Here are some fearless predictions for the Centennial 2018 PGA Championship to be held at Bellerive Country Club in steamy St. Louis, Missouri this weekend:
1. It will be hot.
2. It will be very hot. And humid.
3. Tiger Woods will not win.
4. Tiger Woods will not win a tournament in which he has to use driver on a regular basis (Woods competed at the recent Open at Carnoustie because the condition of the course allowed golfers to use irons off the tee and still attain remarkable distance on the tee shots. Bellerive offers no such luxury.)
5. Every pundit is predicting the long hitters have a real advantage at Bellerive, and I am no exception. Give me Rory McIlroy or Dustin Johnson, with Tony Finau (everyone's favorite dark horse) as the potential holders of the Wanamaker Cup.
6. Jordan Spieth will not get his career slam this year, unfortunately. (I like Spieth, but I don't t believe he has the firepower to take down Bellerive this year.)
7. Thia is the last year that the PGA Championship will be the caboose of the four golf major tournaments. Scheduled for May 13-19, 2019, at Bethpage State Park's Black Course, the PGA Championship will be the second major played in the
2019 tournament schedule, five weeks after the Masters Tournament and
five weeks before the U.S. Open. This is a huge change in the scheduling and tradition of golf. The law of unintended consequences always rears its ugly head, so it is likely that the earlier PGA Championship may have serious consequences upon the way that the U.S. Open is viewed, and may increase the popularity of the Open Championship (if that is even possile) as a result. Imagine a golfer having to win the Open Championsip to complete the Grand Slam, as winds blow and rain pelts the field. What a glorious circumstance that would be. Thank you, PGA, for making this change and enhancing the relevance of the caboose next year.
Enjoy!
AMDG
Copyright 2012-2018 R.E. Kelly
