Will Tiger Woods win again at the PGA Championship?

By Ram Menon

Over the next four days, Bethpage Black will host the 2019 PGA Championship. Earlier this famous public course in New York has hosted two US Opens, one in 2002 and the other in 2009, making the PGA the third major to be held there.

Playing the 101st edition of this famous and illustrious tournament one can expect the leader board to be packed on Sunday. Tiger Woods had won here 17 years back, certainly a very long time ago. To put things in perspective, in 2002 Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas (who has incidentally withdrawn due to injury) were nine years old and Bruce Koepka was 12 years of age.

So what are we expecting to happen at this PGA Championship? Who is expected to win? Tiger Woods appears to be the betting favourite at 8-1 odds followed by Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka at 10-1.

However as per Sports Lines advanced prediction model which has more or less correctly predicted major events held recently despite simulating 10,000 times it seems Tiger is not even seen in the top five.

As per the model Xander Schauffele has the best chances despite the odds against him at 25-1. I for one am not surprised at all considering his performance at the Masters and his victories at the Sentry Tournament of Champions where he won against a field consisting of DJ, Rory Mcllroy and Justin Thomas as well as the WGC HSBC Championship in a field that had Tony Finau and Justin Rose and many other good players.

One can expect on the final day all the big guns to be there – Koepka, Johnson, Jon Rahm, Tony Finau and Francesco Molinari.

The course

Bethpage Black is a notoriously tough golf course. Designed by A.W. Tillinghast who also created the Baltusrol Golf Course and Winged Foot, both venues for major championships, the Black course at Bethpage State Park is the most difficult among five courses with Red, Blue, Green and Yellow in decreasing order of difficulty.

The greatness about Bethpage is that it is a public course unlike snooty Augusta and one can actually play here where a few days back a major has been held. So great is the popularity of this public course that people are willing to reach by Friday evening as the first six tee times at Bethpage are reserved for those who are willing to sleep the previous night in their cars. One tee time per hour is reserved for those who slept in the parking lot.

So what makes it difficult for this year’s PGA Championship. For starters this is the first time in 70-odd years that the Championship is being held in May instead of August. As per key officials at the USPGA, Bethpage will play even tougher as the grass is expected to be healthier in spring than in summer when it is generally withered.

The wind is expected to be a factor though players are certainly going to enjoy the weather in May at Bethpage thanks to the change in event dates.

Premium on accuracy

The course has very narrow fairways averaging about 25 yards so one has to be long and accurate. Poa grass is predominant as it weathers better than Bent grass. There is fescue, broomsedge and bluestem grasses which will punish the players if they miss the fairways. The bunkers are huge and steep which is a signature of Tilllinghast courses.

We could do a hole by hole analysis of this course but suffice to say that with the narrow fairways, small greens, deep bunkers and deep rough one can assume that it is a going to be a test of long, straight drives off the tee and then accurate irons to the greens.

The 10th, 15th and 18th holes are absolute beasts. The number of bunkers on the 18th must be giving nightmares to some of the players.

As Jim Furyk said , its long , its very difficult and rarely is the fairway straight in front of you, as you are hitting across the fairway a lot.

Chances for Tiger

Tiger took a long lay-off after his win at the Masters in April. Whether or not this is going to work against him remains to be seen.

However he comes in with renewed confidence in his ability, his body and mind seemed to be rested apart from boasting stats like the best greens in regulation on tour. But one should remember that for all his feats,Woods has never won the Masters and PGA Championship in the same year.

My money is on either Brooks Koepka or Xander Schauffele. But who knows – Tiger may win again simply because he is Tiger Woods.

(About the author: Ram Menon is a retired Lt Colonel from the Indian Army. An avid golfer he writes on various subjects. His book of poetry The Monks of Dagana and a Few Other Poems is available on Kindle in India and as a paperback in USA and Europe through Amazon.com. He works as the Regional Business Manager, North India for a MNC).

