With PGA Championship Week in full swing we asked The Golf Channel’s Mark Lye and Frank Nobilo to take time away from their Sprint Post Game duties to answer a few questions on the field and the course.
1. Does Baltusrol GC set up better for defending champion Vijay Singh or World No. 1 Tiger Woods?
Frank Nobilo:
Baltusrol GC favours neither one of the top two players in the word and will provide a very level playing ground for Vijay to defend his PGA Championships or Tiger to perhaps surpass his year of 2000.
Mark Lye:
Im going to have to say Tiger. Vijay is a better driver of the ball day-in and day-out, but Tiger is really driving the ball well right now. Driving it straight will be very important this week.
2. What do you think of the course ending with back-to-back par-5s?
Can Sergio Garcia finally take his place among Spain’s major championship winners?
Frank Nobilo:
I have never been a great fan of Major Championships finishing with a par-5 let alone back to back par 5s always having preferred a tough par-4 as a finishing hole. That being said if it were to come down to a finish between the two premium power players of the day in Woods and Singh that might be the ultimate test for the two in testing there ability to finish 4-4.
Mark Lye:
I played in the U.S. Open (at Baltusrol) in 1980, and its so hard to get anything going when you dont have par-5s until the last two holes. Its just a bad sequence.
3. Who has the best chance to win their first major championship this week?
Frank Nobilo:
Sergio Garcia is still the best player not too and best likely to win his first Major championship. Will the Golfing Gods agree though?
Mark Lye:
Tim Clark. I just think this guys got a lot of guts, drives it straight. Hes an excellent iron player. And hes about due (to win a big event).
4. Phil Mickelson has made special effort to prepare for each major this year without reaping positive results. Can a player over prepare for a major?
Frank Nobilo:
I believe you can over prepare for a major. If you factor in for everything that might go wrong, ‘If I hit it here or here’ you sometimes forget the beauty of the rawness of hitting a collection of great shots.
Playing with a mind innocent of doubt is more important.
Mark Lye:
Yeah, I do. Either you have the game for a certain course or you dont. I dont think Phil Mickelson is malleable. I dont think Phil can adapt his game to a golf course. And nothing against Phil, because I think Tiger can be that way, like on a course like Hilton Head. He just doesnt play those events.
5. How does the PGA Championship rank among the four majors?
Frank Nobilo:
The PGA Championship over the last ten years has had more top 100 players in it than any other major. So that makes it the strongest field. It might not be as Romantic as a Masters or an Open Championship but you are beating the best the game has to offer.
Mark Lye:
I would rank the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship about the same. Personally, I think its the Masters (No. 1) and then the British Open. The PGA and U.S. Open are tied third.
6. What is your most memorable PGA Championship moment?
Frank Nobilo:
One of the first PGA Championships I ever played was 1992 at Bellerive. I made one of the longest putts in my career. But at first the ball hung on the lip and it finally fell in when I got within a couple of feet. So all in all it must have stayed above ground for about 15 seconds which was legal because I hadn’t got to the hole. The roar was crazy.
Mark Lye:
When I got in as an alternate in 1991 and didnt go, and they gave that spot to John Daly. Wednesday morning of the tournament, I got a phone call telling me I was in and I said I didnt have time to prepare and get my game in proper shape. I asked who was next on the list and they said Brad Bryant. I said, He wont go; hes got a wedding to attend. I asked who was next and they said John Daly. I said, Give it to him; hell go. And then he won.
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