US PGA Championship / Paul Krishnamurty / 09 August 2009 /

Paul Krishnamurty highlights four world class players with strong US PGA records to consider when putting together your bets for the last major of the year.

Geoff Ogilvy

It's three years since Ogilvy won his sole major, the US Open at Winged Foot, but a series of prestigious victories in the meantime strongly suggest there will be more majors to follow in due course. This year's World Matchplay victory was his third WGC title, and sixth on the PGA Tour, confirming that he is very much a man for the big occasion.

If there are more majors to come, it would seem that either another US Open or the PGA are by far the likeliest targets. Ogilvy has made all six cuts in the PGA, with three top-10s and a worst finish of 31st back on his debut. So long as he can put a miserable performance at the recent Open Championship behind him, the 31 year-old Australian looks a surefire contender.

Adam Scott

Another Aussie to have shown some promise in this major is the perennially disappointing Adam Scott. Three top-12 finishes in the last five renewals barely add up to making him a specialist, but its a far superior record to Scott's performances in the other majors. With an impressive 14 worldwide titles to his name, this lack of success in the game's very biggest events remains a glaring gap on his cv.

Nevertheless, he will surely break through eventually and as that record illustrates, this is the most likely major. Scott can also draw some encouragement from a promising 23rd place at Hazeltine in 2002, which was still relatively early in his career. At the time, Adam had never won in the States and was clearly still on a learning curve.

Justin Leonard

Leonard has twice come painfully close to winning this title, which would elevate him to the exclusive club of dual major winners. Back in 1997, he finished second to Davis Love, with the pair well clear of the rest, for what would have been his second consecutive major after winning the Open at Troon.

More recently, he lost a three-way play-off at Whistling Straits in 2004 after trading at heavily odds-on. In total, the Texan has made five PGA top-10s, one of which came on this course in 2002. Still only 37 and with 12 PGA Tour titles already, there is probably more to come.

Vijay Singh

As two of Vijay's three major titles have come in the PGA Championship, this must rate as his favourite and best chance of winning a fourth. To do so at Hazeltine however, he will need to improve dramatically on recent attempts, as he's surprisingly missed the cut in each of the last three years.

It's tempting to see those failures as evidence of decline. However, many were saying the same thing this time last year and Vijay's response then was to win three elite events in the space of a few weeks, strolling to the lucrative Fedex Cup title in the process. There have been hints of a return to form in recent weeks, and Vijay has already proved he can handle this course by finishing eighth at Hazeltine in 2002, one of six top-10 finishes in the event.

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