The PGA Championship is heading to Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky this week.
It was the site of Tiger Woods’ win in 2000. Then, it saw Rory McIlroy win his fourth major in 2014.
Since then, it has waited a decade to take center stage once again for one of golf’s major championships.
Beginning on Thursday, that wait will be no longer. The 2024 PGA Championship will begin, with a field of hopeful golfers looking to add their names to history and take home the Wanamaker Trophy. The field features plenty of big names, including Tiger.
While Woods’ presence at the event certainly adds to the aura and excitement, it would be a tremendous surprise if he contends. As for the other former PGA Champion at Valhalla, McIlroy is expected to be one of the favorites. He, along with Scottie Scheffler and Brooks Koepka, enter with all sorts of momentum. They have all won their most recent event coming in. Let’s examine the paths for all three:
Rory McIlroy:
Rory won the fourth of his majors at Valhalla back in 2014. At the time, he was at the pinnacle of the golf world and it felt like he would have about four more by now. That did not work out, and McIlroy has not won a major since. He enters this week, however, at a place he has won at. In addition, he enters playing some of the best golf in a while. Two weeks ago, he and partner Shane Lowry won the team event held in NOLA, the Zurich Classic. Then, he followed it up by dominating the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, winning the tournament by five strokes. It has been a long, exhausting stretch for McIlroy, dealing with the LIV drama, the struggle to win another major, and more. Now, reports of he and his wife filing for divorce have come out the week of the PGA Championship. Rory is playing well, but it will take a gutsy, locked in week for him to return to major championship glory this week.
Scottie Scheffler:
Scottie has clearly established himself as the best player in the world right now. It has been an unbelievable run for him, with his second major win coming at The Masters a month ago. He followed that up by dominating the RBC Heritage, winning his second consecutive event and his fourth out of his last five. The only event he did not win in that time frame, he finished tied for second. Scheffler has nine top tens in ten events and has not finished worse than 17th this season. Any statistic you want to look at describes his dominant run. And the most recent success came while he awaited the birth of his child, with Scheffler vowing to leave if his wife went into labor. The baby waited while Scottie took home more trophies, and he then took a couple of weeks off to welcome his first child with his wife Meredith. Now a new father, Scheffler will look to shake off a couple of weeks worth of rust to continue a dominant stretch of golf.
Brooks Koepka:
Kopeka was once feared on Tour as a “major hunter.” Any time the stakes were raised, Brooks was the player to beat. His five majors account for more than half of his overall PGA Tour wins. However, he began to struggle a couple of years ago and eventually decided to switch to the LIV Golf side of things. He was back in the spotlight at last year’s PGA Championship, where he won the fifth of his majors and thus enters this year’s event as the defending champion. To make things more interesting, Koepka just won his previous LIV Golf event. That means he, McIlroy, and Scheffler all enter having won in their last start.
All in all, the 2024 PGA Championship has no shortage of story lines. Even with all this talk about the biggest names, you never know when a first-time major winner will jump in and surprise everyone.
Time will tell, but perhaps this weekend will be a battle of the sport’s biggest stars.
Dawson Eiserloh is the co-host of “RP3, D-Loh & Meche” which is broadcast weekdays (11-1) on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles — Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.