Thursday will see the start of the eagerly awaited US PGA Championship played at TPC Harding Park.
At long last, golf will finally see a major championship played in 2020. The PGA Championship is usually played in May but has been rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
When Shane Lowry clinched the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush last summer that was the last major played.
The PGA Championship is one of three major championships on the 2020 schedule due to current restrictions.
Can Koepka continue his winning run?
Defending champion Brooks Koepka is trying for his third consecutive PGA Championship win. In 2018 at Bellerive he won by two shots over Tiger Woods. Last year he hung on to defeat Dustin Johnson at Bethpage Black.
The four-time major winner was a top four in all four major championships last year. He was in a tie for second at the Masters, second in the US Open and fourth at The Open.
However, this season very little has gone right for Koepka. Apart from last weekend when he was in the running before losing out to eventual winner Justin Thomas.
Koepka missed six weeks of last season when he had surgery on a left knee. He returned back to playing but then aggravated the injury in South Korea. Understandably he made the sensible decision to take the rest of the year off.
The American is still having trouble with the knee and so far, has posted just one top 10 finish this year.
Only six players in major championship history have won a major three consecutive times. The last to do so was the great Walter Hagen between the years of 1924-7.
All star field at Harding Park
Among a top class field of 92 of the top 100 players playing will be Jordan Spieth. The American will once again be trying for the career grand slam. Tiger Woods will also be taking part along with last weekends winner of the St.Jude event Justin Thomas.
What is it about Americans and the PGA Championship
This tournament has been dominated in the past by the Americans with the last non-American winner Jason Day.
Four-time PGA Championship winner Adam Scott will also be in the field but hasn’t played since February.
One name to watch out for is Bryson DeChambeau who has been on fire since the restart in June. He was contending in his first four events and won the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Strong representation from Europe bid for glory
The Spaniard Jon Rahm must be taken into consideration. The current World No.1 recently won the Memorial Tournament in the USA. Others to be considered are current world number four Webb Simpson, Colin Morikawa and Tony Finau.
For Europe, Rory McIlroy has been off form since the return. Consistency is the Irishman’s problem and he must produce four consistent rounds of golf to be up challenging.
It will certainly be different having no fans watching this great event. The PGA Championship was the first event to decide to play behind closed doors. But having no fans has worked at PGA Tour events to date and this will be no different.
