104th PGA Championship – Everything & Much More You Need To Know

2 years ago by Comments Off on 104th PGA Championship – Everything & Much More You Need To Know

  • Southern Hills CC is hosting the PGA Championship for a record fifth time.  No other venue has hosted more than three PGA Championships.  In addition, this club has also hosted three U.S. Opens. The only other clubs to host eight or more PGA Championships and U.S. Opens combined are Oakmont CC (3 PGA, 9 U.S.), Oakland Hills (3 PGA, 6 U.S.) and Baltusrol GC (2 PGA, 7 U.S.).
  • Each of the last six players to win a major at Southern Hills is a multiple-major winner (Dave Stockton-1970, Hubert Green-1977, Raymond Floyd-1982, Nick-Price-1994, Retief Goosen-2001 and Tiger Woods-2007).   No other American club other than Augusta National can boast a streak that long.  The only ‘one-hit wonder’ to win a major at Southern Hills was Tommy Bolt, who won the 1958 U.S. Open by four shots over nine-time major champion Gary Player.
  • During the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills CC, 15 of the 18 holes played over par for the Championship. The most difficult hole, ranked by total number of strokes over par, was the par-four #18 (192 strokes over par, 4.43 stroke average).
  • The 18th hole being the most difficult hole has been a relatively common phenomenon in PGA Championships.  That has happened seven times since 2001 (2001, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015 and most recently at Quail Hollow Club in 2017).  As a point of comparison, only one of the last 15 U.S. Opens was set up that way (2013 at Merion).  And that has occurred once over the last 30 years at the Open Championship (2007 at Carnoustie). The last time the 18th hole at the Masters played as its most difficult hole during a tournament was 19 years ago (2003).
  • Only four players who made the cut in 2007 played the 18th hole under par for the week: Luke Donald (-1), Arron Oberholser (-1), Simon Dyson (-1) and Frank Lickliter II (-1).
  • Tiger Woods won this championship here at Southern Hills in 2007 by two shots over Woody Austin. He is the only player ever to win the PGA Championship at the same venue twice.  He won at Medinah CC in both 1999 and 2006. 
  • Woods shot a one-over-par 71 in the first round of the 2007 PGA Championship, ranking him tied for 23rd at the time.  It is one of only two of his 15 major championship victories in which he was outside the top 20 after the first round, having ranked T-33 after the first round of the 2005 Masters.
  • At the 2007 PGA Championship, only two players managed to shoot under par on the par-fours during the week: Tiger Woods (-5 on the par fours) and Woody Austin (-2).
  • At the 2007 PGA Championship, five of the top 11 finishers were 36 years old or older.  Of the 11 players, three were over 40 years: Woody Austin (finished 2nd, 43 years old), Kevin Sutherland (T-9th, 43) and Scott Verplank (T-9th, 43).  Only two of the top 11 players were under 30: Simon Dyson (T-6th, 29 years old) and Trevor Immelman (T-6th, 27).
  • That is quite a contrast from the 2022 Masters, for example.  Six of the top nine finishers were in their 20s.  Only one player beyond his 40th birthday finished among the top 22: Lee Westwood (T-14th), who turned 49 years old a couple of weeks after the tournament.
  • The average winning score relative to par over the seven majors played at Southern Hills CC is minus-4.4.  Only one champion finished double-digits under par (Nick Price finished -11 in 1994). 
  • Starting with Jimmy Walker’s win at Baltusrol GC in 2016, each of the last six PGA Championships has been won by an American (Walker, Thomas, Koepka (twice), Morikawa, Mickelson).  It is the longest such streak at this Championship since a 10-year streak from 1980-1989.
  • When Rory McIroy won the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla GC, he was the #1 ranked golfer in the world. Here is how the OWGR #1 golfer has fared at this championship since then:  Rory McIlroy (2015, Whistling Straits GC, 17th place), Jason Day (2016, Baltrusol GC, 2nd), Dustin Johnson (2017, Quail Hollow, t-13th),  Dustin Johnson (2018, Bellerive CC, t-27th), Dustin Johnson (2019, Bethpage State Park, 2nd), Justin Thomas (2020, TPC Harding Park, t-37th) and Dustin Johnson (2021 Kiawah Island, missed the cut).
