Written by Stephen Moloney (www.twitter.com/TheCheeky9)

After one of the most exciting back 9’s we’ve seen since the return from lockdown – a back 9 where, at one point, there was a five-way tie for the lead – Justin Thomas emerged victorious at TPC Southwind to not only capture his second Gary Player Cup but also oust Jon Rahm from the top of the World Rankings in the process and return to the top of the mountain for the second time in his career.

Now, however, nearly four months since the first Major of 2020 should have happened, all eyes turn to San Francisco’s historic TPC Harding Park where the 102nd edition of the PGA Championship will see the biggest names in golf vying to win the first Major Championship of the ‘Coronavirus Era’ … and I can Harding-ly wait.

Leave me alone, I’m doing a really slimmed-down preview this week and it severely inhibits my ability to squeeze as much nonsense in as I’d usually like.

The Oracles’ Fourball

Though I had considered doing otherwise given this week is a Major, I’ve decided that, as per usual, I’ll be allowing myself just the one pick from the current top 10 in the World Rankings to fill out my fourball with as it just makes things more exciting for me if they happen to do well. Other than that, the rest of the fourball will be picked in the same old boring way – conjured from the wild, disturbing hallucinations induced by drinking a foul, heady broth concocted by my own personal coven of Oracles … admittedly, to say that when it’s for a Major does make it feel that tad bit more exciting, though.

Rory McIlroy

Pre-lockdown, to include Rory McIlroy in ‘The Oracles’ Fourball’ was like deciding to go to Coqbull for lunch, i.e. it was a super solid decision that wasn’t going to leave you disappointed. Having been watching him play since golf returned, however, to find myself choosing Rory as my sole pick from the top 10 for this week’s PGA Championship feels, bizarrely, like something of a gamble. Because, realistically, to see the World #3 heading to Harding Park this week – a course he’s openly stated that he likes playing and where he won the WGC-Matchplay as recently as 2015 – should be an exciting prospect as the stage seems perfectly set for the Northern Irishman to go out and claim his first Major title since the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla … and yet I’m left wondering how he’ll do. For, at the moment, it’s hard to know which version of Rory is going to show up in San Francisco. Will it be the guy who, before lockdown, went on a seven tournament stretch where he didn’t finish outside the top 5? Or will it be the guy whose best finish in the five events he’s played since June is a T-11 at the Travelers?

Now, as has been well documented, McIlroy has found it somewhat difficult adjusting to playing in front of no fans, saying that he’s found himself getting distracted – and that’s understandable, I get it. But at this moment in time, we are eight full weeks into golf returning. And of the eight main PGA Tour tournaments we’ve seen played in that time, how many of Rory’s contemporaries in the top 10 have gone out and won? Five. Webb Simpson at the RBC Heritage, Dustin Johnson at the Travelers, Bryson DeChambeau at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Jon Rahm at the Memorial, and now Justin Thomas this past weekend – every single one of them went out, adjusted to the difference in circumstances, and got the ‘W’. 

So, yes, McIlroy can have found it difficult getting used to playing in the new circumstances the Coronavirus has created, but this week he finds himself rocking up to a Major Championship – the very thing which, ultimately, his career will be defined by. And I think he’ll know that. And because he’ll know that, I’ll think we’ll see a different Rory this week. So if he’s managed to iron out some of the kinks in his game that have led to his less-than-stellar performances over the last few weeks – and they are just ‘kinks’ because it’s not like he’s been playing terribly, he just hasn’t been reaching the lofty standards he set late last year and in the first half of 2020 – then, with a fast start, he could well thrust himself right into the mix this week. Because when Rory has anything close to his ‘A’ game? Especially in his driving? He’s damn well near to being untouchable. It’s just a question of whether or not he’ll have found it by Thursday.

Xander Schauffele

Xander is quickly becoming what Bryson DeChambeau was for the first four events after lockdown as this is my third week in a row picking him – like was the case with Bryson, though, it’s for good reason. Now, if you’ve been reading my previews over the last three weeks you don’t really need to be told why, yet again, I like Schauffele for this week, i.e. he hits a lot of fairways and hits a lot of greens, which, going into a Major, is always a handy thing to be able to do.

The other strength that I’ve alluded to of Xander’s, though, is his ability to stay in a tournament and get himself into contention. I mean, I’m pretty sure it was Jack Nicklaus who said that when it comes to winning Majors, a big part of it is “hanging around”, i.e. just loitering in and around the leaders. Because, as the past weekend just gone showed with Brooks Koepka & Brendon Todd, you don’t win a tournament on Thursday and Friday, nor even Saturday. All that matters is what happens on Sunday – and, from what I’ve seen over the past few weeks, Xander appears to have gotten down the knack of getting himself into the mix over the weekend. Like, take his finishes since the return from lockdown – he’s gone T-3, T-64, T-20, T-14, T-13 & T-6, with a lot of those finishes garnered thanks to saving his best golf for the weekend.

