – close late. Rickie needs to avoid that one bad day, which takes him out of the winner’s circle. I hope it is at Bethpage. Since the start of 2017, he has finished no worse than 28th with 3 Top 5 finishes. Arguably, Rickie is the best player not to win a Major to date.
- Jon Rahm – The young Spaniard is my kind of golfer, extremely talented, but very volatile. Here are his last 5 Majors’ results – 4th, Cut, Cut, 4th and 9th. That is incredible. He actually was not really close to the Green Jacket in April, but as you can see he wasn’t far off. I like his game for Bethpage a lot, and I think he will be in the Top 5 this time.
I would take all of these players ahead of Tiger this week.
Time to tee it high and let it fly.
Wegs