This crazy PGA Championship is like a video game. Choose your fighter

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Bear with me because I am about to say something that not everyone will understand… Choose Your Character?

It became popular among the TikTok generation to make videos about characters the public identified with, using audio taken from the Character Selection page of the video game “Super Smash Bros.” If that all sounds crazy, stay with us — we're almost there.

The reason this is relevant to the PGA Championship is because the 54-hole leaderboard is so mixed with characters and has so many different stories – so many permutations, as Aaron Rai said on Saturday – that it's time for everyone at home to exercise options and [booming voice] CHOOSE … YOUR CHARACTER.

We will rank the options from the least likely to raise Wanamaker to the most likely.

CHOOSE YOUR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTER

11. If you want chaos that no one knows what to do with…

You choose Bud Cauley (-2), Brian Harman (-2), Ben Griffin (-2) or any of the players who have somehow persevered in this poor stoppage and yet have had few consciences all week. They've completed the same number of holes as everyone else, and only made fewer strokes in the process. Maybe on Sunday they played the best golf of their lives? If so, we'll be trying to find out where they are all week.

10. When you look back on your youth with longing…

You walk away perfect Joaquin Niemann (-2) or Cam Smith (-2). Both LIV golfers have had a lot of promise over the years, but have faded in ways that should leave them pondering all that comes with their decisions to commit to LIV Golf. Niemann played his best golf there, just before the league receives World Ranking points; Smith played his best golf just before he went to LIV, period. We wanted them to hit the majors, but it didn't happen, and somehow they both came up again this week.

[the ranking continues below the graphic]

9. If math was your favorite class in high school…

Tends to go down Nick Taylor (-4), Aaron Rai (-4) or Kristoffer Reitan (-4). Why those guys? Because he believes in the predictive effects of the bell curve. How the most expected results happen more often but not always. That there were many majors won by Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, but also Jimmy Walker, Shaun Michele, Ben Curtis, etc.

It might sound offensive to pre-label those men as potential winners at one point, but it feels right, too. In the next 10 years, there will be a one-time winner who will steal one. Could it be Sunday?

8. If you think elder abuse is bad…

Then you pray Justin Rose (-2) he does it. The 45-year-old has been so good in the majors the past two years, recording top-six finishes in the division, that it feels unfair that he keeps coming up just short. Rose finished T6, almost, at the 2024 PGA, and T2 a few months later at the Open, lost in the final at the 2025 Masters and then won the Masters last month before losing his grip on the green jacket again. It sounds like us you have happen before it can't happen again.

7. What do you know about Leicester City?

The 2015 English Premier League champions were lucky. They didn't have all the money to buy all the players with all the equipment. But they fight hard and feel that people fight not take them seriously … until they it was necessary to take yourself seriously. Then Leicester won.

Alex Smalley (-6) he has led the tournament by some margin after each round, and now holds a two-shot lead going into the final 18 holes. He's not a fan favorite by any stretch, but his game is more respectable than most fans realize. He has been making the rounds on tour leaderboards for the past two months. It's time to take him seriously.

6. If you want a party to happen…

You need something close to the local boy, and it is Chris Gotterup (-2). Philadelphia golf fans have never had much interest in this tournament, at least not a legitimate winner. But a lot of Chris Gotterup's family and friends are here in Aronimink after making a quick trip from New Jersey or New York.

When Gotterup got to 5 under and a share of the lead midway through Saturday, his fans were starting to riot. If he somehow gets into that position on Sunday, expect the Philly locals to join in.

5. If you think experience should matter…

Xander Schauffele (-3) he's just sitting, waiting, with two big wins under his belt. He was there all week. Two under after the first round, five back after 36 holes, now three under and waiting for everyone to collapse around him, like at Royal Troon in 2024. Schauffele has barely made it around the majors, finishing in the top 18 in 15 of the last 16. So, yes, he will be there, just waiting.

4. If “The Talented Mr. Ripley” is one of your favorite fairy tales…

Patrick Reed (-3) your character. Reed, as Tom Ripley, is a shape-shifting chameleon. He is a former member of LIV, a current member of the DP World Tour and a former and future member of the PGA Tour. He he's a hell of a talent, and now that he's putting in decent form, he's a threat to steal this tournament from anyone you might think deserves it.

3. If you enjoy LeBron James…

Then Scottie Scheffler (-1) it's your person. Watching beauty in sports keeps you going. Another fan at Aronimink said “C'mon LeBron” at Scheffler as he walked past on Saturday. Maybe that's because cheering for LeBron is believing in greatness. And it's like congratulations to Scheffler, too. Finding roots so that one can achieve what one has it seems to be worthy.

2. If you believe that dust is silent…

He trusts Jon Rahm (-4) he can do what he didn't do last year and finish the deal. Rahm is a great golfer who willingly made some controversial moves in his prime. Those decisions created a subtle narrative about the most important years of his career, a time when he didn't add to his grand total or compete outside the 2025 PGA, where he met Scheffler and faded late. This time Scheffler might not stand in Rahm's way, but someone else might…

1. If you want to see history…

You need it Rory McIlroy (-3) to appear. You may not like how much his ideas lead golf, but you have to admit that when the Masters is over, there's only one person who can win the Grand Slam of a calendar year, and that's him. McIlroy has criticized the course's setup more than once this week, starting his tournament with a “s–t” 74 and somehow returning to just three. If he were to win, that would give the sport a lot of juice heading into the US Open next month, and we haven't had a chance to really talk about the calendar since Jordan Spieth 11 years ago.