The final day of the PGA Championship was fantastic to watch – and Justin Thomas showed his experience to get over the line.
It came alive with nine or 10 holes to go, as Majors normally do. It’s uncanny how many times the guys that have been the distance before just seem to do that little bit extra. It just seems to go their way.
Justin is a former world number one who has been playing great, and he has won the tournament before.
He finished with four birdies from his last 10 holes and it was amazing how he just seemed to get over the line.
I felt so sorry for young Mito Pereira, who just needed a par-four at the 18th to win it, and a five to play off.
These things happen in golf, and I thought he handled himself amazingly after it – he was playing on the Korn Ferry Tour last year.
He obviously made a wee mistake off the tee and didn’t quite finish it off.
Hats off to Justin though, as Will Zalatoris is another young kid that has been pushing, and it would not surprise me if he wins a Major as well.
I feel Matt Fitzpatrick is knocking on the door now, and has been for a wee while.
I really don’t feel it will be too long before he’s got a major under his belt. He has found a little bit of length, and he’s hitting the ball out a bit from the rough, which you need to do to compete at the top in the majors.
Matt will have learned a hell of a lot from playing in the last group on Sunday. He will have seen what he needs to do to win now.
He said he didn’t have the ball under control, but he put a nice message out saying he was gutted but he was going to learn from it and come back stronger. That’s the only way you can learn, by getting into these positions.
— Matt Fitzpatrick (@MattFitz94) May 23, 2022
It’s the same for Pereira – if he is put into that position again, I’m sure he will do something differently. These are the only guys that know what happened.
The young guys are playing really good golf at the moment.
It was as fair a PGA Championship as you are going to play as the course was fantastic.
There were days over the weekend when the players had to deal with the elements. When you watched them warming up they had hats, jumpers and jackets on.
It had more of an Open Championship feel to it. I would say the Open is the Major where the draw can affect one side, as it can be windy in the morning and calm later in the day.
You generally wouldn’t associate that with something in America though. That’s what happened this week with a bit of inclement weather, but I thought the course played fantastic.
When you hear a lot of guys saying how fair the course was, that’s when you know the guy that won it played the best golf. That’s what you want in the Majors.
The Americans are certainly firing on all cylinders. The good thing for us is that both Justin and Scottie Scheffler are coming to the Scottish Open. It’s great for our fans to get a chance to see two of the currently top-five ranked players – the PGA champion and the Masters champion.
Hopefully we can get the hat-trick, and whoever wins the US Open will come as well.
Learning curve for MacIntyre
It was a difficult end to the weekend for Robert MacIntyre, but one he will learn lessons from.
I liked Bob’s comments before he played, when he said he felt he had a good chance in the majors.
He has made all nine cuts out of nine, which is no mean feat at all for someone at the age of 25.
He had a great first couple of rounds, shooting 70 and 71. The elements didn’t help him, though, it was a very tough day when you saw a lot of high scores, but getting the 80 in the third round just knocked the wind out of his sails.
When you know you’re outwith it you are just going through the motions. It doesn’t really get the juices flowing like it does when you’re in contention.
He has had some top-10s in Majors, and he will go away from that and see where he needs to improve.
I know for a fact he thinks he’s really got a chance of winning a major. If he’s got that mindset and he’s tailoring his preparation towards that, he’s got the Open coming up, where he has finished in the top-10 twice.
It’s just part of the learning. You don’t win many Majors, but the way to win them is to get into contention a lot and then knock one off at the end.
Before the turn, who would have bet on Justin Thomas to win it? What he did was got himself into contention and finished the strongest out of all the guys up there. That’s all you need to do.
As Bob found, all you need in the Majors is one poor round and you are out of the scene.
He knows that and he will regroup, as he’s playing next week at the European Open where he needs a good one to try and get into the US Open.
He’s so young and he’s learning all the time. I’m sure he will be contending again in times to come.
My own season is starting to gather pace
I am currently in Holland and ready to go at this week’s Dutch Open.
I have never played the Bernardus course before, which is only four years old – but it’s a fantastic golf course.
It had the same designer as Kingsbarns, so the similarities are uncanny. It’s like an inland links course and that’s how it plays. It’s windy, firm and fiery – so it’s just like being back home.
I’ll be straight from here to Germany for the European Open, before I have a week off and then it’s a big run right through the summer.
That’s it full on for me now, so it will be good to try and hit a bit of form and see how we go.
