Tiger & # 039; s chase, a brutal course and British weather – a US PGA full of story lines
Bethpage Black organizes its third major after the staging of the US Opens
in 2002 and 2009. While Tiger Woods pursues even more records, Rory McIlroy seeks a third title and Jordan Spieth tries to complete the Grand Slam career, there are stories everywhere you look at the American PGA championship.
The notorious, heavy Bethpage Black on Long Island in the state of New York will organize the 101st staging of what is now the second major of the year.
BBC Sport looks at why Woods is favorite to win again and the players who can stop him at the big one that was held earlier in August.
Does Woods get out of the cold?
Woods won the first of his four US PGA Championship titles in 1999
After a decade of writing & # 39; 14-time big winner Woods & # 39 ;, it feels rather strange to give him a 15-fold big winner.
And that in turn has sharpened Jack Nicklaus & # 39; record height of 18 majors.
The 43-year-old broke his 11-year drought by winning a fifth Masters title at Augusta National last month and despite not playing in between, he says he is "rested and ready" while he begins his search for a record worthy fifth American PGA title – 20 years after he won the first.
"Walter Hagen binding and Jack Nicklaus with five wins would be a special achievement," said world number six.
And this week, Woods was able to return to the top of the world ranking for the first time since March 2013. would also bind Sam Snead & # 39; s record of 82 wins of the PGA Tour.
Woods has a form around Bethpage, has led ery round when he won the 2002 US Open there and finished sixth when the course organized the same tournament in 2009.
Since then he has well documented back issues to deal with, but he returned to last year, close to winning both The Open and the American PGA, before winning his first PGA Tour title in five years during the Tour Championship.
However, Sir Nick Faldo, the six-time big winner from England, spoke about the BBC golf podcast The Cut, wonders if Woods will re-conquer Bethpage.
Pondering his erroneous Augusta tee-shots, Faldo said, "You hit him sideways (on Bethpage) and you're sitting in knee-high fescue."
he added: "The weather is the key. He won in a hundred degrees in Atlanta and in Augusta it was in the 80s and of course it was hot and humid.
" He needs that heat on his back , I thought. "
So who else should you pay attention to with 99 of & # 39; playing the world's top 100 – only the fifth place Justin Thomas has withdrawn – there is enough competition
The European challenge
The cold and rain that dominated the practice days seems to make way for fairer weather for the tournament days
With six Europeans in the top 16 in the world ranking and two-time winner Rory McIlroy among them, there is a strong continental contingent
McIlroy from Northern Ireland, who won the last of his four majors at this tournament in 2014, had a good start to the year after winning the Players Championship and having seven other top 10 & # 39; s.
He believes that driving accuracy will be the most important factor this week, but said: "I have a good reputation with the PGA, I like the job and I have some experience with it. If I play like me can, I have a chance to win. "
Like Woods, world number four could return to the top of the rankings with a win, just like the English Justin Rose, who is in second place.
Rose & # 39; s lonely big win remains the 2013 US Open. He went close at last year's Open without really threatening the lead, as Francesco Molinari, Italy, claimed his first major title.
Molinari followed that by finishing sixth jointly with the American PGA and his good form in the majors went on to Augusta National, where he entered the final round as leader, but dipped his ball on the twelfth and fifteenth holes to fall away.
Tommy Fleetwood from England said "it's a good time to try and get a bit of shape" after finishing joint tenth with the British Masters he organized last weekend.
The world number 16 has no great reputation at this tournament – with two missed cuts and a best of the combined 35th of four games – but a second and fourth in the last two US Opens proves that he has the game to compete in majors.
Fellow Englishman Paul Casey has a win and four other top-five finishes from 10 events in 2019 and has risen to 12th place in the rankings. But the 41-year-old always seems to have one costly lap and his best finish in a big one was the shared third at the 2010 Open.
Finally, the Jon Rahm of Spain plays it against his 12th major 24-year-old has had seven top-10 finishes from 10 starts this year, but that contrasts with his three wins in both 2018 and 2017.
One of those top 10 & # 39; s, however, was in the previous Masters and he finished fourth jointly in this event last year.
The American challenge
Koepka won the US Open titles of 2017 and 2018 as well as the victory of the PGA championship last year
Will Brooks Koepka successfully defended the title he won at Bellerive and won a fourth of his last eight starts?
It is hard to bet against the 29-year-old, who finished in the top 15 in each of the previous five US PGA's.
With 16 top 10 finishes from 39 major appearances, it is hard to work out how world number one Dustin Johnson has not won more than the 2016 US Open.
He was violating a local rule over all sandy areas that were treated as bunkers that paid him dearly at the 2010 US PGA, while a three-foot three-putt on Jordan Spieth last handed the 2015 US Open title
That meant that Spieth, at 21, became the youngest US Open champion in 92 years.
Now 25, the triple big winner, for the third time, is busy completing the grand slam career by winning this tournament – but he is clearly out of shape and has slipped to 39th place in the world after a winless 2018 and no top 10 in 2019.
Nickname & # 39; The Scientist & # 39 ;, Bryson DeChambeau won four times last year and claimed a European Tour title in 2019. Unique, all his clubs have the same length but the 25-year-old still has to find a successful formula with a major.
The great career of Xander Schauffele, on the other hand, started well.
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DeChambeau still has to take a top 10 finish, but Schauffele, also 25, has had four in his first eight outings, including joint-second finishes at last year's Openers and Masters of this year
Could it finally be Rickie Fowler's number of world number 10? He has three second prize winners with the other three majors and is thus in third place.
The World Challenge
Jason Day of Australia rose up on the Masters rankings on the final day to finish joint fifth. The 31-year-old won this tournament in 2015 and has four other top 10 finishes in nine attempts.
South Africa & # 39; s Open Open champion Louis Oosthuizen achieved his best American PGA result when he became second in 2017.
Chinese eyes will be on world number Haotong Li, which came to the fore when he finished third at the 2017 Open. However, the 23-year-old plays in only his ninth major.
From Last to Second
The American PGA has been relocated from August to May as part of a renewal that sees the PGA Tour Season avoid a clash with the opening of American football matches in the NFL.
It means that The Open – which will be held in July – will be the last major in the calendar.
Johnson is one of those who welcomes the change in the calendar.
He said: "It divides our big tournaments a little better and I am very happy with the date setting, it may be a little warmer, but it is great to move the PGA to May. Usually the PGA is my fourth tournament in a row. "
It is not the first time that the tournament has been moved or changed.
It was first played in 1916 and began to live as a match play event. In 1958, after losing money the year before, the tournament was switched to regions.
During the sixties, the tournament was organized five times the week after The Open, which, given the time it took to travel from Britain to America in those days, made it almost impossible for players to enter both compete.
It was also moved to the end of July in 2016 to accommodate the Olympic golf tournament in Rio.
Bethpage Black is the host of the 101st American PGA, a public course with a sign next to the first famous tee: "The Black Course is an extremely difficult course that we recommend for highly skilled golfers. "
It is a par 70 with only two par fives and measures 7,459 yards.
The winner receives the Wanamaker Trophy, named after Rodman Wanamaker, the founder of the Professional Golfers & Association of America.
It is the largest of the four major trophies, which is 28 inches long and weighs nearly two stones.
