Hypothetical: PGA Championship is the first event after the Covid19 layoff - Who wins?

[duffer987]

We can go elsewhere to bang on about the situation itself - and I'm not saying the tour won't have another event till mid May - it's a question of, in such a silly Monday-morning scenario which pro can turn up at TPC Harding Park after a two month layoff and leave the field behind?

Can you look past Rory? Played well previously at Harding, showed in the Ryder Cup, a police escort and right to the first tee is enough of a warm up for him.

Brooks - I only get out of bed in the morning for majors - Kepka?

Surely Bryson will have broke his brain by then, not being able to quantify his latest calculations in tournament conditions.

Phil will have either dieted himself down to marathon runner size or gone the reverse and need to be hoisted off the couch and go to the Seniors tour.

Who ya got?

[cdnglf]

Carlos Franco

[golfer07840]

In before the lock..

Something tells me Tiger could get a sneaky win under this scenario. He's healthy and everyone else is rusty.

[bladehunter]

Spieth for sure.

 

when it clicks for him it will be sudden. Completing the grand slam is as good of a place as any. Cue the hisses and boos ! Lol.

[Skhacker]

The human race.

[bscinstnct]

 

Be a lot of big trophies ; )

[duffer987]

I like it - he's so much in his own way, coming in 'cold' after a break, makes lots of putts on reasonably simple greens. Although the rough could be pretty thick, but then I guess everyone is chopping out of the same stuff.

[dalehead]

Sung-Jae Im. He just seems like a guy who’s ready to play anytime anywhere.

Second choice: everyone is rusty and a real long shot gets hot and takes it. Who’s this years equivalent of Shaun Micheel?

[straightshot7]

He does have two top 10's in his past 9 events!

Including a T8 at the prestigious CJ Cup.

Combined +8 in his past two events (Genesis and WGC Mexico).

So yeah, I could see this!

[Colonel_Steelhead]

Patrick Reed. Let the keyboard anger begin.

[Medson]

Couple of points.

I think it is highly likely PGA Championship will also be postponed. See yesterday's CDC guideline on not hosting any large events for 8 weeks. Hypothetically, PGA Championship still takes place in the original slot. It will be the first (or first of few) event that players will play in. Everyone will start cold in term of tournament golf. Everyone's guess is as good as mine.I think more experienced players, i.e. Tiger, will have slight advantage since ... (well, I actually have no idea) I just wish Tiger would win. It certainly sucks for the players who are rounding into shape, e.g. Rory, JT, etc.

[3whacker]

it will depend on how the grass grows at Harding Park...I look for the guys that play well at Pebble, Spyglass and anyone who knew how to play Olympic...the ball does not carry well in the Bay Area...Harding Park in the spring is different than the Ryder Cup course in the fall

[bladehunter]

It’s like a bicycle. You can’t forget how to ride it.

 

but he is currently trying to ride it by sitting on the tube that the seat peg attaches to , and traveling on only gravel roads while peddling metal pedals with bare feet and on top of it all his front wheel is bent and he has no brakes. As soon as he wakes up and decides to restore his bike it will be like night and day.

[duffer987]

Not sure how he did at Olympic, but ya maybe someone like Sneds? Surely he can keep his putting in form during the break too.

[PowderedToastMan]

Tiger, I believe, is the greatest player of all-time when it comes to winning tournaments without needing tournament rounds to prepare.

[mizuno player]

Ricky after that silly 60 he shot against Thomas yesterday!!

 

I'd like to play, with no money in the line!, In some of the games these guys are gonna be playing without tournaments.

 

[bladehunter]

60?

[grm24]

Rickie Fowler 'smokes' Justin Thomas while keeping games sharp during break

[bullie76]

John Daly.

[mizuno player]

Yes.. crazy. Imagine shooting 65 and getting smoked!

[bladehunter]

Wow. That’s awesome. Thanks !

[straightshot7]

I'm sure you would agree though, the rider is more important than "the bicycle". At least in golf. It's the indian not the arrow.

Spieth's problems are internal, not external.

You left out that HE is the one who screwed up his own bicycle. Why should I trust him to "restore" it? Simply when he decides to...

Seems like he's been trying to restore it for a while now and he's not getting better.

I appreciate that you're a big fan of his. But my point is just what are the odds of someone with his recent results suddenly winning a major? Is there anyone who has ever done that? It's gotta be statistically like a .01% chance.

If you had a computer run all the historical numbers and try to calculate odds, he probably wouldn't come out in the top 40 of most likely to win.

[bladehunter]

In my example. The bicycle is him. Or more clearly his swing. nobody talking about clubs.

 

and computers and stats rarely can pick anything. If they could people would get rich easy gambling with them.

[grm24]

PGA Championship has been officially postponed. PGA Championship the 2nd major postponed by coronavirus PGA postponed; new date if 'safe, responsible'

[bladehunter]

Women’s and men’s USga 4 ball canceled tooo. Just got the email.

[Titleist_PT23]

Remember when people thought the PGA being cancelled or moved was crazy? It's like when Tiger would never win again. Or Spieth would win 10 no problem.

[straightshot7]

I took it as the bicycle being his swing and other things. If that's the case then you're kind of contradicting yourself because obviously he did forget how to swing the way he used to. You said "You can’t forget how to ride it." . . . well it looks like he has.

So again, that was my point. He broke his swing, along with his coach. But we should believe he can repair it? Would want to see some evidence of that first. Such as winning a regular tournament.

And I never said the computer or stats would pick the winner or give perfect predictions. But what they are good at is determining probabilities. For example, usually one of the top players in the game wins the Majors. That continues to repeat itself. It's a statistical probability. Of course there are exceptions, but they are less likely to occur than the more probable outcome (e.g. someone in the top 50 OWGR winning the tournament is more probable than someone outside the top 50 OWGR winning the tournament. This is a historical fact).

[bladehunter]

The person usually most qualified for a rebuild of anything is the person who tore it apart. Assuming knowledge. And who knows more about their own swing than themselves?

 

what I’m saying is that he hasn’t forgot how to play. You can’t. You can take a rabbit hole and lose your way. But you can’t forget how. Now you can ruin your vehicle to get to how. And that’s what he’s done. No reason why he can’t work on the opposite direction in this lay-off and improve. Not get back. Improve.

[puttingmatt]

This is a sobering statement, expecting more .