2019 PGA Championship

[Vinsk]

DJ almost got a Faldo win. I preferred this to Brooks shooting another 63. Now the talking heads can’t say how infallible he is. 

[Shindig]

I feel I should know this, but does the PGA Championship really have the strongest field in golf?  I figure the Masters or U.S. Open would have that distinction.

[Jay28]

Koepke did well to hold on, helped by the ever fragile Dustin. 

I think we can put to bed the premature discussions comparing Koepke to the greats.  Not in top 100 of all time - at least for now.

 

8 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

DJ almost got a Faldo win. I preferred this to Brooks shooting another 63. Now the talking heads can’t say how infallible he is. 

The difference being that Faldo would have made par on those last 3 holes (or better).  Insult to Faldo to compare him to DJ.  Different league.

[tehuti]

6 minutes ago, Jay28 said:

Koepke did well to hold on, helped by the ever fragile Dustin. 

I think we can put to bed the premature discussions comparing Koepke to the greats.  Not in top 100 of all time - at least for now.

 

The difference being that Faldo would have made par on those last 3 holes (or better).  Insult to Faldo to compare him to DJ.  Different league.

4 out of 8 majors including 2 back to back wins is pretty impressive to me. I am guessing he has a few more major wins left before he is done. It’s too early to crown him one of the greats, but he is certainly on a trajectory to get there.

[David in FL]

32 minutes ago, MacDutch said:

Yes, well done. Brooks reminds me of you, David.

You’re calling him an old, short hitter?   

[iacas]

25 minutes ago, Shindig said:

I feel I should know this, but does the PGA Championship really have the strongest field in golf?  I figure the Masters or U.S. Open would have that distinction.

By far.

The Opens have a good number of qualifiers.

The Masters field size is like 80-90, and 30 of those are ceremonial or very nearly ceremonial golfers.

The PGA has almost all of the top 100 in the world. In fact before Justin Thomas withdrew I think they had 98 or 99 of the top 100 this year?

[ChrisP]

27 minutes ago, Jay28 said:

Koepke did well to hold on, helped by the ever fragile Dustin. 

I think we can put to bed the premature discussions comparing Koepke to the greats.  Not in top 100 of all time - at least for now.

I don’t think it’s that premature. I mean he has four majors at 29. Two back-to-backs now. That’s HOF stuff, stuff only the greats did. He’s nowhere near the GOAT discussion, but he can go on a tear here the next couple years and maybe get to 8 or 9 majors. Not saying it’s going to happen, but would you be surprised if he did it? I sure as hell wouldn’t. But we’ll see what happens. The game is in a good place right now, that’s for sure.

Edited May 19, 2019 by ChrisP

[brocks]

27 minutes ago, Shindig said:

I feel I should know this, but does the PGA Championship really have the strongest field in golf?  I figure the Masters or U.S. Open would have that distinction.

In this century, in most years, the PGA is the strongest field in golf.  Occasionally, the British is stronger.

The British and US Opens are usually 2 and 3, and the Players is usually 4th.  The Masters was as low as 7th as recently as 2014, with the Players and two WGCs, along with the other three majors, ahead of it.

It makes sense if you think about it.  The Masters is a short field to start with, and a dozen or more of the players have no chance to win -- amateurs, seniors, or players from very weak Asian tours who got invitations.  Honestly, I'm surprised that it isn't behind two or three WGC's every year.

You can find the strength of field of events on the world golf ranking site.  Click on events, pick a year, and click on the strength of field column header to sort them.

www.owgr.com

[billchao]

1 minute ago, ChrisP said:

I don’t think it’s that premature. I mean he has four majors at 29. Two back-to-backs now. That’s HOF stuff, stuff only the greats did. He’s nowhere near the GOAT discussion, he can go on a tear here the next couple years and maybe get to 8 or 9 majors. Not saying it’s going to happen, but would you be surprised if he did it? I sure as hell wouldn’t. But we’ll see what happens. The game is in a good place right now, that’s for sure.

I thought the same of Spieth and McIlroy. At this point in their careers I expected both to win more majors than they have.

I have no expectations of Koepka. He could win three more majors just as easily as none and neither outcome would surprise me.

[ScouseJohnny]

25 minutes ago, Jay28 said:

Not in top 100 of all time - at least for now.

Yeah, maybe the time will come, one day, when we can speak of him in the same breath as Tom Kite or Jeff Maggert or whoever else satisfies the top 100 metric.

