Cinderella won’t get to the ball

FOR 12 of the last 15 champions of the US PGA, it was their first time winning a major championship.

And some of those have been serious springers. Guys like John Daly at Crooked Stick in 1981; Jeff Sluman, all 5ft 7ins of him at Oak Tree in '88; Wayne Grady at Shoal Creek in 1990; and Rich Beem at Hazeltine last year. You could have walked into the bookmakers before each of their victories and been offered 150-1.

The Cinderella saga has become an annual storyline at the PGA but this time, you suspect it may have a different ending. Curtis Strange, winner of the US Open here in 1988, accepts there could be another first time major winner but still has his doubts and for apparently very sound reasons.