Major Championship Highlights: A PGA Recap
The 105th PGA Championship, played at Oak Hill Country Club outside of Rochester, New York, is in the books, and Brooks Koepka locked up his fifth major title and third Wanamaker Trophy. The tournament featured drama throughout the weekend, with poor weather conditions and a tough layout for players.
Koepka, who has plays in the LIV Golf League, became the first major champion winner from the start-up league. The victory was the first major win for the 33-year-old since his triumph at the 2019 PGA Championship.
For most of the afternoon on Sunday, the tournament became a bet in golf three-headed race between Koepka, Viktor Hovland, and Scottie Scheffler. Hovland stayed toe-to-toe with Koepka for most of the day until his bunker shot on the 16th hole failed to clear the lip and became embedded in the hillside above the sand. Hovland would end up double-bogeying the hole while Koepka left with a birdie.
Scheffler made a charge on Sunday but missed too many chances on his opening nine and failed to capitalize early. His five-under final round was his best round of the tournament and one of the bests amongst the field.
One of the storylines from the PGA Championship was the play of PGA club professional Michael Block. The 46-year-old teaching pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, California, capped a memorable week with a T15 finish, earning a spot in next year’s PGA Championship, and an ace on the 15th hole on Sunday. Block’s success at the major also earned him a spot in this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge and the RBC Canadian Open next month.
The tournament golf bets today wasn’t as kind to some of the top players in the world and some pre-tournament golf picks. Players who failed to make it to the weekend include Cameron Young, Jason Day, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Rickie Fowler. Tony Finau made the weekend but ended T72 at +15, and last year’s winner Justin Thomas, had a tough week closing at +12.
The talk before the tournament began seemed to be on the top two players in the world, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler, as the favorites to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy. After his play at the Masters Tournament, Koepka’s name should have been clearly in the mix as a favorite to win, given his past showing in major championships.
Opening the tournament golf betting guide with a 2-over first round, Koepka was right in the mix of it on a chilly Thursday in New York. A Friday round of 4-under boosted Koepka up the leaderboard and into T6 heading into the weekend.
As conditions worsened on Saturday with steady rain throughout the day, Koepka shined. The nine-time winner on the PGA Tour carded one of the best rounds of the day, another 66 (4-under), to give himself a one-shot cushion over Hovland and Corey Conners heading into Sunday’s final round.
Koepka birdied three-straight holes (2-4) to start off his final round, and while he carded back-to-back bogeys on holes six and seven, he didn’t let that derail his round. A 2-under final nine was good enough golf odds for a two-shot triumph over his playing partner Hovland and Scheffler.
The T2 for Hovland was his best finish at a major championship for the 25-year-old. Australian Cam Davis, making his third PGA Championship start, also wrapped his best finish at a major event with a T4. That T4 was shared with Kurt Kitayama who’s best finish in a major prior to the week was a T72 at The Open Championship in 2022.
Bryson DeChmbeau golf predictionswere in the mix all weekend with a pair of even-par rounds on Saturday and Sunday, good enough for a T4 finish alongside Davis and Kitayama. Rory McIlroy filed three-straight rounds of 69 to finish T7, and rounding out the top 10 was a trio of players at T9, Cameron Smith, Justin Rose, and Patrick Cantlay.
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