Brooks Koepka celebrates his victory at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club. | Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour via Getty Images
The second major championship of the season has arrived, and the SB Nation staff has selected their winners.
Valhalla Golf Club will host this week’s PGA Championship for the fourth time since 1996. It most recently staged the event in 2014, when Rory McIlroy last won a major title.
The course also hosted the PGA Championship in 1996 and 2000, with each tournament producing epic finishes that ended in playoffs. Mark Brooks fended off Kentucky native Kenny Perry in a sudden-death playoff in 1996, while Tiger Woods denied Bob May in an epic three-hole playoff four years later.
The PGA of America also held the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla, which saw the Americans triumph for the first time since 1999.
This golf course has a special place in the sport’s history, often producing drama that not even Shakespeare could write. Golf fans everywhere hope that motif continues this week, where world-number one Scottie Scheffler, defending champion Brooks Koepka, and many others, including McIlroy, hope to etch their name onto the Wanamaker Trophy.
The Playing Through crew has an idea of who will do so, as the team has made their picks on who will win the 2024 PGA Championship:
Jack Milko – Staff Writer
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Scottie Scheffler during a Tuesday practice round ahead of the 2024 PGA Championship.
He may arrive in Kentucky sleep-deprived, thanks to him and his wife becoming new parents last week, but Scottie Scheffler remains in a league of his own.
I cannot shy away from picking him, and I believe Scheffler will become the first player since Jordan Spieth in 2015 to win the season’s first two majors.
He has won four of his last five starts, with the outlier being the Texas Children’s Open, where he finished one stroke behind Stephan Jaeger. Scheffler missed a 6-footer on the 72nd hole, which would have forced a playoff at Memorial Park. Alas, he made it up for with dominant victories at Augusta National and Harbour Town.
Scheffler has not played since the RBC Heritage, but that should not take away from the fact that he leads nearly every major category. He ranks first in total strokes gained, greens in regulation, proximity to the hole, birdie or better conversion percentage, and bogey avoidance. The two-time Masters winner routinely paints flagsticks, and each tournament he plays in comes down to whether or not he can putt.
If he putts well, Scheffler wins in a landslide. But even if he has a mediocre week on the greens, like he did at The Players, he can still win.
At any rate, Scheffler is too good not to pick. He wins his first PGA Championship this week, putting the Grand Slam squarely in play.
DraftKings Odds to Win: +400
Savannah Richardson – Staff Writer
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Rory McIlroy hits his driver on the driving range ahead of the 2024 PGA Championship.
I picked Rory McIlroy last week for the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, which paid dividends.
His swagger on Sunday was super telling and something the golf world has not seen in a long time. Could the divorce news raise some flags? Maybe, but there is something special brewing with the Northern Irishman.
Much like Quail Hollow, McIlroy knows how to play Valhalla—a course that allows him to use his length off the tee. The four-time major winner ranks first on the PGA Tour in total driving and second in driving distance. So many players this week have talked about how they can hit the big stick off every tee, giving McIlroy a massive advantage over the rest of the field.
He picked up a lot of momentum at Quail Hollow, so while it’s bold, I got Rory ending the drought in the place that started it.
DraftKings Odds to Win: +750
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Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
