McIlroy, victor of four major championships including the 2012 and 2014 PGA Championships, feels more at home at Baltusrol than at Royal Troon, where he tied for fifth, distant 16 strokes behind victor Stenson nine days ago.
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Where else would a guy nicknamed “Beef” begin his first trip to the PGA Championship?
Golfers walk down the 18th fairway during a practice round for the PGA Championship golf tournament at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., Wednesday, July 27, 2016.
After Speith made a record 28 birdies in his ’15 Masters win, he also captured the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. He had paid his dues with a trio of close calls in the majors.
“I’m not going to lie – it would be nice to get at least one”. Woods is no longer his biggest obstacle and slaying Tiger is not his focus.
“So now I’m here, it’s like I want to keep pushing forward, and the first thing, the most important thing is the golf before anything else”.
“I think it’s one of those things where I’ll look back over time and my disappointment will probably increase, because I think it’s the first time in my career that I have played to that level of golf and not had it be enough to win a tournament”, Mickelson said at a practice to prepare for the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club. “Once again the competition has got tougher”. Last week: Jhonattan Vegas won the RBC Canadian Open. It is the last major of the year and perhaps the most exciting too! You’ve got to keep putting yourself in position. “I think everyone expects if you’re in the lead or if you’re a favorite to win, they expect you to win, and if you don’t, then you’re in a slump”. Sergio Garcia of Spain, who completes the threesome, remains one of the top players without a major title to his name. His worst moment was in the 2007 British Open at Carnoustie, when he suggested he was playing “more than the field” because he couldn’t catch a break. He has kicked shoes.
Day remains determined to put up a stout defence of his first major crown in the stifling heat of New Jersey, but he is wary that his patience will be tested to the limit if he gets off to a shaky start on Thursday.
“Every year it was a struggle”, Herman said. It doesn’t matter where it is.
HollywoodLifers, who will you be rooting for during the U.S. PGA?
There clearly has been a change in mentality of how much respect is afforded any golf course. “But this is going to happen once every four years, at the most”. No. I feel like that would be disrespectful toward Tiger.
Dustin Johnson (8-1): They always talk about how much pressure is lifted off a player after he wins a major, and Johnson is a great example. He actually won the PGA title when it was last held in Baltusrol 11 years ago and clearly he carries some real form into this from his runner-up finish at Troon.
“I don’t believe that there is a small window”, he said.
The last top 10 by a club pro was another former player – Sam Snead – in 1973. Garcia won the AT&T Byron Nelson.
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The PGA Championship makes its next somewhat local stop in 2019 when the 101st edition will be played at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York. PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua reiterated his organization’s opposition to the law, but said: “We can’t control the policies, the rules and the regulations around the country and municipalities and states”.
