Can Scottie Scheffler continue his dominant start to 2024? Will Rory McIlroy repeat his past Valhalla success? Storylines to follow at the PGA Championship, live this week on Sky Sports…
Thursday 16 May 2024 14:20, UK
Can Scottie Scheffler continue his dominant start to 2024? Will Rory McIlroy repeat his past Valhalla success?
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Read our guide to the players to watch and have your say ahead of the PGA Championship, exclusively live this week on Sky Sports…
Scottie Scheffler has been the dominant force in golf over the past couple of years, winning 10 times on the PGA Tour since his breakthrough success in February 2022 and now searching for a fifth victory in his last six events.
Scheffler had already won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and successfully defended his title at The Players when he claimed a dominant victory at The Masters last month, before adding to his victory tally at the RBC Heritage a week later.
The world No 1's remarkable consistency has led to comparisons with Tiger Woods at his peak - comparisons he is keen to avoid - while it will be interesting to see how Scheffler's game shapes up after skipping the Wells Fargo Championship for the birth of his first child.
Scheffler finished tied-second at last year's PGA Championship and is the pre-tournament favourite to go one better this time around. Should that happen, the Woods comparisons and talk of a potential 'Scheffler slam' will only intensify.
Rory McIlroy made a slow start to his PGA Tour season but has hit form at just the right time, with the Northern Irishman arriving this week looking for a third victory in as many starts.
He followed the Zurich Classic of New Orleans win alongside Shane Lowry by claiming a dominant five-shot victory at the Wells Fargo Championship on Sunday, a record fourth career success at the event, with the two titles added to a triumph earlier in the year on the DP World Tour.
The back-to-back victories means McIlroy comes to Valhalla with the same results streak as he did a decade ago, when he then claimed a one-shot win to lift the Wanamaker Trophy for a second time and the most recent of his four major titles.
McIlroy has registered 20 top-10s in majors since that success without adding to his tally, although the 35-year-old insists he is "a way better" player than when he went on that three-win streak in 2014 - ominous for the rest of the field.
The last player to successfully defend a major title is Brooks Koepka, who followed a two-shot victory at the 2018 PGA Championship by winning by the same margin at Bethpage Black a year later. He now has the opportunity to repeat his impressive feat.
Koepka, who has also claimed back-to-back wins at the US Open, comes into the event after becoming the first four-time champion in LIV Golf League history with his victory in Singapore earlier this month.
The 34-year-old has 17 top-10 finishes in majors since the start of 2015 and will be among the favourites again. Victory would see him become the first four-time PGA Championship winner since Woods and move him alongside Sir Nick Faldo and Phil Mickelson's tally of six major titles.
Koepka remains the only player to win a major as an active LIV Golf player, and the American is among 16 players from the Saudi-backed circuit - including seven special invites - teeing it up at Valhalla and looking to add to that tally.
Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith both posted top-six finishes at The Masters last month, having also both finished in the top 10 at last year's PGA Championship, while Dustin Johnson has won on the LIV Golf League circuit this year and Jon Rahm is always a likely contender.
Mickelson and Martin Kaymer earn an invite as former winners, joining Ryder Cup winner Tyrrell Hatton and Andy Ogletree among the automatic qualifiers, with LIV Golf individual champion Talor Gooch among the names added to the field by the PGA of America.
Joaquin Niemann has won twice this season in the LIV Golf League and won the Australian Open, while Dean Burmester, Lucas Herbert, Adrian Meronk, David Puig and Patrick Reed are others to have been given major invites.
There's always intrigue and excitement whenever Tiger Woods tees it up at an event, with the 15-time major champion back at a venue where he won in 2000 as part of his infamous 'Tiger Slam'.
Woods has played a limited schedule in recent years due to injury and has been unable to complete 72 holes at the PGA Championship since 2020, withdrawing ahead of the final round in 2022 and skipping last year's contest at Oak Hill.
The 48-year-old finished last of those who made the cut at The Masters, impressing over the first two days before fading over the weekend with rounds of 82 and 77, and there has been little information since on how he has recovered from that week at Augusta National.
Woods said he would 'do his homework' ahead of the rest of the major season and was seen practising at Valhalla last week. He will believe he can roll back the years and contend, although it will be interesting to see whether his game and body match his own aspirations.
Pre-tournament talk ahead of The Masters is often dominated about McIlroy's annual target to complete the career Grand Slam, and here it is Jordan Spieth who has another chance to join that exclusive club with PGA Championship victory.
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Spieth moved three-quarters of the way to the career Grand Slam when he won The Open in 2017, following victories at The Masters and US Open in 2015, although has failed to secure the elusive major in his previous attempts.
The closest Spieth has come since 2017 to winning the Wanamaker Trophy was a tied-third finish in 2019, while there's little in the former world No 1's 2024 form to suggest a Grand Slam bid should be expected at Valhalla.
Spieth has won only twice on the PGA Tour since his Open success in 2017 and last reached the winner's circle at the RBC Heritage in April 2022, with the 30-year-old finishing no higher than 10th in his last nine PGA Tour starts.
Five of the last nine men's majors have produced maiden major champions, with plenty in this week's field looking to become the first since Collin Morikawa to do so at the PGA Championship.
Xander Schauffele is the highest-ranked player without a major title, despite 12 top-10 finishes during his career, with the American looking to bounce back from losing out to McIlroy on the final day of the Wells Fargo Championship on Sunday.
Patrick Cantlay and Max Homa both frequently impress in majors and Sahith Theegala will look to build on two runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour this season, with Tommy Fleetwood heading the English hopes after his tied-third finish at Augusta National last month.
Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman both enjoyed their breakthrough major titles last year, winning the US Open and The Open respectively, and it would be little surprise to see a new name on the Wanamaker Trophy come Sunday evening.
Who will win the PGA Championship? Watch live from May 16-19 on Sky Sports! Live coverage begins on Thursday May 16 from 1pm on Sky Sports Golf. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, majors and more with NOW.
