PGA Championship Favorites 2012: Players Guaranteed to Stay in the Hunt

In anticipation of each major of 2012, we've insisted that each one is the one in which Tiger Woods will redeem himself.

Now, there's just one major left and one last chance for Tiger to prove himself. There's one more opportunity for him to achieve the one milestone that has eluded him all year.

Tiger and the rest of the Tour's best will hit South Carolina's Kiawah Island at the end of this week to try to snag a win in the last remaining major on the 2012 calendar. And as has been the case with each major in 2012 thus far, you might as well expect that a contender who boasts zero career major wins is going to be the one atop the leaderboard by the end of the day on Sunday.

Thus far, we've seen Bubba Watson win the Masters, Webb Simpson win the U.S. Open and Ernie Els win the British Open. Who will be the one to take the PGA Championship crown? Here are a few contenders who will certainly vie for the title this weekend.

Adam Scott

Scott was a popular pick to become the latest first-time major winner to take home the Claret Jug last month. Being winless in majors alone makes anyone a potential favorite this year—but on top of it, Scott has been playing well in 2012, and he didn't disappoint at Royal Lytham last month, which bodes well for his chances at the PGA Championship.

Or perhaps "disappointing" is the perfect word to describe Scott's final round at the British Open. A second-place finish was nice, especially considering his odds coming into the tournament. But considering what he was so close to achieving, second place rings hollow. The win was in his hands with four holes remaining, but he bogeyed all four of them to essentially hand the victory over to Ernie Els.

But Scott is using that collapse as a learning experience that will hopefully lead to something bigger and better at the PGA Championship. After the British Open, he told The Boston Globe's Michael Whitmer:

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"I certainly analyzed the last few holes a little bit and took out of it what I wanted, and then just thought about how great I played. I felt like it was my week, and I played like a champion, but I just didn’t … I played four poor holes at the end."

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All in all, it's been a decent year for Scott. He's finished in the top three in two of his last three outings, and though he hasn't had a win yet in 2012, he's been playing well enough to finally seize one this weekend—as long as he can hold on through those final four holes.

Matt Kuchar

If you're looking for a potential first-time major winner who's been playing great in 2012, Kuchar is your guy. He only has one win in 2012, but it was in The Players Championship, and in three of his last four tournaments he's finished in the top 10.

Kuchar hung in there during the British Open, shooting a 69 and a 67 in the first two rounds, respectively, but he fell apart in the latter two days of the tournament, shooting 72s in each of the final two rounds to slide into a tie for ninth.

Like so many of his Tour contemporaries, the name of the game for Kuchar is going to be staying focused and consistent throughout the entirety of the weekend—not just until he makes the first cut. At the U.S. Open, he was solid in the first and third rounds but shot a 74 on Sunday, and if that happens again at Kiawah Island, he's going to play himself right out of contention.

If Kuchar can display the same consistency he showed back in May at The Players Championship, he is a definite contender.

Tiger Woods

It's a tired storyline by now. For months, we've all been insisting that Tiger has been in the midst of a comeback, and here we are in August and he still hasn't snagged a major win.

But Tiger does have three wins this year—at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Memorial and the AT&T National—and he has looked progressively better and better with each major he's played in this year.

Back in April, he got off to a very rough start at the Masters and ended up in a tie for 40th, but at the U.S. Open, he was a little bit better. He played well in the first two rounds, but still couldn't hang on and finished tied for 21st.

A quasi-breakthrough came last month at Royal Lytham. Once again, he played his best golf in the first two rounds, but he didn't fall apart over the last two. Granted, his final-round 73 was his worst outing of the weekend, but he still finished in a tie for third. He's getting closer and closer, so it's not out of the question to believe that the PGA Championship is where it all comes together for him.

Last week, at the Bridgestone Invitational, Tiger played his best golf on Sunday, shooting a closing-round 66 to land in a tie for eighth. He has four career wins at the PGA Championship, and aside from the Masters, this is the major that brings out the best in him. His game is slowly coming together, and this could very well be the weekend he comes full circle.