Could Will Zalatoris or Mito Pereira Be the Next PGA Champ?

In the early part of the CBS Sports media call to preview the PGA Championship, trivia buff and lead anchor for the network, Jim Nantz, said that in all of the majors that had previously been held at Southern Hills, the 36-hole leader won the tournament.

But that was before the golf course was “renovated” to look more like the original Perry Maxwell design and before this year’s length was added.

Looking at the leaderboard right now, that would mean Will Zalatoris or Chilean Mito Pereira is headed for his first major, due in part to their abilities to ball strike Southern Hills within an inch of its lush, green life.  Zalatoris is already known to golf fans based on his stellar play at the Masters a couple of seasons ago.

Pereira, however, is a recent Korn Ferry grad, who played one year for Texas Tech.  He moved up to the PGA Tour by winning three times in Korn Ferry events in a single season. However, winning a PGA Championship is a little different than winning on the Korn Ferry. If he could accomplish it, his life would certainly be changed forever.

Despite the trivia stat, those who are within ten strokes of Zalatoris and Pereira are not going to pack up and leave tomorrow because of past history. They are going to fight – as a funny T-shirt says – like you’re the third monkey on the ramp of Noah’s Ark, determined not to get left behind.

Justin Thomas is not going to let trivia stop him.  He has been looking for a second major for five years, since he won the 2017 PGA.  While he might like to win a U.S. Open or a British Open or next year’s Masters, this is the one he has a great chance to win now. He’s not going to kick it to the curb because it doesn’t come with a jacket. Two majors are better than one major. Ask anybody who has them.

Thomas credited his success on Friday to being able to handle the crosswinds.

“Something very unique about this course is you don’t have very many holes that are directly downwind or directly into the wind,” he said to media after his second round. “You have a lot of crosswinds, so your ball is doing a lot of curving as it’s in the air. In order for it to come down on the target I want, I need it to kind of start in a certain window.”

He was able to do that successfully enough to remain in contention, even though he played in the briskest wind of the day.

With the cut likely to come at 4-over par, that means even Tiger Woods could be around for the weekend, although his chances to win are low.  But many more major champs will also be here. They didn’t win those majors without being tougher than they look.  Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry, Bubba Watson, Francesco Molinari, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose, and yes, Rory McIlroy.

In addition, in what could be the biggest turn of fate in golf ever, Stewart Cink, who missed a short putt at the 18th hole to join a playoff for the 2001 U.S. Open title at Southern Hills, is at 3-under par tied for 6th place.   Could this week be his ultimate redemption?