The 91st PGA Championship starts tomorrow at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, and several Nike Golf athletes are poised to make a run at the title. The last time the PGA was held at Hazeltine was in 2002, when Rich Beem held off a charging Tiger Woods on Sunday to claim his first major victory. This time around there are many new faces as well as seasoned veterans in the field, all of whom are hoping to raise the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday evening.
Nike Golf is well represented in field at the PGA this week — here’s the complete list of Nike Golf athletes in the field:
PGA Championship
Stephen Ames
Paul Casey
KJ Choi
Stewart Cink
Lucas Glover
Trevor Immelman WD
Anthony Kim
Justin Leonard
Francesco Molinari
Carl Pettersson
Charl Schwatrzel
Chris Starkjohann (Club Pro)
Bob Tway
Bo Van Pelt
Tiger Woods
From this list we propose the following five Nike Golf athletes as having a shot at winning the championship on Sunday.
Lucas Glover
The reigning U.S. Open Champion has had time to rest after his victory at Bethpage Black and whirlwind tour afterwards. A T-19 finish at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational last weekend shows that Lucas hasn’t lost his major championship form. We’ll see if he can challenge for the title on Sunday.
Anthony Kim
We’ve been waiting for AK to break through at a major championship this year, and he almost did so at the Canadian Open in July with a T3 finish there. A T36 finish at the Bridgestone last week left something to be desired, but we still feel he can make run at a major title this year, and this could be the week.
Stewart Cink
The Champion Golfer of the Year is currently playing some of the best golf of his career. Stewart claimed the claret jug after quietly hanging around the top of the leaderboard for four days at Turnberry, then returned to the tour at the Bridgestone Invitational and again quietly posted a T6 finish there. He is poised for another high finish at the last major of 2009.
Justin Leonard
The PGA Championship places a premium on driving accuracy, and that is a category in which Justin holds his own (he’s currently ranked 30th on the PGA Tour). He’s my dark horse pick because of the length of the course this year (7,674 yds) and the fact that he’s 121st in driving distance (but still drives it 285). Justin has played consistently in his last several events with a T34 at the Travelers, a T8 at The Open, a T14 at the Buick and a T44 at the Bridgestone. We look for a high finish from Justin this week at Hazeltine.
Tiger Woods
And once again, there’s Tiger. We don’t need to say a lot here — he’s won in his last two starts at The Buick Open and The Bridgstone Invitational, and with the way he’s swinging the club right now, the focus and intensity back in his eyes and the smile returning to his face at times, Tiger is looking like a good pick to win his third event in a row and first major title of the year this week.
There are four tough days of golf to be played at Hazeltine this weekend. We’ll just have to wait and see if there’s a Nike Golf athlete left standing holding the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday evening.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
If Tiger doesn’t win then I think Stricker and Cink are front runners. They hit it long and straight and I think they have a good chance.
It would be great if Paul Casey was feeling healthy, but I envision a WD.
This being the longest major ever, I think it will take a patient golfer also, if not Tiger…so I hope the young guns like McIlroy and Kim can keep their cool.
I tend to stray from the focus of Nike golfers, but that’s why this blog is yours!
Good preview, Bob.
Good points, it may end up being a non-Nike staffer who ends up winning. These are my five picks from the Nike athletes in the field. My dark horse is Justin Leonard because of the length of the course and he’s a relatively short hitter on tour. But I have a feeling about him this week…
I think I have that feeling about Mahan.
Your Mahan pick looking good, -3 after first round.
I’m sad to say…I called a Casey WD.
Yep, good call — looks like he was trying to make it happen but it was a game-time decision.