PGA Championship 2012: Power Ranking the Top 10
The 94th PGA Championship tees off Thursday morning at what just might be a waterlogged Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C.
This long Pete Dye design is a true links course in the style that the British Open Championship uses, as there are no trees, there are plenty of pot bunkers and the best defense against par will be the wind.
Besides having to be comfortable, keeping the ball low as needed and playing the bump-and-run shots around the greens, this course plays at 7,600 yards at sea level. The winner this week will have to be long and accurate while being nimble enough to have a creative short game.
With thunderstorms in the forecast all week, he will also have to manage his time well, as the chances of there being no stoppage of play are really low.
With this being the last major of the year, there also comes added pressure for players to turn what they would consider okay seasons into great ones. There is a good deal of pressure on Luke Donald and Tiger Woods to break through this week
All of the top 10 in the world according to the Official World Golf Ranking are playing, and here is a look at how their chances stack up at the season’s last major.
(Rankings are current as of Monday, Aug. 6)
10. Webb Simpson
1 of 10A couple of things work against Simpson in his return to big-time golf. He really has not played a big tournament since his win at the U.S. Open, and he really is not all that long off the tee.
The birth of his new child kept him home during both the Open Championship and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. While Simpson is pretty young, the fact that he really is not in tournament shape should go against him.
Simpson also does not have tons of experience on link courses. While it can be said that he certainly would have been a big favorite a few weeks ago at Royal Lytham & St Annes because he has the accuracy to do well on a shorter course, it goes against him here.
Simpson could also feel really fresh at this point, putt lights out and contend, as well.
He is very good at not letting things get to him on the course.
9. Justin Rose
2 of 10Justin has had an up-and-down major season.
While length and style of play certainly will not be problems along with whatever wind develops, he just has zero confidence with his putter.
Rose brought in a putting coach before the Open Championship but still missed the cut in England.
Maybe with a few more weeks of practice under his belt, he can feel more comfortable. The greens will not be brutally fast because they will be wet and will not be cut as short to prevent the wind from blowing balls around.
He has a great game from tee to green, but he has to putt well to contend.
8. Matt Kuchar
3 of 10Kuchar has had such a steady season that he really does go unnoticed by most.
His attitude is a good fit for what looks to be a difficult test of golf for a PGA Championship, and his all-around game is extremely solid.
Kuchar has a big this year with his win at Sawgrass at The Players. He also has two top 10s in majors, at The Masters and the Open Championship.
When it comes to golf, he is similar to Steve Stricker: a jack of all trades but a master of none. If Kuchar can break through, then he needs to turn his rock-solid game into a spectacular one on the greens.
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7. Adam Scott
4 of 10While there have been stories pretty much everywhere on why Adam Scott can bounce back and win here after the events of the last four holes at Royal Lytham, the reality shows that this is just not the case.
Twice during the Open Championship Scott let his thoughts get ahead of him on the course, and twice he failed.
The first time was Thursday when he had a chance to set the modern record for lowest round in a major, and he turned a 62 into a 64. The second was taking the foot off the accelerator on those last four holes and losing the championship.
Does Scott have the game to win?
Of course, as he took Royal Lytham apart for 68 holes, but his mental game has just not developed enough yet to win a big one. He showed us that twice in England.
One does not simply just recover from losing something that is seemingly won to do it again easily. Scott was never a factor last week in Akron, and it would be a surprise if he were one this week.
6. Jason Dufner
5 of 10Overlook Dufner at your own peril.
He has cooled off from his hot Spring, but he finished second in the PGA last year, behind Keegan Bradley.
Despite his high ranking, no one has any real expectations for a guy that has won twice this year on the tour and finds a way to contend for majors.
He is not the hottest player here. He is not the best player here.
He just may be, however, the most consistent player here.
5. Lee Westwood
6 of 10Westwood has become an enigma.
He had a good U.S. Open, but he failed to make the cut at the Open Championship.
On a course that resembles his home courses, he really should do well this week. But he has to putt well, and he has to find fairways—two things he did not do well in the Open Championship.
While the pressure inside him may be building up to a boil to win, the expectations of the outside press are not. He catches a break with all the Tiger talk and all the focus on fellow Englishman Luke Donald.
There is nothing here that he has not seen in the past, and four rounds of 70 or 71 just might win.
4. Luke Donald
7 of 10At some point in the not-so-distant future, Luke Donald will win his first major and show us that he is deserving of his lofty ranking.
He had a top-10 finish at the Open Championship and has had a good year winning on both sides of he Atlantic.
He just needs not to shoot himself out of the championship on Thursday and hope he plays with others that have not won majors on the weekend.
Unless the wind blows something fierce, there will be good scores out there. Donald just needs to be patient and let the opportunities come to him. He grew up on links golf, and he gets a good course away from all the pressure of winning at home.
He just needs not to shoot a 75 on Thursday, unless the wind is brutal.
3. Tiger Woods
8 of 10I have already given you five reasons why Tiger could dominate here; now I am going to tell why he will not.
First off the good things for Tiger: He played very well over the weekend in Akron, and he was able to get his ball flight off the tee almost where he wanted and found the greens.
Tiger, however, struggled with his iron approaches in distance and had a very hard time reading his putts correctly. He also did not show much confidence with his driver and three-wood, despite fixing his tendency to push them right off the tee.
Tiger also has not put together four consecutive good rounds in a major this year. He found himself 13 shots off the pace last week before getting into the top 10 to finish. He also is having a hard time keeping it together between the ears if one part of his game is off.
If the putts do not fall, he starts to miss fairways. If he misses a fairway, then he does not find a green.
If he can control his negative thoughts when things go off-script, then he has a pretty good chance.
So far, he has not been able to do that.
2. Rory McIlroy
9 of 10Somehow, no one is really talking about Rory.
After a rocky start last week which saw him go to three-over on his first nine holes, he finished in the top 10.
McIlroy is long and is developing into a very good putter. He just needs to keep it out of the deep stuff and stay focused on the task at hand.
The course seems to fit him well. He is not afraid of links golf, and he clearly can be aggressive when he needs to be.
He just needs to stay out of his own way and put the ball in play.
1. Bubba Watson
10 of 10Bubba can play “Bubba Golf” here.
We know he is very long. We also know he has just an amazing imagination around the greens. His hands are remarkably still when he needs them to be.
The driver will be the right play often here. Bubba’s length gives him a huge advantage even if he finds the rough because he will be taking either a high iron or a wedge for his approach. He will be able to get spin on some shots because of that, which others will not be able to do.
He enjoyed his time this year in England and has gleaned a bunch from his bad experience at the U.S. Open and his good experience at Royal Lytham. You got the sense that he realized that links golf and his game actually do fit.
That, of course, is no guarantee that he wins, but of the top 10 in the world right now, he just might be the most relaxed.
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