Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: AT&T Byron Nelson (Jason Day)
THIS WEEK: PGA Championship, Rochester, N.Y., May 18-21
Course: Oak Hill Country Club, East Course (Par 70, 7,394 yards)
Purse: $15M
Defending Champion: Justin Thomas
FedEx Cup leader: Jon Rahm
HOW TO FOLLOW:
TV: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. ET (ESPN); Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (ESPN), 1-7 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming on ESPN+: Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 8-10 a.m.
Twitter: @PGAChampionship
NOTES: Oak Hill will play host to its seventh major championship but first since the 2013 PGA Championship won by Jason Dufner. The Donald Ross-designed course underwent a complete renovation by Andrew Green in 2020. It will play about 250 yards longer than it did 10 years ago and includes three completely new holes. … Only seven players in this week’s 156-player field remain from the 2003 PGA at Oak Hill won by Shaun Micheel. … Only once in the past decade has the Wanamaker Trophy been won by a player ranked outside of the Top 50 in the world. That was in 2020 by Collin Morikawa, who enters this week ranked No. 16. … Jordan Spieth will make another attempt to become only the sixth player to win the career Grand Slam. However, he did withdraw from last week’s Byron Nelson due to a wrist injury and missed the cut in his PGA Championship debut in ’13. … Nico Echavarria and Ben Griffin are among 16 players making their major championship debuts. … World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay is the highest-ranked player yet to win a major. … Brooks Koepka holds the tournament scoring record of 264 set at Bellerive in 2018. … Four-time PGA Championship winner Tiger Woods is not in the field after undergoing ankle surgery last month. Will Zalatoris, who lost to Thomas in a playoff last year, is the only top 100 player not in this week’s field as he recovers from back surgery. … 2011 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the year J.J. Killeen is one of 20 players who qualified through the PGA Professional Championship.
BEST BETS: Scottie Scheffler (+750 at BetMGM) finished T5 last week and has a pair of top-10s in three previous PGA Championship starts. He has a streak of 12 consecutive finishes of T12 or better on tour, including a win at The Players. … Jon Rahm (+800) is attempting to become the first player to win consecutive majors since Spieth in 2015. He’s coming off a runner-up at the Mexico Open and has also won two other designated events this year. … Rory McIlroy (+1400) is seeking to end a nine-year major drought but has claimed two of his four majors at the PGA. His wife, Erica, is from Rochester and he is an honorary member at Oak Hill. … Koepka (+2200) has been in good form on LIV Golf and finished second at the Masters after entering the final round with the lead. He also has won two of his four major titles at the PGA. … Thomas (+2200) is looking to become the first player to successfully defend a major since Koepka at the 2019 PGA Championship. However, he has not won since last year’s PGA Championship and missed the cut at the Masters. … Dustin Johnson (+2500) is coming off a win at LIV Golf Tulsa.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Charles Schwab Challenge, Fort Worth, Texas, May 25-28
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Cognizant Founders Cup (Jin Young Ko)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play, Las Vegas, May 24-28
Champions Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Regions Tradition (Steve Stricker)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, Frisco, Texas, May 25-28
LIV Golf
LAST TOURNAMENT: LIV Golf Tulsa (Individual: Dustin Johnson; Team: Stinger GC)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: LIV Golf D.C., Sterling, Va., May 26-28
–Field Level Media
