Zach Johnson acknowledges that long, hard Whistling Straits is not his favourite PGA Championship venue, but do not rule him out this week. Eight players in the field have made at least 20 starts in the PGA: Davis Love III (29th appearance this week), Mark Brooks (27), Vijay Singh (24), John Daly (23), Phil Mickelson (23), Ernie Els (23), Jim Furyk (21) and Colin Montgomerie (21). “Eventually the guys are going to chase them out of the game, like we did to Arnie and Jack”.
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Ultimately, there’s always a player or two who pops up and surprises you. I can tell them what I’d like them to do.
Fowler, 26, said his wins in May (The Players) and July (Scottish Open) have eased the major pressure slightly.
His runner-up finish was the impetus for him to win the Masters in 2012 and again in 2014.
Besides, he said his short game has remained sharp because he has been working on it all along.
“I’m just trying to get better”.
Woods knows that he has to have very high finishes in a hurry just to qualify for The Barclays and the rest of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, but he said, “I’m not looking at it like that at all, actually”. It didn’t cross his mind when he played the 18th hole the following year, perhaps because Firestone is a course he plays every year and because Furyk is used to getting over failure.
“I don’t look at it that way”, Woods said. He finally showed signs of recovery with three rounds in the 60s at the Quicken Loans National two weeks ago. It wasn’t like I was trying to get back for this.
“But just like at the [British] Open Championship, when I get there, it’s just going to be about that tournament, and that’s all that will be on my mind… not thinking about three in a row [or] grand slam”. The American missed a golden opportunity at pocketing his first major here in 2010 when he missed a playoff with Bubba Watson and Martin Kaymer, after grounding his club in a bunker.
Rory McIlroy completed his third day of practice on the Whistling Straits course which hosts the US PGA Championship and declared himself ready, willing and able to go into battle on Thursday.
Madison’s Steve Stricker said that’s not atypical of Mickelson’s career, though he admitted age may be becoming a factor. “Phil’s 44 or 45, somewhere in there, and it’s tough to maintain that level of play for a long period of time”. Brendan Grace did it at the season’s second major – you’ll have to find out who it could be at the final one.
“And then, obviously, this is going to be tough”.
Tiger Woods doesn’t sound like someone in survival mode. “Bottom line is, mentally I know I can play here”.
“Knowing there’s a little bit of confidence is great, but the execution now comes on my shoulders and hopefully it happens this week”.
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“I don’t remember a lot about 2004 and 2010 – I think I’m right in saying there wasn’t a lot to remember”, he said.
