In a way, there are two defending champions in the PGA Championship this week on the Lower Course at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield Township, N.J.
World No. 1 Jason Day of Australia captured his first major title in the final Grand Slam event last season, beating Jordan Spieth by three strokes at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis.
And Phil Mickelson won the 2005 PGA, the last time it was played at Baltusrol, hitting a sublime pitch shot to within one foot of the hole for a closing birdie to beat Steve Elkington of Australia and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark by one shot.
“I’ve got a lot of special memories going back to Baltusrol in ’05, and probably (that) we don’t have a month to wait between majors is a good thing for me,” Mickelson, 46, said after losing out to Henrik Stenson of Sweden in a classic duel in the Open Championship at Royal Troon two weeks ago. “I’ll try to look at the positives and take that into Baltusrol and keep my game sharp over the next week or two, as opposed to going home and taking some time off. …
“I look back on (the victory at Baltusrol) and I look back at how little my kids were, running around the green, it’s amazing how the time has gone by. (New Jersey) has been so good to me and my family over the years. … In ’05, winning at Baltusrol is one of the highlights of my career.”
Lefty is treated as something of a folk hero by the New York-New Jersey fans when he returns to play in the Barclays at the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Expect the same for popular Day, who followed his PGA tour victory by winning the Barclays at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, N.J., about an hour and a half drive from Baltusrol.
“It’s amazing what this golf course has seen over the years,” Day said of Baltusrol, which has hosted seven U.S. Opens, four U.S. Amateurs, two U.S. Women’s Opens and Amateurs, as well as two PGA Championships. “It’s one where you really want to win because you want it on your resume. I’m looking forward to the challenge. …
“It has been a crazy last 12 months. I think the next step for me is to go, ‘OK, how many can I win now?’ and be able to shoot at a goal for maybe the career Grand Slam, even though it is tough to get that, but that’s a good goal to have.”
Balusrol was designed by A.W. Tillinghast and opened in 1918. The U.S. Open and the U.S. Women’s Open have been contested on both its Upper and Lower courses.
Genevieve Hecker won the first national event at Baltusrol, the 1901 U.S. Women’s Amateur, on the original Old Course, and Willie Anderson claimed the U.S. Open title on that layout two years later.
There were five USGA events played on the Old Course through the 1915 U.S. Open, won by amateur Jerome Travers, but Tillinghast had the course plowed under to make way for his new creations.
Famed amateur George Von Elm captured the 1926 U.S. Amateur on the Lower Course, and Tony Manero claimed the U.S. Open on the Upper Course in 1936.
Jack Nicklaus collected two of his record 18 major championships at Baltusrol, winning the 1967 and 1980 titles on the Lower Course.
Other U.S. Open winners were Ed Furgol in 1954, Lee Janzen in 1993 and Mickelson in 2005, all on the Lower Course.
Mickey Wright, one of the all-time greats of the women’s game, earned one of her 13 major victories at Baltusrol in the 1961 Women’s Open on the Lower Course, and Kathy Baker won the same tournament on the Upper Course in 1985.
The PGA Tour schedule is a bit skewed with golf returning to the Olympic Games next month in Rio de Janeiro, although several of the top men’s players are not making the trip.
The Olympics prompted the move of the PGA Championship nearly a month from its normal August dates.
There have been double major winners in each of the last two years, with Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland claiming the 2014 Open Championship and the PGA Championship, and Jordan Spieth winning the Masters and the U.S. Open last season.
It still can happen again this year, but only Masters champion Danny Willett of England, U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson and Open champion Stenson have a chance to pull off that feat.
They will be among the favorites along with Day and Mickelson, but among that group, only Lefty knows exactly what it takes to win at Baltusrol.
–Story courtesy of The Sports Xchange, TSX Golf Editor Tom LaMarre