Right now, at 29, he has three more majors than Sergio, two more than Bubba, one more than Payne Stewart achieved in his 42 years, the same number as Rory (who shows very little appetite for winning another), one fewer than Seve, two fewer than Faldo, four fewer than Tom Watson... He's already in the conversation, in a big way.

And I get the impression this isn't his last major win.

[Hardspoon]

19 minutes ago, iacas said:

The PGA has almost all of the top 100 in the world. In fact before Justin Thomas withdrew I think they had 98 or 99 of the top 100 this year?

They had all 100 until he withdrew:

All top 100 world-ranked players set for challenge at 2019 PGA Championship | PGA Championship

---

Bethpage Black Course, a reservoir of golf history and one of the most celebrated public courses in the game, will welcome the strongest all-professional field of the year, May 16-19, at the 2019 PGA Championship.

(first time ever)

 

[Shindig]

20 minutes ago, iacas said:

By far.

The Opens have a good number of qualifiers.

The Masters field size is like 80-90, and 30 of those are ceremonial or very nearly ceremonial golfers.

The PGA has almost all of the top 100 in the world. In fact before Justin Thomas withdrew I think they had 98 or 99 of the top 100 this year?

 

12 minutes ago, brocks said:

In this century, in most years, the PGA is the strongest field in golf.  Occasionally, the British is stronger.

The British and US Opens are usually 2 and 3, and the Players is usually 4th.  The Masters was as low as 7th as recently as 2014, with the Players and two WGCs, along with the other three majors, ahead of it.

It makes sense if you think about it.  The Masters is a short field to start with, and a dozen or more of the players have no chance to win -- amateurs, seniors, or players from very weak Asian tours who got invitations.  Honestly, I'm surprised that it isn't behind two or three WGC's every year.

You can find the strength of field of events on the world golf ranking site.  Click on events, pick a year, and click on the strength of field column header to sort them.

www.owgr.com

Thank you two.  I think this is the first final round of the PGA Championship I've watched in years, owing to that my club did our club championship on the same weekend as it for the past many years.  I still feel I should have known.  

[brocks]

6 minutes ago, Hardspoon said:

They had all 100 until he withdrew:

All top 100 world-ranked players set for challenge at 2019 PGA Championship | PGA Championship

---

Bethpage Black Course, a reservoir of golf history and one of the most celebrated public courses in the game, will welcome the strongest...

(first time ever)

 

The PGA has usually had 98 or 99 of the top 100 for decades now --- a conscious decision to try to distinguish itself as the strongest field in golf.

And this is why some of us are so adamant that you can't compare majors in this century with majors in Jack's era.  In the 1960's, the PGA had only about 50 of the top 100, the US Open maybe 65, the Masters maybe 60, and the British Open maybe 40.

[ChrisP]

20 minutes ago, billchao said:

I thought the same of Spieth and McIlroy. At this point in their careers I expected both to win more majors than they have.

I have no expectations of Koepka. He could win three more majors just as easily as none and neither outcome would surprise me.

Exactly why I’m not jumping the gun yet on him. I do think he’s mentally stronger than those two guys in majors so if I had money, I’d bet on him winning a few more. But we’ll see. The door is open for him now. He can do some special things this year if he stays hot. But nothing is gaurantee.

Edited May 19, 2019 by ChrisP

[colin007]

 

 

[Hardspoon]

10 minutes ago, colin007 said:

https://twitter.com/SI_ExtraMustard/status/1130172293949341696?s=20

That's what she gets for wearing Joseph's Technicolor Dreamcoat.

[gjunkie57]

Good win for Brooks.  Bethpage showed its teeth today but he had enough lead to win. I know he is gearing up for the US Open.  A 3-peat? That would be incredible to watch.  

[ncates00]

1 hour ago, tehuti said:

4 out of 8 majors including 2 back to back wins is pretty impressive to me. I am guessing he has a few more major wins left before he is done. It’s too early to crown him one of the greats, but he is certainly on a trajectory to get there.

This is exactly why I’ve been asking for the mathematical equation for determining who’s the best. BK’s 4 majors (other than Tiger’s Masters this year) are arguably the best wins due to strength of field. Tiger, of who I’m a fanboy, won by landslides but against much lesser fields than BK has. Bob May, Chris DiMarco, Rocco Mediate, etc are good but c’mon. 

I know BK has a ways to go but still. 

Edited May 20, 2019 by ncates00