GolfDiggs

PGA Championship – Who Ya Got?

Posted on 12. Aug, 2009 by H. Freeman in Leaderboard

Last but not least, the PGA Championship is upon us. It’s the final major of the year, and for a certain someone (Tiger), it’s the last chance this year to chase down Jack Nicklaus’ record of eighteen major championship victories. Not only is Woods gunning for his fifteenth major, but he’s going for his fifth PGA Championship and sixth PGA Tour victory this season. Not bad.

As you’ve probably noticed from previous posts, I can talk about Tiger all day long. He is without question the one and only favorite to win this tournament, even though his record in majors this year is shaky to say the least. He’s coming off two PGA Tour wins in a row, though, and has the motivation from missing the cut a few weeks ago in the British Open, as if he needs any thing else to be fired up about. Anyway, having said how much of a favorite he is this week, here are a few others that I feel have a great shot at challenging the great one come Sunday evening.

Stewart Cink: Winning your first major championship can be like a huge sugar high for many players. It’s great while it lasts, but at some point you come crashing down. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Cink, though. He took some time off to celebrate his British Open win, and came back last week with an impressive performance at Firestone. He seems very comfortable being a major champion, and I’m sure he is thinking in the back of his head about winning two in a row. I don’t see why that can’t happen.

Phil Mickelson: Obviously if the second best player in the world is playing, he’s got to be in the discussion of players able to contend. As mentioned a lot in the media lately, Phil has had a rough summer off of the golf course. However, those kinds of things can actually be good for a player’s game, as strange as it may seem. Phil is feeling fresh, prepared, and ready to play this week. Lefty might just get major number four at this year’s PGA Championship.

Geoff Ogilvy: While he hasn’t had the most spectacular summer, Ogilvy always shows up in big tournaments. The bigger the stage, the better he seems to play. Even being a top 10 player in the world, not many people are picking him this week, and I’m not sure why. He is very long and very straight (that’s what she said), and has the touch around the greens to compete with anyone, even Mr. Woods. Don’t be surprised to see Geoff on the leader board come Sunday afternoon.

Hunter Mahan: Just because I showed you the video of Hunter a couple days ago, he will either play very well and have a chance on Sunday, or shoot a pair of 77s and miss the cut. He has been so steady all year long, though, so I will be very surprised if he’s not in the thick of things come tournament’s end. He hasn’t won this year, but has been close in enough tournaments to convince me that he could pull off what would seem to many a shocker this week. Won’t shock me, though. I’ll just say I told you so!

Dustin Johnson: Finally, this is my homer pick of the week. Dustin had a great start to the year with a win at Pebble Beach, but has cooled off a little as of late. He’s taken quite a bit of time off in the last couple of months in preparation for the final stretch of the season. He is one of the two or three longest hitters on Tour, and if he can get he putter warmed up, he definitely has what it takes on the inside to win this tournament. Bombers tend to be a little inconsistent, making them hard to count on as a pick, but DJ has the game to win this week, so let’s hope he proves me right.

Your turn! Who do you think will win this week? You know what to do.

If you don’t, write it in a comment below. That is all.