US PGA Championship |
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Venue: Whistling Straits, Wisconsin Dates: 13-16 August |
Coverage: Live radio commentary on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and online from 20:00 BST on 15 August and on BBC Radio 5 live and online from 20:00 BST on 16 August. Live text commentary of all four days online. |
If the 'three Rs' provide the basics of education, they also neatly sum up what we have learned about the golfing scene before the final major of 2015.
Instead of reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic we should consider Rory, revenge and redemption as the mottos for the 97th PGA Championship, which starts at Whistling Straits on Thursday.
Rory McIlroy has made a stunning return from the ankle injury that threatened to wipe out his competitive summer. The 26-year-old is defending champion and claims he is 100% fit to play the undulating links-style lay-out on the shore of Lake Michigan.
The fateful kickabout that led to a ruptured ligament in his left ankle cost him the chance to defend his titles at the Open and WGC Invitational at Firestone.
Still world number one, McIlroy hasn't played competitively since the US Open but, remarkably, his return comes less than six weeks after getting injured.
He is bolstered by sustained practice in Portugal, and a weekend at Whistling Straits while the rest of the world's best were competing at Firestone. That gives the Northern Irishman a potentially vital advantage.
The course is soft, it suits his game and he was third here when Martin Kaymertriumphed in the 2010 PGA.
So there are plenty of reasons for optimism. Another is McIlroy's usual foot action, which involves flicking his left foot outwards through impact.
Other players roll onto the ankle, and that's where the damaged ligament would have a much bigger role.
Watching McIlroy on the range here at Whistling Straits, the strapped joint seems perfectly capable of maintaining the flick that facilitates his weight transfer.
How it stands up to the pressure of competition remains to be seen.
While McIlroy was in the initial stages of his recovery, Jordan Spieth was coming within a couple of shots of claiming a third major in a row. The Masters and US Open champion bogeyed the 17th and finished a stroke outside the Open play-off won by fellow American Zach Johnson.
Spieth wants revenge for that missed opportunity, and this week affords another chance for him to become only the third man after Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods to win three majors in the same year.