Who will tame the challenges that will come from the course?
Defending champion Phil Mickelson won’t be there to defend his title. Who can win the Prestigious PGA Title.
This weekend, 20th – 23rd of May (NZ Time) sees golfs best compete for the second major of the year at the Southern Hills Country Club Championship Course in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The world’s best will be competing at the course that was designed in 1936 and modified in 2019. It’s a par 70 that measures 7461 yards. The course itself is challenging with quite a few dogleg-based holes, which create numerous blind spots for the players to contend with. There are also a lot of hazards including lakes and a vast array of bunkers, so keeping the ball on the rolling fairways is a must. The weather for the tournament is forecast to be warm, with a chance of rain and expect the wind to get up to between 10-30KPH.
Southern Hills Country Club has hosted seven major’s championships for men including the US Open three times (1958, 1977, 2001) and four PGA Championships (1970, 1982, 1994, 2007). It is the only course to host the PGA Championship four times and will host its fifth PGA Championship in 2022.
Of the tournaments held there since the turn of the century, the 2001 US Open was won by South African Retief Goosen and the 2007 PGA Championship was won by American Tiger Woods. In 2009 US Amateur tournament was played there and won by South Korean Byeong Hyung-An, a player who now figures consistently in the top 10 or 20 golfers in PGA tournaments.
At this year’s PGA Championship there are plenty of past winners including Rory MciRory, Louis Oosthuizen, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka (back-to-back winner) Woods, and comeback kid Jason Day (who has been out for the game for 3 years). These guys are definitely the one’s to watch out for as they have either won the PGA or other majors and know how to deal with the pressure of big tournaments.
New Zealand fans will be looking forward to watching Ryan Fox who has been playing good golf recently, that has got him two wins and some top ten finishes in competitive fields across Europe. Expect to see a high score of +2 to win due to the weather conditions. It’s likely that a no name golfer (possibly a qualifier) could lead at the end of round one and fade by the end of round 4. I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw a cut of around +3, as history suggests the PGA championship tends to have a high cut.
I think Spain’s Jon Rahm is the guy to beat this weekend, as he has the control required to master difficult courses like this and win his first major. A close second choice is Scottie Scheffler the Masters champion, who moved into contention following his win in the Masters and performances this year. All in all, this should be a good watch on a course that will test the very best golfers have to offer.