Tee-times and groups, rounds 1 and 2

1st Round

6:45 am: Rob Labritz, Beau Hossler, J.J. Spaun
6:45 am*: Ben Cook, Scott Piercy, Brian Gay
6:56 am: Sam Burns, Jeffrey Schmid, Keith Mitchell
6:56 am*: Thomas Pieters, Patton Kizzire, Adam Hadwin
7:07 am: Byeong Hun An, Jason Caron, Andrew Putnam
7:07 am*: Brandt Snedeker, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Max Homa
7:18 am: John O’Leary, Harold Varner III, Kyle Stanley
7:18 am*: Henrik Stenson, David Lipsky, Richard Sterne
7:29 am: Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Justin Harding, Richy Werenski
7:29 am*: Shane Lowry, Erik Van Rooyen, Tommy Fleetwood
7:40 am: Vijay Singh, Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker
7:40 am*: Sergio Garcia, Kelly Kraft, Adam Scott
7:51 am: Graeme McDowell, Chez Reavie, Brendan Jones
7:51 am*: Charley Hoffman, Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick Reed
8:02 am: Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Knox, Haotong Li
8:02 am*: Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Justin Rose
8:13 am: Lee Westwood, Shaun Norris, Charles Howell III
8:13 am*: Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Alex Noren
8:24 am: J.B. Holmes, Lucas Bjerregaard, Troy Merritt
8:24 am*: Brooks Koepka, Francesco Molinari, Tiger Woods
8:35 am: Joost Luiten, Brian Mackey, Matt Wallace
8:35 am*: Aaron Wise, Ryan Fox, Shugo Imahira
8:46 am: Casey Russell, Luke List, Abraham Ancer
8:46 am*: Julian Suri, Marty Jertson, Martin Trainer
8:57 am — Craig Bowden, Adam Long, Joaquin Niemann
8:57 am*: Lucas Herbert, Cory Schneider, Sungjae Im
12:10 pm: Michael Thompson, Danny Lee, Justin Bertsch
12:10 pm*: Ryan Vermeer, Adrian Otaegui, Jason Kokrak
12:21 pm: Cameron Champ, Rich Berberian, Jr., Lucas Glover
12:21 pm*: Alex Björk, Rod Perry, Ross Fisher
12:32 pm: Emiliano Grillo, Daniel Berger, Paul Casey
12:32 pm*: Eddie Pepperell, Branden Grace, Ryan Palmer
12:43 pm: Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Ian Poulter
12:43 pm*: Ryan Moore, Joel Dahmen, Thorbjørn Olesen
12:54 pm: Matt Fitzpatrick, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Gary Woodland
12:54 pm*: Y.E. Yang, Rich Beem, John Daly
1:05 pm: Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer, Keegan Bradley
1:05 pm*: Steve Stricker, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay
1:16 pm: Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth
1:16 pm*: Sung Kang, Shaun Micheel, Alex Beach
1:27 pm: Pat Perez, Kevin Kisner, Bryson DeChambeau
1:27 pm*: C.T. Pan, Kevin Na, Ryan Armour
1:38 pm: Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day
1:38 pm*: Danny Willett, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson
1:49 pm: Satoshi Kodaira, Matt Kuchar, Cameron Smith
1:49 pm*: Kevin Tway, Brandon Stone, Bronson Burgoon
2:00 pm: Corey Conners, Jim Furyk, Marc Leishman
2:00 pm*: Si Woo Kim, Danny Balin, Tom Lewis
2:11 pm: Jorge Campillo, Stuart Deane, Chesson Hadley
2:11 pm*: Jazz Janewattananond, Tyler Hall, Michael Kim
2:22 pm: Dylan Frittelli, Andrew Filbert, Kurt Kitayama
2:22 pm*: Mikko Korhonen, Craig Hocknull, Jhonattan Vegas

