In the 32 days between Rory McIlroy holding off Scottie Scheffler to win another Masters and the start of the PGA Championship, golf no longer seems to be a two-man show.
Scheffler and McIlroy are still Nos. 1 and 2 in the world, no debate. They remain the betting favorites at every tournament they play, particularly the majors.
But they have more company now.
Cameron Young earned his signature win at The Players Championship, played in final group at the Masters and played three rounds with Scheffler in a signature event at Doral, beating him by six shots. Matt Fitzpatrick beat Scheffler in another signature event, the RBC Heritage, and then teamed with brother Alex to win in New Orleans. Fitzpatrick has three wins since March.
Chris Gotterup has won three times since the last PGA Championship.
They all are part of the strongest field in golf — everyone from the top 100 in the world — who gather at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia for the 108th edition of the PGA Championship that starts May 14.
Young was at No. 62 in the world going into the PGA Championship last year, a talented American known as the ultimate bridesmaid — six runner-up finishes without having won, nearly all of them because someone simply played better.
And then he won big last August for his first title. He was the best player for the Americans at the Ryder Cup in September. He won The Players, contended at the Masters, won again at Doral. And it didn’t feel like he was doing anything extraordinary, even if his name at No. 3 in the world ranking might suggest otherwise.
“I always thought I might be more comfortable having myself up there in the world rankings,” Young said. “I thought it might mean something in terms of how I thought I was going to play or my level of belief. But I feel like those things, I’ve built before I’ve gotten to this place.
“And I have a really good understanding that world No. 3 ranking can come and go and it doesn’t really guarantee me anything going forward.”
This comes from the no-nonsense New Yorker who once said in a PGA Tour commercial, “This is a hard game. And there’s a lot of people who are really good at it. My goal is to be in contention as much as possible.”
Scheffler is just as daunting even with only one win at the start of the year. He is coming off three consecutive runner-up finishes, by one shot at the Masters after trailing by 14 going into the weekend. As for McIlroy? That second green jacket brought more bounce in his step. He no longer wonders what will go wrong in the majors, only what can go right.
“I’m excited for the road ahead,” McIlroy said. “I’m excited for Aronimink, Shinnecock (U.S. Open), Birkdale (British Open). I feel like if anything, I’m more motivated after what happened at Augusta this year than I’ve ever been.”
PGA Championship’s identity is variety
While the PGA Championship leans on having the strongest field, there remains the question of how it identifies itself apart from the other three majors.
Players know to expect at Augusta National, and depending on the weather, the test they get each year on links golf at the British Open. The U.S. Open has a reputation (most of the time) for narrow fairways, thick rough and hard greens composing the toughest test in golf.
Only at the PGA Championship — held on 75 golf courses over 108 years — is there something new. Perhaps the identity is it has none. Birdies galore at Bellerive. Single digits under par at Southern Hills and Oak Hill.
“That variety of traditional courses, new courses, middle-aged courses, it’s unique and different,” said Kerry Haigh, the PGA’s championships director in charge of presenting the test. “That’s what our identity is. Every year is a different challenge, different venue, different corner of the country.”
Two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas, the son of a longtime professional, appreciates what the PGA Championship is and the variety it offers. He marvels at what Haigh faces.
“He’ll have some years of Oak Hill where 6 under might win or Valhalla where 20 under might win,” Thomas said. “His goal is to create the best test. It’s more of what golf should be. It shouldn’t be, ‘How do we get this as close to par as possible? How do we get the setup right because we didn’t like the scores the day before?’
“It’s very much giving us what the course offers,” he said. “Aronimink should be good.”
Aronimink finally gets another PGA Championship
Aronimink is not entirely new.
Twenty-nine players in the PGA field were at Aronimink in 2018 for the BMW Championship, where Keegan Bradley beat Justin Rose in a playoff. The Donald Ross design went through a restoration by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, which included restoring 75 bunkers that bring the total to somewhere around 180, 20 of them on the 11th hole.
This is the second time for Aronimink to host the PGA Championship. Gary Player won his first Wanamaker Trophy there in 1962.
The club was supposed to host the PGA in 1993, but it was caught up in the Shoal Creek controversy of 1990. The PGA of America began mandating clubs have a diverse membership. Aronimink did not have Black members, and because it had a seven-year waiting list for any new member, it said it could not comply in time for the championship.
Aronimink wound up waiting 33 more years for another one.
Jordan Spieth and the Grand Slam
Jordan Spieth hopes he doesn’t have to wait long for the final leg of the career Grand Slam. This is his 10th attempt at joining golf’s most exclusive club. The latest member was McIlroy last year at the Masters. Odds on the next member favor Scheffler next month at the U.S. Open.
“You ought to think a U.S. Open fits his game really well. I think he’s going to get there really soon,” Spieth said before adding with a smile, “It would be fun to get there first.”
“Because he needles, and it would be fun to get the needle back,” Spieth said. “When we play our games (in Dallas), I used to have needles back. I don’t have them anymore.”
Not many do. Scheffler is coming up on three straight years at No. 1 — only Tiger Woods has been atop the world ranking longer — and it hasn’t been particularly close. Neither have his four majors, winning all of them — two Masters, a PGA and a British Open — by three shots or more.
Scheffler will try to join Woods and Brooks Koepka as the only back-to-back winners of the PGA Championship in stroke play. The way this year has gone, there figures to be more cars on the road to get there.
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