So, what does he have to do to make that step-up from consistent tour-winner to Major-winner? Well, as I’ve mentioned over the last few weeks, I think if he manages to find four days where he gets particularly hot with the putter to reward the number of greens he hits he’ll be a threat. Mainly, though, what I’ve noticed in the last two tournaments, in particular, is that Xander needs to try and eliminate the ‘blow-out’ holes he’s been having. What I mean by this is that on the Thursday of the Memorial, after getting off to a nice solid start, he went on a run of three or four holes where he dropped like five shots out of nowhere, leaving him a battle to make the cut on Friday as opposed to getting into contention. In Memphis? After a solid opening round of -2, he came out on Friday and made an 8 at the par 4 12th, leaving him a fight to get back to even par as opposed to, again, getting into the mix and within proper striking distance of the leaders. And the amazing thing is, is that bar that quadruple-bogey? Xander only went on to drop one other shot for the entire tournament at TPC Southwind – meaning, realistically, his T-6 finish could have and should have been a lot higher.

So if he can cut out those mistakes and maybe throw his putter over an open fire on Wednesday night? I think Xander Schauffele could well see himself lifting his maiden Major title in his home state come Sunday evening.

Collin Morikawa

Whichever way you look at it, Collin Morikawa’s life as a professional golfer has gotten off to a pretty good start. He came mightily close to tying Tiger Woods’ record of consecutive made cuts after turning pro. He’s bagged two runner-up finishes, one at the 3M Open in 2019 and the hard-to-watch playoff loss to Daniel Berger at the Charles Schwab Challenge back in June. And, of course, he’s done the most important thing for any young golfer with aspirations of making it to the pinnacle of the game, he’s managed to actually win on tour early, securing his first title at the Barracuda Championship last year and, not that anyone could forget, grabbing his second at Muirfield Village after an epic playoff win over Justin Thomas at the Workday Charity Open just a few short weeks ago.

Of course, as we know, the jump from winning a regular tour event to winning a Major is always a tricky one to manage, with countless players who should have done it over the years never quite figuring out how to navigate it. So what makes me think then that Collin can do it this week in what will only be his second Major appearance ever? Well, the 23-year-old obviously has the game to do it. He’s plenty long off-the-tee, 296.3 yards on average, which should be enough to leave him nice yardages around the relatively short track that is TPC Harding Park. He’s one of the most accurate drivers on tour (currently 32nd on with a total 66.34%) and, given how nasty the rough is looking like it’s going to be this week, a tendency to find the short grass can only hold him in good stead. He’s clearly proficient at finding the putting surface in the order he’s supposed to as, again, he’s one of the best iron players on tour for he’s currently 27th in GIR with an impressive total of 70.20%. And his putting? Well, I think you can say it’s solid. Like, he doesn’t look like a wizard with the short stick in hand as say, Jordan Spieth did at his age, but he can get the ball in the hole – I mean, he’s 16th in ‘Scoring Average’ and 6th in ‘Par 5 Scoring Average’, so he’s got to be doing something right. 

One of the main reasons that made me choose Collin to do well this week, though, is the fact that it will be something of a “homecoming” for him. See, he went to college and played college golf at the University of California, Berkeley,  an institute located on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay. So, my thinking is, not only will it put him in a good place mentally to return to a city where he spent such formative years studying, but chances are he’ll have played TPC Harding Park quite a lot – now, the course will obviously play completely differently given it’s been tuned to Major standards, but that experience, nonetheless, I think will still count for something.

You put all that together? And I think Collin Morikawa has a tremendous opportunity to be the one left hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy aloft come Sunday evening.

Abraham Ancer

The last time Abraham Ancer made it into ‘The Oracles’ Fourball’ was for the Memorial a few weeks ago, a tournament where I felt his accuracy off-the-tee, solid iron play and ability to get hot with the putter would bode well for him at a course in Muirfield Village which would be playing quite difficult. Now, on the surface, to look at the T-58 finish he ultimately wound up with in Ohio could lead you to think that Abraham was never really close to being in the mix that week – but that’s not true. See, having spent that week actively looking out for his score and how he was doing over the course of each of his four rounds, apart from the fact that he managed two level par rounds on Thursday and Saturday – which, given how the course was playing, was an incredibly good score – there were times when a few birdies here & there actually saw him get to -1/-2, but then he slipped back down the field with some ill-timed bogeys and double bogeys.

So, taking that into consideration, when I see him coming off a really good week in Memphis where he finished in a tie for 15th, then if his game tee-to-green is as solid as it’s looking, then with the course appearing like it’s going to be playing quite tough this week, if, like Schauffele, he can avoid ‘blow-out holes’, then Abraham could well find himself right in contention come Sunday because – and, again, just like Schauffele – he’s started to develop that knack of just hanging around within striking distance of the leaders.

And at a Major championship, especially at one where the scoring could be quite high, that ability, coupled with his tendency to get hot with the putter, could suddenly see his entire career change over the course of one round of golf. Because the only thing that’s missing from Abraham’s résumé right now is a win on the PGA Tour – well, the way I see it, there’s no reason why that maiden win can’t just so happen to be the PGA Championship.

Title Photo Credit: PGA of America/PGA.com