7 wishes for the culmination of the PGA Championship (Brooks-DJ playoff, anyone?)

brooks koepka swings driver

A Brooks Koepka-Dustin Johnson playoff to decide golf's first major in 2020? Don't mind if we do.

Getty Images

Ed. note: Here it is: the seventh of eight installments of Bamberger Briefly, PGA Championship-style. Previously: player-caddie relationships; Tiger’s memoir; Tour grips; Jordan Spieth; a major major; Rory rules.

Seven Sunday Wishes

Wish-Comes-True™ is an exclusive GOLF.com rating system that captures chances on a 65 (likely) to 84 (unlikely) basis. Those numbers represent the lowest and highest scores shot in this PGA Championship through 54 holes. For entertainment purposes only.

1.

Wish: Tiger wears red pants and a black shirt.

Skinny: Enough already.

Wish-Comes-True rating: 84.

2.

Wish: Brooks doesn’t spit on the course.

Skinny: Vile habit, Covid inappropriate.

Wish-Comes-True rating: 81.

3.

Wish: Course flagsticks shake from High Noon to end-of-play.

Skinny: Wind breathes life into Harding Park.

Wish-Comes-True rating: 66.

Flag at 2020 PGA Championship
The rattle and hum of a Bay Area wind could be enough to stir some heart-pounding Sunday drama. Getty Images

4.

Wish: Phil announces he won’t be playing the U.S. Open but working in the NBC booth instead.

Skinny: Golf needs its own Tony Romo.

Wish-Comes-True rating: 69.

5.

Wish: Le golfeur Français Michel Lorenzo-Vera shoots 64 and spends an hour chatting up Jim-‘n-Nick, proving that Continental charm in professional golf is not dead.

Skinny: Jean van de Velde meets Victor Dubuisson and golf is better for it.

Wish-Comes-True rating: 70.

6.

Wish: Jordan Spieth becomes first player to shoot 61 in a major.

Skinny: He needs the thing that will jump-start the rest of his Hall-of-Fame career.

Wish-Comes-True rating: 76.

7.

Wish: Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson finish the 72 holes as co-leaders.

Skinny: The heavyweights go at it in a playoff, gloves off.

Wish-Comes-True rating: 73.

Michael Bamberger may be reached at Michael_Bamberger@Golf.com.

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Michael Bamberger

Michael Bamberger

Golf.com Contributor

Michael Bamberger writes for GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. Before that, he spent nearly 23 years as senior writer for Sports Illustrated. After college, he worked as a newspaper reporter, first for the (Martha’s) Vineyard Gazette, later for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He has written a variety of books about golf and other subjects, the most recent of which is The Second Life of Tiger Woods. His magazine work has been featured in multiple editions of The Best American Sports Writing. He holds a U.S. patent on The E-Club, a utility golf club. In 2016, he was given the Donald Ross Award by the American Society of Golf Course Architects, the organization’s highest honor.