The PGA Championships, which perennially features the deepest international field of any major championship, starts Thursday at the Atlanta Athletic Club. 
Among the storylines for the 93rd edition of the competition will be the return of Tiger Woods to grand slam action.
Rejoining the competition just last week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio after a long layoff due to leg injuries, Woods, who hasn’t won since November 2009, tied for 37th place at 1-over par in his first tournament in almost four months.
Woods is still suffering from the lack of consistent play and trying to fix some bad habits saying, ‘I’m still fighting my old patterns’.
The winner of 14 majors (second all-time to Jack Nicklaus’ 18), Woods will be performing without a familiar colleague at his side. After 13 years of a very successful partnership, Woods and his caddie Steve Williams went their separate ways just a few weeks ago. The Woods-Williams partnership delivered 72 wins and 13 majors between 1999 and 2011, but has failed to produce a single win in nearly two years, and no major titles in over three (his last major championship win was the 2008 US Open).
Williams was stunned when informed and revealed his disappointment saying the firing came as a shock, especially ‘given the circumstances of the past 18 months you can’t find a more loyal person than I’ve been’, which included a period where Woods’ extramarital affairs led to a publicized divorce.
The New Zealand-native now carries the bag for Australian Adam Scott. The new team is starting out hot. Together they won the Bridgestone Invitational last weekend by four shots.
But Scott won’t be the only player with a solid shot at the Wanamaker Trophy.
Steve Stricker who has made the top 20 in all three majors this year, has made the cut at every PGA event he’s entered dating back to August 2009 and while his game isn’t overpowering he does excel in the short game consistently among the leaders in birdies and putting.
Despite three first-time major winners claiming all three of the events thus far this year, a case can be made for US Open champion Rory McIlroy to grab the PGA Championship as well.
A fine striker of the ball, one of the Irishman’s strengths is the short iron game and that will be a key factor here.
Luke Donald is excellent at keeping the ball on the fairway, and while he may not be the most powerful golfer out there, he’s resourceful. Donald is one of the best players on the Tour at getting out of tricky situations and being able to save par in those spots
Lee Westwood has the game to break through for his first major title. Steve Stricker, Rickie Fowler and Jason Day are also capable of making a bid for their first crown.
David Toms, the winner when the PGA Championships were held here in 2001, could be a fine dark horse pick as could Davis Love III who has played well in the majors this year.
Phil Mickelson was runner-up to Toms in 2001.
The Highlands Course is a different venue than it was 10 years ago — some 270 yards longer with major changes to almost all the holes A new cultivar of grass called Champion Bermuda has been planted on the greens (which are fast with lots of slopes) and the fairways have been changed to diamond zoysia, but like many majors, it could be the last four holes at the Highlands Course likely to decide the 93rd PGA Championship. Once players get past the long, par-3 15th, there’s the long, 476-yard, narrow, uphill, par-4 16th with a nearly blind approach to the green. The 17th — the signature hole at the Highlands — is a 207-yard par 3 where improper club selection could land one in the lake protecting most of the green.
And last, but not least, there’s the 507-yard par-4 18th, which gets very narrow off the tee and is one of the trickier finishing holes in major championship golf.
And the winner is: Phil Mickelson
