GOLF 90th US PGA CHAMPIONSHIP:THE JOURNEY to the final major of golf's season has been exhilarating, to say the least.

Trevor Immelman winning the green jacket at the Masters just months after undergoing surgery to remove a tumour; Tiger Woods's unconquerable spirit evident in winning the US Open with a dodgy knee, and Pádraig Harrington - his preparations curtailed because of a wrist injury - retaining the Claret Jug with an indomitable display at the British Open.

For sure, the 90th US PGA championship, one known as "Glory's Last Chance", has a great deal to live up to.

Indeed, given the medical afflictions of each one of this year's major champions, we could be forgiven for resorting to scouring the range and the putting greens and, dare we say it, the locker-room for evidence of an ailment among those likely to contend here at Oakland Hills. Perhaps a sore hand for Sergio? Or an injured back for Vijay? Or a rickety elbow for Phil? As Lee Westwood quipped when asked if he had an injury, "No, but I'm always capable of making one up . . . oh, my neck!"

The truth of the matter is that those players seeking to claim the Wanamaker Trophy will need to be in the whole of their health for this examination, on a course playing to a par 70 of 7,395 yards. What's more, the set-up is more akin to that traditionally found at a US Open: the fairways have narrow landing areas and the rough, a uniform four inches, is heavy while the greens are running at 12 and a half on the stimpmetre.

Yet, as Sergio Garcia observed, the test here - where no fewer than eight members of Europe's winning Ryder Cup team in 2004 will carry fond memories, perhaps sufficient even to end a drought of some 78 years since the last European winner of this championship - is quite different from that experienced in the last major, at Royal Birkdale, a month ago.

"Obviously, it is tough to play these courses because they are demanding. But the variety of shots that you have to hit in a British Open, it's greater than you have to hit around here. I mean, shots around the greens here is more like just (taking) a big whack at it, (to) try to get out of the rough and land softly. At the Open, you can bump-and-run, flop it, do different stuff."

If the same imagination is not required on this occasion, the exam will be tough in a very different way. The course has been tweaked since the Ryder Cup four years ago - "It's definitely playing tougher . . . the rough is thicker, they've added length and the bunkers are deeper," said Garcia - and the onus will be on players to bring all facets of their games (driving, iron play, short game and putting) to the first tee. Oh, and a strong mental attitude too!

In the absence of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson - the world's number two - has been installed as the pre-championship favourite. Yet, and especially so after his collapse down the stretch in Akron last week where he bogeyed three of the last four holes, doubts remain about Mickelson's ability to get the job done in majors these days. He hasn't won a major since the 2006 Masters and he has only posted two top-five finishes in majors in the last nine since his last hole meltdown in the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot.

So, if not Mickelson, who? Vijay Singh hadn't won in over 17 months until his win in the Bridgestone Invitational; yet, again, there are question marks about the Fijian's putting, and particularly so on the undulating greens here that retain so many of Donald Ross's original contours and nuances. If such frailties with putter reappear, he won't get away with it this time.

And Kenny Perry, probably the hottest player in the US this season now that Woods has been forced into recuperation, will actually be stepping into new territory. Although he has three wins on tour inside the past two months, this will be Perry's first appearance in a major. Still, he deserves consideration.

Indeed, the great conundrum is why European players have struggled so much in the PGA championship down the years. Even when Langer and Ballesteros and Faldo were in their prime, the title evaded their clutches. This time, though, there is the feeling abroad that it could be time for a breakthrough; and, in that regard, Harrington - one of three Irish players in the field, along with Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke - is very much to the fore.

With in-form players like Westwood, Robert Karlsson (the only player to have top-10 finishes in all three majors so far this season) and Ian Poulter providing solid back-up, Harrington - despite a bizarrely poor record in the US PGA - can go a long way towards spearheading a European win.

"I'm pretty comfortable with the test ahead," confirmed Harrington, who is seeking to become just the fourth player in history to follow up a British Open win with a US PGA victory. "Last week (in Akron), I was a little bit off my game, a bit tired . . . this week I'm fine. It is just a question of making sure I am ready mentally. It is a tough course, which suits me. So, yes, I'm pretty comfortable."