Koepka practiced Tuesday at Baltusrol Golf Club, where the PGA Championship is being played, but he wore a large ankle brace on the driving range, and it remains unclear if he will play in Thursday’s opening round. The rain and chill of Scotland has been replaced by New Jersey’s unrelenting heat and humidity for the year’s final major championship.
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And the trio teeing off ahead of that offers two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, another American in two-time major victor Jordan Spieth and Spain’s Sergio Garcia, trying to win his first major title in his 73rd try and 70th consecutive major start dating to the 1999 British Open.
Rory McIlroy – The former No. 1 has rarely seemed in contention this year but was top 10 at the British Open and the Masters, plus two of the World Golf Championship events. “It could actually be a good thing for some people”. The club pros will join the 136 tour players for the final major of the season, which has the strongest field of the year.
“I finished ninth at the British, so I shaved it”, Johnson said Wednesday, the big smile indicating he went with a clean look for no specific reason. Playing at a tremendously high level on a consistent basis is hard.
The Queenslander took Monday off from practice in an effort to guard against burnout after playing back-to-back at the Open Championship and the Canadian Open, the latter in hot and steamy conditions. In last year’s PGA Championship, Grace finished third and he placed fifth at the U.S. Open this year.
Australian Day, trying to match Woods as the only back-to-back PGA victor since the event adopted stroke-play format in 1958, comes in with only one practice round and fighting illness as well as expectations. “I’m spending the most money in there”. Thirteen years later, Nicklaus beat his own mark by scoring 8-under 272 at Baltusrol. “You’ve got to drive the ball in the fairway, and pretty long, as well”. We both lost a bit of sleep but we’re okay.
Stenson admitted, however, that the schedule has been brutal and will continue to be. Walker, who has one Top Ten finish in five previous PGA Championships, made the turn at Baltusrol Golf Club in 4-under 32 and then birdied the par-4 1st hole to reach 5 under, two shots better than Rickie Fowler, Harris English and Paul Casey.
But Ryder Cup Captain Clarke says it’s only a matter of time before Rory scoops another one, and given his impressive record in the US PGA Championship, Clarke thinks it could be sooner rather than later. I just go out and play golf and try to shoot the best score I can. Just a couple of zzzzz’s next to each other for a week.
“Every year it was a struggle”, Herman said. We were going to have four months of virtually nonstop golf.
Defending champion Jason Day has seen his preparation impacted by the tight schedule. That meant Wednesday was his only look at Baltusrol.
” I’ve got to really try and manage my patience out there, because I have very little patience right now”. “I think I’m the same player”.
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Top Ranked players are taking part in this tournament along with the victor of a year ago PGA Champion. Since then, three more first-time major winners have prevailed: Danny Willett, and Stenson. He has to dominated the field in order to win and to avoid another collapse.
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