The Irishman has a slight chance to win on Sunday, but there’s also the feeling – so common in recent years – that there’s a tangible gravitational pull tugging him downward when he gets too close to the top spot at these majors.
For what it’s worth, Block isn’t trying to get ahead of himself, trying to block out the noise and stay in the moment to appreciate it for what it is. He’s already achieved something he doubted, which is if he had the game to compete with the best, and through 54 holes, he has.
Phil Mickelson made a messy double bogey on Oak Hill’s sixth hole during Friday’s second round of the 2023 PGA Championship. If it weren’t for a PGA rules official, however, it would have been even worse.
With the PGA settled into its new May spot on the calendar, there remain moments in its history that feel just so, well, PGA-like. We’d argue they give the championship a character that the rest of the Majors might actually envy – moments of humour and levity that have an appealing, let’s-not-take-ourselves-too-seriously feel. These moments deserve commemoration as well.
Mickelson appeared to be calling out the fact that a handful of LIV golfers who were not in the PGA Championship field are ranked higher on the Official World Golf Ranking than at least one golfer who will be competing, Beau Hossler, ranked 128th.
Stolz didn’t play or even own a set of golf clubs for five years before his looming 50th birthday instigated a nagging thought in the back of his mind that couldn’t be ignored.
According to Thomas’ Whoop strap – a digital performance and recovery tracking band – he recorded a 100-percent sleep score the night before his victory.
The Chilean will have plenty of thoughts and regrets to deal with later, but for now he deserves credit for standing up and treating this as it should be treated – like an unfortunate sports result, and not a world tragedy.
Australian Golf Digest
