PGA Championship Preview

Fresh off of watching Rory McIlroy play some of the best golf he’s played in years (more on that later), we are now in PGA Championship week. The second major of the year is being contested at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. The only major of the year that doesn’t invite amateurs has arguably the strongest field that will take to the course in a professional event this season with all of the top 50 on the OWGR list competing. With the special invitation given to Talor Gooch and five other members of the LIV League who were not otherwise eligible, 16 members of the 54 League are in the field. There are also 21 PGA Club Professionals teeing it up. (Normally the PGA of America invites the top 20 from the PGA Professionals Championship, but PGA Pro Michael Block earned his way into the field with his finish at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oakmont).

This is the third time that Valhalla has hosted the PGA Championship with prior winners being Mark Brooks (1996) and Tiger Woods (2000). Valhalla has also hosted two Senior PGA Championships and was the venue for the 2008 Ryder Cup. The course is a monster playing 7,609 yards as a par 71. The bentgrass greens average 5000 square feet making these some of the smallest greens players will see all season on tour. In 2021 the fairways were converted to Zoysiagrass specifically to make the course firmer and faster earlier in the season. There are 3 layers of rough (a mixture of Kentucky Bluegrass and tall fescue), increasing in height the further off the fairway the errant shot flies.

Scoring will be lower than you would expect at a PGA Championship. The course, while lengthy, has three scorable par 5’s and 2 sub 400 yard par 4’s. More importantly, the course has been receiving rain all week and the forecast for the weekend is not much better. The fairways which drain very well, will still not be as firm and fast as we would normally see with dry conditions.

By issuing the invites to Gooch, David Puig, Dean Burmester, Adrian Meronk, Lucas Herbert and Patrick Reed, the PGA of America made for an interesting field. Much like at Augusta, the pre-tournament media room and coverage has been filled with discussions of the “Tour Wars.” Jon Rahm made waves on Tuesday by stating that he “is still a member of the PGA Tour.” How the LIV players compare to the PGA Tour players will make for a compelling backdrop no matter how your loyalties lie in this “fight.”

There are a few other interesting backstories in play this week. Monday the story broke that Rory McIlroy filed for divorce this week. Some pundits are downplaying his chances as his “mind will be elsewhere.” My two takes on this are that Rory knew he was filing for divorce on Sunday at the Wells Fargo when he played Xander Schauffele into a body bag and that in May 2014 Rory ended his engagement with Caroline Wozniacki and went on a tear. Rory won the 2014 PGA Championship.

Finally, if you believe in coincidences, Matt Fitzpatrick won the US Open at Brookline where he had previously won the US Amateur. Valhalla has hosted the Junior PGA Championship. The winner? Akshay Bhatia.