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Bunker where Johnson grounded club covered for PGA

McIlroy won last year’s PGA Championship by one shot after a final-round shootout that finished in near darkness at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.

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He’s since withdrawn from numerous tournaments, causing speculation to grow that the no. 1 golfer in the world will miss the final major of the 2015 season, the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a tournament where he is the defending champion. His message was unmistakable: I’m coming back.

Fatherhood and engagement to Paulina Gretzky might have brought happiness, but Johnson’s game remains a contrast of brilliant ball-striking and erratic putting.

When, where: Thursday-Sunday, Whistling Straits (7,501 yards, par 72), Sheboygan, Wis.

McIlroy retweeted a Tweet by the PGA with that news, lending further credence to the likelihood the defending champion will return to action next week. Kaymer and Watson were tied playing the 18th in the three-hole playoff when Watson hit his approach into the water and made double bogey.

“Probably a good deflection”, said Faldo, who will call the PGA Championship for CBS Sports. “We’ll see how much scar tissue he has from the U.S. Open and the Open Championship”. He still hasn’t said officially that he will play, perhaps waiting to test his ankle over the weekend.

DON’T FORGET ZACH: Three times in the last nine years, a player won the final two majors of the year. However, you didn’t hear that phrase last year and it won’t be a part of the broadcast promotions this year.

Majors: US Open (2011), British Open (2014), PGA Championship (2012, 2014).

The 22-year-old American also has in his sights the four lucrative FedExCup playoff events that wrap up the PGA Tour, more than enough for him to focus on before he finishes what has been an extraordinary 2014-15 campaign of masterful golf. Other than the name of the injury, Rory did not provide a timetable or many details on his condition.

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Dustin Johnson sets up on the 11th green during the first round of… He posted a video depicting his departure from Faro, Portugal, where he has been rehabbing from the ruptured ligament he suffered in his left ankle just before the British Open.

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