2nd Round

6:45 am: Ryan Vermeer, Adrian Otaegui, Jason Kokrak
6:45 am*: Michael Thompson, Danny Lee, Justin Bertsch
6:56 am: Alex Björk, Rod Perry, Ross Fisher
6:56 am*: Cameron Champ, Rich Berberian, Jr., Lucas Glover
7:07 am: Eddie Pepperell, Branden Grace, Ryan Palmer
7:07 am*: Emiliano Grillo, Daniel Berger, Paul Casey
7:18 am: Ryan Moore, Joel Dahmen, Thorbjørn Olesen
7:18 am*: Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Ian Poulter
7:29 am: Y.E. Yang, Rich Beem, John Daly
7:29 am*: Matt Fitzpatrick, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Gary Woodland
7:40 am: Steve Stricker, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay
7:40 am*: Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer, Keegan Bradley
7:51 am: Sung Kang, Shaun Micheel, Alex Beach
7:51 am*: Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth
8:02 am: C.T. Pan, Kevin Na, Ryan Armour
8:02 am*: Pat Perez, Kevin Kisner, Bryson DeChambeau
8:13 am: Danny Willett, Webb Simpson, Zach Johnson
8:13 am*: Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day
8:24 am: Kevin Tway, Brandon Stone, Bronson Burgoon
8:24 am*: Satoshi Kodaira, Matt Kuchar, Cameron Smith
8:35 am: Si Woo Kim, Danny Balin, Tom Lewis
8:35 am*: Corey Conners, Jim Furyk, Marc Leishman
8:46 am: Jazz Janewattananond, Tyler Hall, Michael Kim
8:46 am*: Jorge Campillo, Stuart Deane, Chesson Hadley
8:57 am: Mikko Korhonen, Craig Hocknull, Jhonattan Vegas
8:57 am*: Dylan Frittelli, Andrew Filbert, Kurt Kitayama
12:10 pm: Ben Cook, Scott Piercy, Brian Gay
12:10 pm*: Rob Labritz, Beau Hossler, J.J. Spaun
12:21 pm: Thomas Pieters, Patton Kizzire, Adam Hadwin
12:21 pm*: Sam Burns, Jeffrey Schmid, Keith Mitchell
12:32 pm: Brandt Snedeker, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Max Homa
12:32 pm*: Byeong Hun An, Jason Caron, Andrew Putnam
12:43 pm: Henrik Stenson, David Lipsky, Richard Sterne
12:43 pm*: John O’Leary, Harold Varner III, Kyle Stanley
12:54 pm: Shane Lowry, Erik van Rooyen, Tommy Fleetwood
12:54 pm*: Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Justin Harding, Richy Werenski
1:05 pm: Sergio Garcia, Kelly Kraft, Adam Scott
1:05 pm*: Vijay Singh, Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker
1:16 pm: Charley Hoffman, Louis Oosthuizen, Patrick Reed
1:16 pm*: Graeme McDowell, Chez Reavie, Brendan Jones
1:27 pm: Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Justin Rose
1:27 pm*: Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Knox, Haotong Li
1:38 pm: Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Alex Noren
1:38 pm*: Lee Westwood, Shaun Norris, Charles Howell III
1:49 pm: Brooks Koepka, Francesco Molinari, Tiger Woods
1:49 pm*: J.B. Holmes, Lucas Bjerregaard, Troy Merritt
2:00 pm: Aaron Wise, Ryan Fox, Shugo Imahira
2:00 pm*: Joost Luiten, Brian Mackey, Matt Wallace
2:11 pm: Julian Suri, Marty Jertson, Martin Trainer
2:11 pm*: Casey Russell, Luke List, Abraham Ancer
2:22 pm: Lucas Herbert, Cory Schneider, Sungjae Im
2:22 pm*: Craig Bowden, Adam Long, Joaquin Niemann

* 10th tee start

(courtesy pga.com)

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