LOUIS VILLE SLUGGERS
Big names, big stories throughout field at Valhalla this week
Where do we start? If you’re intent on locking in on one central story at the 2024 PGA Championship this week at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky., good luck with that.
“The gods of script writing have shone a very bright light on the PGA Championship for years,’’ CBS commentator Jim Nantz said. “They have put on some of the most exciting majors of all. And Valhalla has produced some memorable and epic events there — Tiger [Woods] and Bob May, Rory [McIlroy] edging out Rickie [Fowler] and Phil [Mickelson] at the end in darkness in 2014, the [2012] Ryder Cup.
“I kind of feel like Valhalla is charmed and just has this ability to produce high drama, so I can’t wait to see what it’s going to be this time.’’
You could focus on world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who enters this week having won four of his last five starts, including his second Masters green jacket.
Scheffler has finished no worse than in a tie for 17th in his 10 tournaments this year. The only tournament he didn’t win in the past five he finished runner-up.
Oh yes, Scheffler also enters the week having taken this week’s Wells Fargo Championship off to be with his wife, Meredith, who’s expecting the couple’s first child any minute. If she doesn’t give birth before Thursday’s opening round, but does during the tournament, Scheffler is on record saying he’d leave immediately. So, there’s that drama lurking. There, too, is always McIlroy drama.
The Northern Irishman last won a major championship 10 years ago at — you guessed it — Valhalla. That was McIlroy’s second consecutive major championship, having won the British Open the month before. And, at that time, the assumption was that McIlroy would coast to doubledigit career majors.
Instead, he’s stuck on the same four he had when he left Valhalla a decade ago.
And it’s not as if McIlroy has lost his game since Valhalla. In the 35 majors McIlroy has played since Valhalla 2014, he’s finished in the top 10 23 times and in the top 5 11 times. He’s finished eighth and tied for seventh in his last two PGA Championships.
Shifting from the McIlroy storyline, we bring you to LIV Golf and the 16 players representing the controversial Saudi-backed tour that’s poached some of the best players in the world from the PGA Tour.
At the head of the LIV Golf list this week is Brooks Koepka, who happens to be the defending champion and a three-time PGA Championship winner.
Oh yes, and Koepka is fresh off winning the latest LIV tournament — right on cue — as he tries to cement his reputation as one of the sport’s great big-game hunters and bag a fourth PGA and a sixth career major.
Also among the LIV contingent is Jon Rahm, the former world No. 1 who’s had a rather quiet run on the Saudi circuit. Rahm is coming off a disappointing Masters.
Mickelson, three years removed from his remarkable PGA win at Kiawah Island, and Bryson DeChambeau will also be taking their shots at Valhalla, as will Cam Smith, who was ranked No. 2 in the world before signing with LIV.
Two other huge stories lurking this week involve a pair of best friends — Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.
Thomas is a native of the Louisville area and desperately wants to win in front of his family and friends in his hometown. Though his form has been inconsistent for a while, Thomas does have two major championships on his résumé — and both of them are PGA Championships.
Spieth, whose form also has been erratic of late, needs a PGA Championship title to complete the career grand slam, something only five players in the history of the game have accomplished.
Spieth won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015 and the British Open 2017, so this will be his eighth attempt at history.
A year ago at Oak Hill, Michael Block, then an unknown club pro from Mission Viejo, Calif., was arguably the bigger rock star for the week other than Koepka, who was the one to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy.
Block, among other things, had a hole-in-one while paired with McIlroy in the final round, and finished tied for 15th, which earned him an exemption into this week’s PGA.
Will there be another Block Party at Valhalla?
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Tiger Woods, who’s coming off his record 24th consecutive made cut at the Masters in April. He finished last among the players who made the cut, but he finished, which was an accomplishment given his litany of physical ailments.
Woods won the second of his four PGA Championships at Valhalla 24 years ago, staving off little-known May in an epic Sunday battle.
What might Woods have in store this week?
Another cut made? In contention over the weekend?
Drama awaits.