2023 PGA Championship Thread

[iacas]

33 minutes ago, Denny Bang Bang said:

Who fears him?

Nearly everyone else. Not many have beaten him when he's been near the lead? He beat Tiger at the 2018 PGA. He beat everyone at four other majors, and has finished second many times (i.e. beat 153 other dudes).

He might be a douche, but to pretend he's not "feared" within the context of winning a golf tournament? Of course he is.

[saevel25]

26 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

And he probably is dumb enough to not understand how he does it himself. But it's uncanny. If I see him in the rear view mirror on a Sunday afternoon at one I would probably yip a 4-footer or two from just the thought of it. 

I think he knows. I believe he said he focuses on majors only. He has a process to go after these tournaments. 

11 minutes ago, iacas said:

Nearly everyone else. Not many have beaten him when he's been near the lead? He beat Tiger at the 2018 PGA. He beat everyone at four other majors, and has finished second many times (i.e. beat 153 other dudes).

He might be a douche, but to pretend he's not "feared" within the context of winning a golf tournament? Of course he is.

I agree. I do not think most golfers want to see him with in range on Sunday. 

 

[Denny Bang Bang]

40 minutes ago, iacas said:

Nearly everyone else. Not many have beaten him when he's been near the lead? He beat Tiger at the 2018 PGA. He beat everyone at four other majors, and has finished second many times (i.e. beat 153 other dudes).

He might be a douche, but to pretend he's not "feared" within the context of winning a golf tournament? Of course he is.

Pretending he’s not feared?  I don’t buy that he’s feared. He’s not a Tyson, Jordan, Tiger type of athlete.

@GolfLug Respected?  Sure, he’s a great player.  I’m sure they all respect his game.

 

[Vinsk]

Imagine all the wins Brooks would have if he had Rory’s length! 😏

[pganapathy]

2 hours ago, Denny Bang Bang said:

Pretending he’s not feared?  I don’t buy that he’s feared. He’s not a Tyson, Jordan, Tiger type of athlete.

@GolfLug Respected?  Sure, he’s a great player.  I’m sure they all respect his game.

 

Let us be blunt.  Post Tiger there have only been two athletes that have been feared at a similar level.  One was Rory when he won 4 majors in a span of three or four years and the other was Brooks when he won 4 majors in 2 or 3 years.  In fact, if Brooks hadn't gotten injured, there is no reason he couldn't have had many more majors.  In fact, given he came second at the Masters and now won the PGA, I would say everybody fears him.  His body remaining healthy, there is no reason he can't win another couple of majors very soon.  I would have to say he is the favourite for both the remaining majors this year

[iacas]

6 hours ago, Denny Bang Bang said:

Pretending he’s not feared?  I don’t buy that he’s feared. He’s not a Tyson, Jordan, Tiger type of athlete.

Oh boy. He is winning majors at a Tiger-like clip. So, still, yes.

[GolfLug]

19 minutes ago, iacas said:

Oh boy. He is winning majors at a Tiger-like clip. So, still, yes.

Yeah, IMO in this age of parity it's kinda ridiculous actually. 

[boogielicious]

19 minutes ago, iacas said:

Oh boy. He is winning majors at a Tiger-like clip. So, still, yes.

There was a big gap between the last one and this one though. Injuries happened to cause the gap. Players get hot and cold too. I’m not sure if ‘feared’ is the right term either. Other players will expect him to play his best in the US Open. Same as Rahm, Scheffler, etc.

[iacas]

14 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

There was a big gap between the last one and this one though. Injuries happened to cause the gap. Players get hot and cold too. I’m not sure if ‘feared’ is the right term either. Other players will expect him to play his best in the US Open. Same as Rahm, Scheffler, etc.

If he’s not feared nobody is.

So if he’s not feared you’re setting a ridiculously high bar only GOATS achieve.

[billchao]

7 hours ago, Vinsk said:

Imagine all the wins Brooks would have if he had Rory’s length! 😏

He’s got the length. He needs Block’s wedge game 😜

[StuM]

On 5/25/2023 at 7:14 AM, iacas said:

Yeah, dude, no.

If that was the case you’d be on Tour and winning things. Not a lot but you’d be out there.

At least he realizes it is not all about putting.

