All by itself, the PGA Championship is a big deal.
It's the fourth and final major of the season and over the past few
years has provided some of the most exciting golf of any major. Remember
Davis Love III at Winged Foot, Tiger Woods and Bob May at Valhalla,
David Toms in Atlanta and Rich Beem last year at Hazeltine?
But this year the event has acquired even more importance.
In addition to the prestige of a winning a major title, players also
are competing in the final weekend of qualifying for the Presidents
Cup. Then there's the run for Player of the Year honors.
In the Presidents Cup, the top-10 players in points receive automatic
berths on the U.S. team. At the very least, the top six players, and
probably the top eight, are assured of making the squad that will travel
to South Africa in November.
Points are equal to a player's money earnings, except that this year,
as the year of the competition, the dollar amounts are doubled. With
the PGA offering about $1 million to win, that means there are a bunch
of points out there, including 2 million to the winner.
Still, Woods, Love, Jim Furyk, David Toms, Kenny Perry and Phil Mickelson,
all with 9 million points or more, are in. Seventh-place Justin Leonard
and eighth-place Chris DiMarco, with a little over 8 million each,
more than likely will play.
Jelly Kelly, with nearly 7 million, and Charles Howell III, with
6.4 million hold the ninth and 10th spots.
But between Howell and the 15th player in the standings, Brad Faxon,
there's only a 1-million point difference. No. 11 Bob Estes is only
4,000 points behind Howell. And Fred Funk is just 271,000 points away
from Howell.
Obviously, there could be some changes by late Sunday afternoon.
The Player of the Year won't officially be settled this week, but
a victory in the PGA by Woods, Love, Mike Weir, Jim Furyk or perhaps
Ernie Els or Kenny Perry could all but wrap up that title.
For the past several years, there has been no question about Player
of the Year -- it's been Woods. Last year, for example, the world's
No. 1 player already had won two majors by the time the PGA rolled
around. Woods has won the award every year since 1997, with the exception
of '98 when Mark O'Meara earned the title. And 1998 was the only year
of his career that Woods did not win a major.
Woods and Love both have four wins this season but not a major. A
win at Oak Hill by either would go a long way towards locking up the
award.
Furyk has won only twice, but one of those was the U.S. Open. Two
majors in one season would be hard to argue against. Plus, Furyk has
been incredibly consistent this year, with 13 top-10 finishes in 19
tournaments.
Weir has won three times, with one being the Masters. Again, two
majors should do it for the Canadian.
Els started the season with a big splash, lapping the field in the
winners-only Mercedes Championships and then winning the Sony Open
the next week. Since then, he has won three times on the European Tour
but not in the U.S.
He's finished in the top 10 in six of the 12 PGA tournaments he has
entered. Two of those top 10s were in the Masters and the U.S. Open.
He tied for 18th in defense of his British Open crown.
Would a major be enough for Els to win Player of the Year? He certainly
wouldn't be a lock for the title without another win or two.
Perry has never been one of the elite players in the game, but this
year he has become one. Since missing the cut in the Byron Nelson Championship
in May, Perry has not finished lower than a tie for eighth in his next
seven tournaments.
That includes back-to-back wins in the Colonial and the Memorial,
a tie for third in the U.S. Open, a win in Milwaukee and a tie for
eighth at the British Open.
A major title could be the icing on the cake when the players mark
their ballots later this year.