  • Masters winner Scottie Scheffler will attempt to start 2022 by winning the first two major championships of the year.  Over the last 70 years, only five golfers have been able to pull off that feat: Ben Hogan (1953), Arnold Palmer (1960), Jack Nicklaus (1972), Tiger Woods (2002) and Jordan Spieth (2015).  Spieth winning the 2015 Masters and U.S. Open also marks the last time that a player won consecutive majors, regardless of time of year.
  • Here is how the reigning Masters champion has fared at the PGA Championship in recent years: 2021 Hideki Matsuyama (T-23), 2019 Tiger Woods (missed the cut), 2018 Patrick Reed (missed the cut), 2017 Sergio Garcia (missed the cut), 2016 Danny Willett (T-79), 2015 Jordan Spieth (2nd). None of the last five reigning Masters winners finished among the top 20 at the PGA Championship.  That is the longest such streak in history. Note that Dustin Johnson, who won the Masters in November 2020, was the not the reigning Masters champion when he played in the 2021 PGA Championship. Incidentally, Johnson missed the cut at the 2021 PGA Championship.
  • Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa, both turning 26 later this year, have finished among the top 10 in each of the last four major championships. Since 1900, only four men have finished among the top 10 in a major five times in a row before turning 26:  Tiger Woods (8 straight, 1999-2001), Ben Crenshaw (6, 1975-1977), Bobby Jones (8, 1920-1926) and John McDermott (6, 1910-1914).
  • Five players finished among the top 10 at both of the last two PGA Championships: Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, Justin Rose and Paul Casey. Over the last 20 years, only four players finished among the top 10 in each of three consecutive PGA Championships:  Jason Day (3, 2015-2017), Rory McIlroy (3, 2012-14), Tiger Woods (3, 2005-2007) and Geoff Ogilvy (3, 2005-2007).
  • Collin Morikawa won his PGA Championship debut in 2020 at TPC Harding Park and then finished T-8 at Kiawah Island Resort last year.  During this championship’s stroke play era (since 1958) only four players finished among the top-10 in each of his first three starts: Jerry Pate (first 5, 1976-1980), Jack Nicklaus (4, 1962-1965), Doug Sanders (3, 1959-1961) and, most recently, Justin Leonard (3, 1995-1997).
  • The longest current streak of making the cut at the PGA Championship is 9, by Jason Day, Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama.  Francesco Molinari has a personal streak of 11 consecutive made cuts at the PGA Championship, although he has not competed in the championship since 2019.
  • Shane Lowry has played in and made the cut at each of the last 11 majors, starting with the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage State Park.  That is the longest current streak of its kind.  The last player with a longer streak was Webb Simpson who played in and made the cut at 16 consecutive majors from the 2017 U.S. Open through the 2021 PGA Championship. 
  • Most top-5 finishes in majors since the start of 2017: Brooks Koepka (9), Xander Schauffele (6), Jon Rahm (6).  Koepka also has the most top-10s in majors over that time (12).
  • Brooks Koepka has recorded two wins and a second-place finish over the last four PGA Championships.  The only other players during the stroke play era of this championship to forge as many as three top-2 finishes over a four-year span are Jack Nicklaus (several overlapping four-year spans between 1962 and 1976) and Tiger Woods (1999-2002).
  • Best current players without a major? Most Top-10 finishes at major tournaments without a victory among those currently under 50 years old: Lee Westwood (19 Top 10s in major championship play, 49 years old), Matt Kuchar (12, 43 y/o), Rickie Fowler (12, 33 y/o),  Paul Casey (12, 44 y/o), Tony Finau (10, 32 y/o) and Brandt Snedeker (9, 41 y/o) and  Xander Schauffele (9, 28 y/o).
  • This is the third year, since the PGA Championship moved to May in 2019, that the AT&T Byron Nelson was played the week before this championship.  Sung Kang won the 2019 Byron Nelson then finished T-7th the next week at the PGA Championship at Bethpage State Park.  K.H. Lee won the 2021 Byron Nelson and then missed the cut at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Resort.
  • The last player to win a tournament and then win the PGA Championship one week later was Rory McIlroy, who won the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla a week after winning the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in early August.

 



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