Glory's Last Shot or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the PGA

The last major championship of the year, the self-proclaimed ‘Glory’s Last Shot’, the PGA Championship begins today. In a way, the PGA Championship is the red-headed step child of the majors. It doesn’t have the historical significance of a British Open, the national status of a US Open, or the prestige of the Masters. Simply put, it’s the least important major. But, it’s still a major, it’s still a tournament the players want to win, and it still has a very good field. So how to pick a winner?



Don't be fooled by the flags, Americans
almost always win the tourney


To begin, the PGA’s field is different than the other majors. The other three fields feature a host of amateur players taking up spots from potential winners (I have nothing against amateurs in majors, but they don’t really have a chance of winning, and they do keep a professional out of the tournament), while the PGA has twenty odd club pros, who have absolutely no chance of winning. We can shrink the field down quite a bit when looking for potential winners, but there are still a lot of golfers with a chance at the Wannamaker Trophy.

What also makes it more difficult is the PGA’s tendency to crown more ‘one and done’ major winners than the other three. In the past quarter century we’ve seen such household names as Jeff Sluman, Shaun Micheel, YE Yang, Rich Beem, Wayne Grady, Mark Brooks and Bob Tway win this tournament. Hardly world beaters, these are players who never really amounted to much other than that one hot week. So when we look at the field this weekend, these ‘no-name’ players have to be considered, even though their biggest ‘win’ might be a T22 in the Lumber 84 Classic.

The US Open: Glory's Third Last Shot

The season's second major begins today outside Washington, D.C., where players will tee it up at Congressional Country Club, each trying to win the 111th US Open. The biggest story of course, isn't who's going to win, but who isn't going to win; Tiger Woods. Tiger has pulled up lame and will not be competing this year. The way he's played the past year, it's doubtful he really would have been a factor, but with him not even playing, it is truly wide open as to who's going to win. Perhaps the most wide open field since the late 90's.

The thing about the US Open, it's cachet if you will, is the difficult course set up, which normally sees a winning score a little closer to par than at other tournaments. The rough is thick, fairways tight and greens fast. For some, this means that it takes driving accuracy to win a US Open, while other claim it comes down to putting. But really, like almost every tournament, it comes down to a combination of everything. The person who puts it all together for 72 holes will come out on top. And that leads to the biggest question; who's going to win this year?

Let's take a look at the favorites:

My Personal Struggle with Mr. Tiger Woods

A little history about myself

I’m a golfer. I’ve played golf competitively since I was 12. I am currently a four handicap, up from a scratch when I was fresh out of high school. Those were the days when I could play 36 holes without wincing, without flinching, and be ready to go again the next day.

These were also the days where I watched my favourite golfer in the world change the game forever. I am of course talking about Eldrick Tiger Woods.

I imitated his every move, and did my best to emulate his every swing when given the chance – this was much harder than ever thought. I’ve worn a hat with the Tiger insignia on it as long as I can remember. I marvel at what he can do, as I’m sure many others do.