[Darkfrog]

Regarding Brooks, I'm in the "feared is not the right word" camp. When I think of fear with regards to sports, I think of a cornerback needing to make a tackle on Jerome Bettis or Barry Sanders in the open field, being in man coverage against Randy Moss, standing in the batter's box against prime Pedro Martinez or Mariano Rivera, or Michael Jordan with the ball to make a game winning shot. I just don't get a sense that professional golfers are afraid of other professional golfers in tournaments, maybe afraid of making a mistake, but not of an opponent.

I get what the OP meant though. When Brooks's game is firing on all cylinders in a major, he does not make mistakes and simply takes care of business closing out the tournament. When he had to take a penalty drop on #5 (?) and was hitting his third from 200+ out of the wet rough, he still got on the green with chance for par, and Hovland didn't capitalize and had to scramble from the bunker. At that point, I was pretty confident Brooks was going to win.

[iacas]

It’s fear within a sports context. Nobody is actually afraid that Brooks is going to murder or injure them or cause them some physical harm.

[Vinsk]

3 hours ago, Darkfrog said:

I just don't get a sense that professional golfers are afraid of other professional golfers in tournaments, maybe afraid of making a mistake, but not of an opponent.

I think the point is that any golfer would much rather see a lot of other golfers other than BK going into Sunday if they’re at the top.

[boogielicious]

8 hours ago, iacas said:

If he’s not feared nobody is.

So if he’s not feared you’re setting a ridiculously high bar only GOATS achieve.

Thats my point. Fear is the wrong word. Tiger 1999 - 2008 had that status. He was winning 1 in 4 tournaments he entered. BK is playing great now, but he’s not at that level.

[iacas]

51 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

Thats my point. Fear is the wrong word. Tiger 1999 - 2008 had that status. He was winning 1 in 4 tournaments he entered. BK is playing great now, but he’s not at that level.

He almost is, though.

Throw out the years he was injured - when he's healthy, he's winning at a Tiger-like clip.

If you're going to reserve the word fear, as I said before, for either of the two, then there's not even a f***ing point:

• only GOAT-level performances
• only inflicting physical pain or death

In the context of golf, Brooks may be the most fearsome golfer out there right now, and (when uninjured [red in the image below])…

That's pretty f***ing good.

Five wins since the PGA in 2017. From that event onward, and not counting the red ones (the MC in the Masters in 2021 was odd):

• Brooks has played in 17 majors.
• He's won five of them (29.4%).
• Even counting the injured ones, he's at 21.7%. Not much below your 1-in-4, there, Scott.
• He's had 14 top-tens (82.4%)
• He's finished in the top four 11 times (64.7%).

I think y'all are vastly under-estimating how good Brooks has played, even when injured…

P.S. I included 2015 and 2016 just to show how he's been ramping up, but didn't include those in my counts above. 3/7 top-ten finishes there, with 2/7 top-five.

[Denny Bang Bang]

@pganapathy I’ve been blunt.  I don’t believe he is feared.

@iacas We’re talking about elite professional athletes.  Pro athletes generally have a “bring it on” mentality, not an “I fear this guy” mentality.  It’s rare pro athletes (especially elite) fear each other.  Sure, the bottom barrel guys or rookies can get intimidated.

Rahm T50, Scheffler T2, Spieth T29, McIlroy T7, Finau T72, etc… none of that was because they feared BK in the PGA Championship.

I’m not rejecting how good BK is.  But I don’t believe he’s feared.

[jxdama]

15 hours ago, pganapathy said:

Let us be blunt.  Post Tiger there have only been two athletes that have been feared at a similar level.  One was Rory when he won 4 majors in a span of three or four years and the other was Brooks when he won 4 majors in 2 or 3 years.  In fact, if Brooks hadn't gotten injured, there is no reason he couldn't have had many more majors.  In fact, given he came second at the Masters and now won the PGA, I would say everybody fears him.  His body remaining healthy, there is no reason he can't win another couple of majors very soon.  I would have to say he is the favourite for both the remaining majors this year

The  PGA might  have a  bit  of a  problem if Koepka or another LIV player wins the  US Open.  Dustin Johnson is due to play well, One  guy on the golf channel was saying he  didnt think Koepka should  be  on the Ryder cup. The  man who finished 1st and 2nd  in the  2 majors so far  not  on the team?