Golf: Strongest ever line-up at USPGA

BARRING any late withdrawals, the strongest line-up ever assembled in golf will tee off at Kiawah Island tomorrow for the USPGA Championship.

Since the world rankings started in 1986, the sport’s top 100 have never all played in the same event, but for the final major of the season the leading 103 are currently in the 156-strong field.

No fewer than 40 of them are Europeans, with 98th-ranked David Lynn playing his first major in America at the age of 38, and Roger Chapman amazingly doing the same aged 53 thanks to his victory in the Senior PGA Championship in May.

Keegan Bradley is the defending champion, while Tiger Woods will be chasing his 15th major and other likely contenders include Masters champion Bubba Watson, 2011 US Open winner Rory McIlroy, English pair Lee Westwood and Justin Rose, and South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.