McIlroy, Spieth Chase History as PGA Returns to Kiawah
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thirty years after the Ryder Cup delivered a "War on the Shore” at Kiawah Island, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth could produce more U.S.-versus-Europe fireworks at the 103rd PGA Championship.
The year’s second major tournament begins Thursday on the 7,876-yard, par-72 Ocean course at the South Carolina resort where the Americans edged Europe 14 1/2-13 1/2 in 1991.
That gamesmanship-filled Ryder Cup was decided by a missed six-foot par putt by Germany’s Bernhard Langer on the 18th hole of the last match.
Such drama was missing at the 2012 PGA Championship as McIlroy cruised to an eight-stroke victory at Kiawah Island, setting the stage for this year’s return to the Carolina coast.
Four-time major winner McIlroy, a 32-year-old from Northern Ireland, and three-time major champion Spieth, a 27-year-old Texan, are both playing well and chasing history.
Spieth will try to complete a career Grand Slam by adding the PGA to wins at the 2015 Masters and US Open and 2017 British Open.
A victory at Kiawah Island would put Spieth in exclusive company alongside Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen.
"It’s the one that, if I could pick one more to win, I’d pick that one,” Spieth said. "While I’m playing the tournament, it hasn’t really hit me and added any pressure or anything like that. It just kind of excites me a little bit more going into it.”
McIlroy will try to snap a seven-year major win drought since his victory at the 2014 PGA. He could become the first player from outside the United States to win a fifth career major since England’s Nick Faldo took his fifth of six in 1992.
The year’s second major tournament begins Thursday on the 7,876-yard, par-72 Ocean course at the South Carolina resort where the Americans edged Europe 14 1/2-13 1/2 in 1991.
That gamesmanship-filled Ryder Cup was decided by a missed six-foot par putt by Germany’s Bernhard Langer on the 18th hole of the last match.
Such drama was missing at the 2012 PGA Championship as McIlroy cruised to an eight-stroke victory at Kiawah Island, setting the stage for this year’s return to the Carolina coast.
Four-time major winner McIlroy, a 32-year-old from Northern Ireland, and three-time major champion Spieth, a 27-year-old Texan, are both playing well and chasing history.
Spieth will try to complete a career Grand Slam by adding the PGA to wins at the 2015 Masters and US Open and 2017 British Open.
A victory at Kiawah Island would put Spieth in exclusive company alongside Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen.
"It’s the one that, if I could pick one more to win, I’d pick that one,” Spieth said. "While I’m playing the tournament, it hasn’t really hit me and added any pressure or anything like that. It just kind of excites me a little bit more going into it.”
McIlroy will try to snap a seven-year major win drought since his victory at the 2014 PGA. He could become the first player from outside the United States to win a fifth career major since England’s Nick Faldo took his fifth of six in 1992.