Ahead of the US PGA at Whistling Straits, Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy look well placed to take advantage of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson’s struggles.
It’s all going Pete Tong for Tiger Woods at the moment. The World number one goes into the last major of the year, the US PGA, in the worst form of his professional career, having reached a nadir of sorts at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational last weekend. He finished tied for 78th in a field of 80 players, after shooting a total of +18 over four days in Ohio.
The man himself admitted that his disastrous performance was due in no small part to the much-publicised events in his private life finally taking their toll and spoke of his surprise at how they didn’t begin to affect his game even sooner.
“To be honest, I thought I would have been here [playing poorly] a little bit sooner with all that is going on,” he said.
“Somehow I’ve been able to play a little bit better than I thought for a stretch and then it finally caught up with me last week.”
In the build up to this tournament, he seems a far more relaxed figure than the brooding character that has moped around golf courses and reacted tetchily to mundane queries at press conference since his return in April. Perhaps he has told himself that last weekend was rock bottom and that things can only get better from here on in.
Even if the Woods renaissance is about to begin, this tournament would seem to be far too soon for a dramatic turnaround, even if, at 16/1, the bookies aren’t ruling him out of the hunt yet.
With Woods struggling, attention naturally drifts towards Phil Mickelson as the most likely winner of the tournament, but the Masters champion isn’t exactly in peak condition himself at the moment.
Mickelson looked for all the world as if was going to take the number one crown from Woods at Firestone last weekend, but when the top spot was within his grasp, Phil stuttered spectacularly to finish tied for 46th place, shooting an even worse score than Woods (an eight over par 78) in the final round.
Mickelson’s struggles have been physical as well as mental, however, with the 40 year-old revealing that he suffers from psoriatic arthritis, an inflammatory joint disease which has left Mickelson unable to walk in the past.
With Woods and Mickelson – winners of 18 majors between them – looking vulnerable, there is no better time for the chasing pack to step up to the plate and of all the pretenders, the bookies have placed Irish duo Rory McIlroy (16/1) and Padraig Harrington (18/1) amongst the favourites.
McIlroy and Harrington are certainly in good shape going into the event at Whistling Straits with both finishing on a total of -5 at Firestone, seven shots adrift of winner Hunter Mahan and one shot behind the leading European, Sweden’s Peter Hanson.
Harrington lost out narrowly to Ross Fisher at the Irish Open and although he is almost assured of a Ryder Cup place whatever the circumstances, he has an automatic selection spot within his sights and would go a long way to securing it with a good showing at the Wisconsin course.
McIlroy’s Ryder cup place is already assured and the Holywood youngster will be looking to build on a good display at Firestone and of course, at the British Open at St Andrews, where a disastrous 80 in Round Two cost him what could have been his maiden major victory. That round is history now, however and Rory will be instead drawing inspiration from the three other excellent rounds at St Andrews ahead of the PGA.
Speaking to JOE ahead of last month’s 3 Irish Open in Killarney, McIlroy said: “I’m really excited (about the US PGA) and I know if I play my best or near my best golf I’ve got a very good chance of winning. I showed that at St Andrews and I just have to keep my work ethic up and practise hard and hopefully I can show the same form at Whistling Straits as I did at the British Open.â€
His good friend Graeme McDowell, will tee it up with fellow major winners Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen on Thursday afternoon but the US Open winner has struggled to recapture the form that saw him become the first European to win that title in 40 years, and even admitted that he had talked to Harrington about how to cope with his own personal form of PMS (Post Major Stress).
History weighs against non-American winners in the US PGA more than any other major. In the 52 years the tournament has existed in stroke play format, Padraig Harrington is the only European winner.
With McDowell and Oosthuizen winning maiden majors and Tiger going into self-destruct mode, however, this has been a year of shocks and don’t rule out another one this weekend.
The US PGA takes place at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin from August 12-15.
