Woods' return, Mickelson's absence and other talking points at US PGA Championship

The season’s second major, the US PGA Championship, begins this Thursday at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We look at some of the main storylines heading into the event.

Here we go once more. Woods is back, for the first time since his shock return at last month’s Masters. Back then, following a 47th-place finish in which he clearly - and understandably - ran out of gas, the 15-time major champion would not commit to Southern Hills, offering only the Open Championship as a certainty on his recalibrated calendar.

However, Woods rocked up in Tulsa last month for a recce – he was even, apparently, given course tips from the club’s director of golf – and has been on site already this week getting in the practice rounds. So what sort of Woods will we get? His remarkable comeback at the Masters came 17 months after his last competitive outing, and less than 14 months after a life-threatening car crash.

At Augusta, Woods put on a characteristically impressive display, especially given his reconstructed left leg was visibly hampering him as the week went on. His opening-round 71 was astounding. So to Southern Hills. Woods won there the last time the tournament was staged in Tulsa, in 2007 (the course has undergone a serious revamp since) and the warmer weather should play to his advantage.

Meanwhile, both he and caddie Joe LaCava have spoken this week about Woods being stronger physically, with much more stamina that he displayed at the Masters. Still, at 46 and with still hardly any recent tournament time under his belt, expectations should be tempered.

Jordan Spieth after the final round of the AT&T Byron Nelson in Texas. AFP

For Rory McIlroy at the Masters, read Spieth at the US PGA Championship. The