bookmakers have him as low as 6/1 to
win the event, there seems little chance
that McIlroy will win it. This will end, what
has been a disappointing year in the
major tournaments for the 26 year old. If
that was not enough to sway you away
from backing McIlroy to win, the fact that
during the stroke-play era, only one player
has retained the PGA Championship
title, should be all you need. Over the
last 46 years of the tournament being
played, only Woods has won the PGA
Championship back-to-back, doing so
in 2006 & 2007. Unfortunately, due to
his poor form, it’s unlikely Woods will be
featuring at the top of the leader-board
in 2015. The four time winner suffered
at The Open and confidence seems to
be at a low. An early bogey seems to be
all it takes to ensure a bad round for the
American.
With both McIlroy and Woods seemingly
out of the equation, who are the players
that have a good chance of winning the
2015 PGA Championship?
Despite failing in his attempt to win the
first three majors of the year, Jordan
Spieth could easily have won The Open
Championship, to add to his victories at
The Masters and US Open. With two
major tournaments already in the bag
and a T4 at The Open, Spieth has to be
regarded as the favourite for the PGA
Championship and rightly so. Having
done so well on the Old Course and
at Chambers Bay, there is nothing at
Whistling Straits for Spieth to fear and
the American still has the opportunity
to become only the third player to win 3
majors in a single season.
Dustin Johnson was also in contention
at The Open, before falling away in the
difficult conditions. Perhaps it was a
sign that Johnson cannot cope under
pressure, when the weather is playing
tough but a T6 finish at The Masters and
T2 at the US Open, shows he has been
in good form this year. Furthermore,
Johnson has three top 10 finishes at the
PGA Championship in five attempts and
it can’t be long before he converts his
excellent driving and putting averages, in
to a major title.
It’s always dangerous to over-look the
Australian duo of Jason Day and Adam
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Scott, especially when a major tournament
comes around. Day just missed out
on a play-off spot at the recent Open
Championship and showed fantastic
consistency, scoring just three bogeys in
his four rounds, he then went on to win
the RBC Canadian Open just one week
after the heartbreak at the Old Course.
Scott has not enjoyed the best season of
his career in 2015 but has finished in the
top 15 at the PGA Championship, in each
of his last four attempts. If Scott can just
make an improvement in his putting, his
name will be seen on the leader-board
once more.
Bubba Watson struggled at The Open
and missed the cut after a second round
of 76. However, this is not reflective
of his season as a whole, where the
American has been playing well. A win
at the Travelers Championship, plus a T2
and third at the Phoenix Open & WGCCadillac Championship respectively,
shows Watson has what it takes to
contend at the 2015 PGA Championship.
Despite Watson’s majors performance not
being up to scratch this year, he did come
second the last time this tournament was
played at Whistling Straits and the world
number three will take encouragement
from that.
Looking at potential outsiders and Zach
Johnson will be starting the tournament
with great confidence, following his
Open Championship victory. Can he
follow in the footsteps of Rory McIlroy,
who claimed both The Open and PGA
Championship in the same year? With
the possible absence of McIlroy, Justin
Rose is probably Europe’s leading
contender at the PGA Championship
this year. Although the Englishman
has been inconsistent at previous PGA
Championships, a T2 at The Masters and
T6 at The Open in 2015, highlight how
good he can be when it comes to the
major events.
However, despite there being some great
names in contention for the 2015 PGA
Championship, it’s Jordan Spieth who has
to start as favourite. If Spieth brings his
‘A’ game to Whistling Straits, the rest of
the field will have a hard time keeping in
touch, as the 22 year old aims for his third
major golf title of the year.