USPGA Championship - Official Thread

[H-D]

We're well into the 1st Round of this year's final major now at the Atlanta Athletic Club, Steve Stricker is leading by 2 shots after posting an impressive 63.

The Americans are overwhelmingly strong in the field at the minute, the top six are all from the US - they will obviously be under pressure to deliver, with the last 6 majors being won by players from the European Tour.

I'll keep updating the thread, it's on Sky Sports 2 if any of you are interested

 

[H-D]

It's 42 degrees out on the course - some of the players clearly feeling the heat! Tiger came in with a seven over 77, looks like he might miss out on the weekend.

Rory McIlroy is level par through 9 but is desperately struggling with a wrist injury, I wouldn't be surprised to see him pull out before the 18 is done. He's constantly receiving physio treatment, I would imagine his playing partners Darren Clarke and Charl Schwartzel are slightly pissed off with the situation

 

[tigercity]

Knew I'd find you here.. have to wait til 7pm for the live feed.. my pre-tee off picks were MC ILROY & SCOTT, my dad picked STRICKER & KUCHAR so he's beating me at the mo..

 

[H-D]

Haha, I thought I'd start something on here even though it looks dead. Before the tourny I had D.JOHNSON and WESTWOOD, unfortunately my first prediction hasn't made the cut

Adam Scott is a great shout, won last week, looks to be performing well now as well. Stricker faultering on his putting a bit so it could be wide open going into the weekend. After the Ipswich game I'll post a bit on here and then be watching the golf from about 6 (coverage from 4 tomorrow on Sky)

 

[H-D]

The last few groups are ending their second rounds, the Americans are dominating, but Tiger Woods will be absent for the weekend. He misses the cut by six shots, after carding a 77 and 73. The defending champion Martin Kaymer also misses the cut on +5.

Jason Day, Graeme McDowell, Dustin Johnson (one of my tips ) and Darren Clarke are other notable absentees for Saturday and Sunday.

The top players at present are as follows:
T1. Jason Dufner (USA) -5
T1. Keegan Bradley (USA)

T3. D.A Points (USA) -4
T3. Jim Furyk (USA)
T3. Brandt Jobe (USA)
T3. Scott Verplank (USA)
T3. John Senden (AUS)

T8. Brendan Steele (USA) -3
T8. Steve Stricker (USA)
T8. Anders Hansen (DEN)

My other prediction, Lee Westwood, is tied for 14th going into the final two rounds on -1, so hopefully he can make a move up the leaderboard during the next 36 holes

 

[tigercity]

Westwood tee to green is playing the best golf, but he just misses so many putts..

So our own leaderboard..

-3 S Stricker (dad!)
-2 A Scott (me)
-1 L Westwood (you)
+2 M Kuchar (dad)
+3 R McIlroy (me)
---------------------
+7 D Johnson (you)

yep after the stress of listening to City on tigersplayer it will be golf all evening..

 

[H-D]

Interesting 3rd Round, those final four holes are causing a lot of problems for the players. It's an all American top 5; Brendan Steele and Jason Dufner leading at -7.

Our predictions appear to be slightly falling away tigercity, here's our leaderboard going into Sunday (leaders at -7):

-4 Steve Stricker (tigercity snr)
-2 Adam Scott (tigercity)
-1 Lee Westwood (H-D)
+-0 Matt Kuchar (tigercity snr)
+7 Rory McIlroy (tigercity
-------------CUT----------------
+7 Dustin Johnson (H-D)

Should be a good watch on Sunday evening, Jason Dufner played with outrageous nonchalance today, I think he could well lift the USPGA title in Atlanta.

 

[H-D]

It's getting tense... Dufner and Bradley are tied for the lead at -8, Hansen one back on -7. The final group are on 18

Our predictions have unforunately fallen by the way side tigercity

 

[H-D]

Dufner misses a monster putt to win on 18, he taps in from 3 feet and is now heading to a three hole play-off with Keegan Bradley (they both finished 72 holes on -8).

The Duffman had a 4 shot lead going into the 15th!! I fancy him for this play-off however....

 

[H-D]

Going into the thrid and final play-off hole, Keegan Bradley holds a two shot lead after a birdie on 16 and a solid par at 17. The Duffman parred the 16th but three putted at the par 3 to drop back to +1.

The water will play a huge factor in this final play-off hole. Bradley to win by one............

 

[H-D]

KEEGAN BRADLEY wins this year's final major in a play-off, beating Jason Dufner by 1 stroke.

 

[tidalbay]

had him at 125/1 only one pick. Like his style of play. Will be an exciting player to watch in next year's Ryder Cup.

I have had a super year backing at the US Majors getting Schwartzel at 80/1 for the Masters and Jason Day placed at the Masters and open 100/1, 66/1

 

[H-D]

had him at 125/1 only one pick. Like his style of play. Will be an exciting player to watch in next year's Ryder Cup.

I have had a super year backing at the US Majors getting Schwartzel at 80/1 for the Masters and Jason Day placed at the Masters and open 100/1, 66/1

That's some effort, well played! My only winnings in the majors came at the US Open, I had Rory for places

Bradley will certainly be a player to watch in the coming years, let's hope this isn't just a one off

 

[tidalbay]

I think Westwood is running out of time at 38 years of age - consistently one of the best players in the world for the past 10 years, however someone produces a piece of magic at the latter stages of the round like Bradley did this time or especially the time Mickelson went on a hot streak a couple of years ago in the Masters. Westwood is missing that spark to produce the magic when it is required, which is unfortunate because he is a top player, and his world ranking shows that. I think the next British major winner is likely to be Donald and that is likely to happen in an American course rather than the British Open as Donald does possess the ability to win tournaments from tight situations as he showed in America (albeit he did win the Scottish Open similarly).

 

[Chris.]

Congratulations to Keegan Bradley!