PGA Championship: Will it be Tiger Woods? Rory McIlroy?
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Who will win this week’s PGA Championship? Tiger Woods? Rory McIlroy? Steve Williams ... er, Adam Scott?
Writers from around Tribune Co. share their opinions. Check back throughout the day for more responses and feel free to weigh in with a comment of your own.
Diane Pucin, Los Angeles Times
It would probably be best if Adam Scott/Steve Williams didn’t win this week. The sport couldn’t take that post-match chat again.
Tiger Woods isn’t going to win -- not after talking about how his season is a success because his knee doesn’t hurt. Now he just needs a pain-free knee to be happy? No majors, no chipping away at the Nicklaus record? Not even a Wells Fargo or Waste Management run-of-the-mill tournament? Wow.
So let’s go against the grain a little bit and give tennis a little love by picking Rory McIlroy to cap off a brilliant, pain-free, winning-heavy summer with another major.
The tennis part? He seems to be dating top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki. It must be serious because nicknames are being created -– WozIlroy, Mcniacki -– and that only happens to really serious famous couples, such as Brangelina.
Dating a famous tennis player didn’t work out so well for another top-notch golfer. Sergio Garcia never did much when he was attached to Martina Hingis. But Hingis was the winner in that couple. Wozniacki may be No. 1, but she hasn’t come close to winning a Grand Slam event. So McIlroy it is.
Mark Wogenrich, Allentown Morning Call
Following the British Open, Rory McIlroy said some intemperate things about the tournament’s conditions, wind and weather, all of which are unique to linksland golf. It became fairly clear that, his roots in Northern Ireland aside, McIlroy isn’t keen on the style of that game. He likes warm weather, soft greens and courses where he can let his high ball-flight loose.
In other words, McIlroy is young, rich and on his way to becoming an Irish ex-pat. Having won the U.S. Open by three laps in June, and with plans to play on the PGA Tour in 2012, McIlroy can secure his American greens-card with a win this week in Atlanta. Then he’ll sign an endorsement deal with Coca-Cola.
George Diaz, Orlando Sentinel
Got some darts?
May as well be throwing them to pick a winner in the PGA Championship.
With his victory at the Bridgestone Invitational last weekend, Adam Scott became the 10th different winner in the last 10 PGA events. And with old guns Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods winless in that span, there’s zero reason to trust their game over the course of 72 holes.
And so, the envelope please:
Rory McIlroy. He likes the weather hot and sticky, and that’s just how it’s going to be in Georgia this week. He’s been the most consistent golfer on the tour in a very inconsistent season.
The conditions should be firm and fast at Johns Creek, meaning McIIroy will win the race to the top.
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