– Grand Week. Second of the year. Week of the PGA Championship. The 106th edition of a tournament that long ago shed its ugly duckling label among the majors kicks off next Thursday. The PGA of America has achieved its own stamp, a course preparation that almost perfectly balances maximum demand with spectacle.
– The Valhalla Golf Club, in Louisville, Kentucky, is the venue. It hosts the PGA Championship for the fourth time. The previous three winners were Mark Brooks (1996), Tiger Woods (2000) and Rory McIlroy (2014). The first two were decided in a playoff. Tiger’s was the third of his personal Grand Slam, while Rory’s was the last in his Major account. Only Southern Hills has hosted the PGA more times.
– The list of 156 participating players is already closed. The last ones to get in were Chris Gotterup, for his victory in the Myrtle Beach Classic, and SH Kim, first reserve who got his place by winning Rory McIlroy, already exempt, the Wells Fargo Championship. It’s four days of competition, with a cut after the second round with the top 70 and ties.
– The playoff is contested over the best of three holes. They would play the 13th, 17th and 18th. In case of a tie, it would be resolved by sudden death with the following sequence: 18, 17, 13 and 18 again.
– Just one hundred years ago the most impressive series in the history of all the Majors began, since Walter Hagen won the PGA and began a streak of four consecutive victories in this major (1924, 25, 26 and 27). Then it was played in match play format. Hagen, by the way, shares with Jack Nicklaus the record for most victories in the PGA with five, since he had also won it in 1921, the first time he did it. There is another player who also won the same Grand Four times in a row and it was Young Tom Morris in the Open. The very small difference with Hagen is that Morris completed this series in the years 1868, 1869, 1870 and 1872, since the tournament was not played in 1871, so it was not exactly in consecutive years, like Hagen. It matters little or nothing, really, but the details are the details.
– 50 years ago, in 1974, in one of the best PGA stories ever remembered, Lee Treviño won the PGA Championship for the first time. He beat Nicklaus at Tanglewood Park, North Carolina, with a putter he found in the attic of the house he rented that week.
– Another round anniversary. It’s 25 years since the famous PGA Championship at Medinah, Tiger Woods’ first victory in this Major, beating a 19-year-old boy named Sergio García who amazed the world, among other things, for his famous tree shot on the last day.
– The 8th hole at Valhalla is a 190-yard par 3 and is named: “Float like a butterfly”. It refers, of course, to the iconic phrase of Muhammad Ali, born in Louisville. The full phrase was “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”. Well, it seems easy, but it’s not…
– The lowest round of a PGA Championship at Valhalla is held by José María Olazábal. He shot 63 in the third round of the year 2000, when the course was still par 72. In 2014 it was already played as par 71. Olazábal was the best of the weekend and finished fourth in that edition, six shots behind Tiger Woods and Bob May, who played the playoff.
– Precisely, 63 strokes is also the lowest round ever in the PGA Championship. It has happened on 18 occasions. The first was Bruce Crampton in 1975 and the last was Bubba Watson in 2022. Of all the 63s, only three were nine under par: Olazábal in 2000 at Valhalla, Gary Player at Shoal Creek in 1984 and Hiroshi Iwata at Whistling Straits in 2015.
– The lowest cut in the PGA Championship has been PAR. A cut has never been made below par. The highest record is +14 in 1958, the first edition of the stroke play history.
– The player who has played the PGA Championship the most times is Sam Snead (38), followed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus (37). The player with the most active PGAs is Phil Mickleson with 30. Will the San Diego native be able to surpass Snead’s figure? It won’t be easy, but it doesn’t seem far-fetched. Remember that champions are exempt for life. At a minimum, to surpass Snead, Mickelson would have to play the PGA until 2033, when he would be 62 years old.
– Jack Nicklaus is the player who has played the most rounds in the PGA (128), has given the most strokes (9,135), has the most rounds under par (53), has the most rounds under 70 strokes (41).
– Phil Mickelson has a record within reach this week. He could become the golfer with the most cuts surpassed in PGA history. He currently has 27, the same as Nicklaus and Floyd.
– Miguel Ángel Jiménez, along with Jason Day, is the player who has signed the most consecutive rounds under par in the PGA Championship. He reached ten between 1995 and 1999.
– The United States is the country that has won the PGA Championship the most times (85), followed by Australia with five occasions. Only eight other countries have won this Major: South Africa, Scotland, Northern Ireland, England, Fiji, Germany, Ireland and South Korea. Spain has not yet won it. Jon Rahm, David Puig and Adrián Otaegui will be in charge this year of ending this stubborn drought. It’s the Major we’re missing to complete the Spanish Grand Slam. The state with the most victories is California (13).
– An unstable week is expected. The first rains could arrive this Monday afternoon, there is a risk of storm on Tuesday, some rain for Wednesday, dry Thursday and back to storms on Friday. In short, instability. We’ll have to take it day by day.
