| NOTES | | | The year`s final major takes place this week as the golf world turns its head
to the 93rd PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. Many of the world`s
best are heading just outside Atlanta for a final chance to win a major in
2011. Some of the world`s top players are still looking for their first big
win, while others are trying to pad their resumes or simply continue the
comeback trail. Most eyes will certainly be pinned on Tiger Woods, who played
in last week`s WGC - Bridgestone Invitational to little success after sitting
out nearly three months with various injuries. Woods missed the last two
major tournaments after nearly capturing the Masters in stunning fashion and
is looking for his 15th major championship and fifth PGA Championship. Woods,
who won his last 13 majors with caddie Steve Williams, will be without his
former partner, whom he fired in July. Williams went on to join Adam Scott,
who won convincingly in Ohio last week and will try for his first major
crown. Williams had some choice words to say following the tournament, and it
should be interesting to see how Woods responds to the controversy on the
golf course, especially if Woods and Scott end up paired together over the
weekend. All the attention Woods is receiving will allow the world`s top two
players, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, to fly under the radar, but neither
can be discounted despite the pair`s lack of a major title. Not only are they
trying to capture their first major tournament, but no Englishman has won
since the event changed to stroke play in 1958. Also lurking is last year`s
champion, Martin Kaymer, who briefly took over the No. 1 spot in the world
this year before settling into the No. 3 spot. He won a three-hole playoff in
2010 by defeating Bubba Watson and didn`t have to face Dustin Johnson, who
was penalized for grounding his club in a bunker on the 72nd hole to lose his
spot in the playoff. Nonetheless, it was a breakthrough victory for the
German, the first member of his country to win this prestigious event. He
enters this week exactly the same as 2010, with a season-opening win at the
Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, but none thereafter. Last year, not only did he
capture the PGA Championship, but he went on to win his next two starts as
well to ascend the world rankings. If Kaymer were to win, he`d be the first
back-to-back champion since Woods won his third and fourth PGA Championships
in 2006-07. A tournament in which Americans have traditionally dominated, the
PGA Championship has been won by a non-American in each of the last three
years, a record. Steve Stricker is the top-ranked player from the United
States at No. 5, while 2005 PGA Champion Phil Mickelson is No. 6. Other
contenders this week include world No. 4 and reigning U.S. Open champion Rory
McIlroy and No. 7 Jason Day, who has finished runner-up in two majors this
year. Atlanta Athletic Club is hosting its fourth men`s major championship
and third PGA Championship this week. The last time it was held in Johns
Creek, David Toms topped a then-majorless Mickelson by one stroke with a
clutch 20-foot putt on the 72nd hole. Toms` total score of 265 is still the
lowest total score in any major to date. This venue has also hosted the 1981
PGA Championship, won by Larry Nelson, and the 1976 U.S. Open, won by Jerry
Pate. The 1990 U.S. Women`s Open was also held at Atlanta Athletic Club, and
Betsy King won that event. CBS and TNT will have coverage of all four rounds
this week. Next week, the PGA Tour heads to Greensboro, North Carolina for
the Wyndham Championship, where Arjun Atwal defeated Toms by a stroke in 2010.
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