Who next for major bliss?

It’s the final major of the season and the last opportunity in 2016 to ponder the eternal question: who is the best currently active player not to have a Grand Slam title in their curriculum? And will one member of that less than coveted club make it a fourth first-time major champion this year – and a fifth in a row.

Jason Day is defending the US PGA title this week after making his major championship breakthrough in 2015, and having accumulated nine top-10 finishes previously. Danny Willett was a surprise winner of the 2016 US Masters after a spectacular back-nine collapse by Jordan Spieth (who had secured his own first major at Augusta the previous year). Dustin Johnson eased the heartbreak of various near-misses when he won the US Open title in June, and Henrik Stenson became the first Swede to win a Grand Slam championship with his record-breaking British Open triumph earlier this month.

That still leaves several key golfing nations without a major winner, including all of the following with players in the 2016 PGA field who could conceivably end that agonising wait for their respective compatriots: Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Japan, India and Venezuela (represented by the winner of last week’s Canadian Open on the PGA Tour, Jhonattan Vegas – Day achieved the same double in 2015).

As for individuals, there will always be robust bar-room debate and diverse picks, but a significant number of pundits asked the question would undoubtedly place Sergio García at the top of the list. After a stellar amateur career he was expected to be a quick (and multiple) major winner but his 22 top-10 finishes in majors have included lipped-out putts for victory and other devastating near-misses. Perhaps this year is his turn, after joint fifth-place finishes at the 2016 US and British Opens.

Lee Westwood would also be near the top of most people’s lists, a former world number one with 18 top-10s in majors including nine top-threes – a record for players without a Grand Slam title.

Finally, leading the US charge are Rickie Fowler, Brandt Snedeker and Matt Kuchar, while Australia has the popular Marc Leishman as a solid outside bet to make his major breakthrough this week (or sometime soon).