PGA Championship 2013: Players Fit for Major Breakthrough at Oak Hill

The PGA Championship has fostered three first-time major champions in the past four years, with defending winner Rory McIlroy being a grand exception last year in his runaway, eight-stroke victory.

Considering how inconsistent McIlroy has been and that Tiger Woods is struggling to seal the deal at a major despite dominating regular PGA Tour events, the 2013 edition of golf's final major seems universally up for grabs once again.

For one, the field is extremely competitive and ripe with players who possess the requisite skill set and recently solid form to truly threaten for the Wanamaker Trophy and notch a maiden major win in the process.

Below is a closer examination of the top major-less golfers on the planet today, and why they should be considered among the favorites this week in their respective attempts to break through in one of golf's premier events.

Note: Statistics and information are courtesy of PGATour.com. Tournament history was obtained via the Official World Golf Ranking.

Ian Poulter

The eruption Poulter had at Kiawah Island in 2012 in birdieing his first five holes, and six of the first seven, ultimately wasn't nearly enough to catch McIlroy.

It showed again, though, that the Englishman has the game to back up his perpetual banter.

Poulter keyed the European comeback charge at the most recent Ryder Cup thereafter, but that didn't really carry over into this season until the British Open.

At Muirfield, he made another scoring run, making eagle at the par-five ninth hole before rattling off three consecutive birdies at Nos. 10 through 12. It wasn't enough to capture the Claret Jug, but the return to form after a relative slump was much needed.

Goals remain high for Poulter, who jokingly tweeted for Rickie Fowler to get his hand off the FedEx Cup trophy, implying that he wanted it for himself:

Poulter has had a solid, if not spectacular week, at the Bridgestone Invitational, but he should be pushed close to his best golf by playing competitor Phil Mickelson, who loves to get the juices flowing the week before a major.

With the tournament out of reach, anything Poulter can do to fine-tune his game and prepare for Oak Hill should go a long way.

If the venue plays as difficult as it did in 2003—when Shaun Micheel won with a total of four under-par—that suits Poulter even better given his nearly unparalleled ability to grind out scores near level-par.

Jason Dufner

The waggle. The dip lip. The emotionless on-course countenance complemented by hilarity outside the ropes. And Dufnering.

For being such a stoic man in the heat of competition, there are plenty of characteristics that make Dufner both unique and likable. With regard to his playing ability, there are several reasons to like his chances at this year's PGA.

Firstly, he burst onto the scene two years ago in this very major, losing out to future USA Ryder Cup teammate Keegan Bradley by one stroke in a three-hole aggregate playoff. Dufner blew a five-shot lead in the final round.

There is no doubt that he has the game to compete. He proved that last season, and although he's been inconsistent in 2013, flashes of world-class golf have been there.

If not for a triple bogey in the last round of the U.S. Open, Dufner could have really made things interesting yet still had an impressive round of 67 that vaulted him into a tie for fourth.

Dufner closed out the Open Championship in style, too, with a four-under 67 and is in third alone at the Bridgestone Invitational. With a chance to post his best finish of the year ahead of the major he's been closest to winning, it's not hard to count Dufner among the breakthrough candidates.

Especially if he can close out the final 18 holes as he's been doing at the past two majors, the late-blooming American has a great chance at the Wanamaker Trophy.

Henrik Stenson

At some point, all these consistently high finishes have to yield some kind of positive result for the stout Swede.

One of the game's greats in Phil Mickelson essentially denied Stenson a shot at victory in both the Scottish and British Opens, where Stenson finished tied for third and solo second respectively.

Yet again, Stenson finds himself right in the mix entering Sunday of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

The good news is he's playing in the final group with Woods; the bad news is that he's seven strokes off the minus-15 total the world No. 1 has posted through 54 holes.

Apparently Stenson can't catch a break, but with the exception of a third round in Akron in which he hit only nine of 18 greens in regulation, few, if any, players on the planet have been as solid as he has been tee to green over the past month or so.

Oak Hill places a premium on ball-striking with its many trees, setting up challenging tee shots and penal rough and greenside bunkers making scrambling tricky.

Shane Bacon of Yahoo! likes Stenson's chances—albeit with a bit of jinxing apprehension:

Stenson is first in driving accuracy and second in greens in regulation on tour, so look for him to thrive in Rochester.