The second major of the season takes place from Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky with the staging of the PGA Championship.
Scottie Scheffler has had his baby and will be looking to make it back-to-back majors while Brooks Koepka is looking to defend his crown and win his fourth PGA Championship.
Rory McIlroy has won twice since Augusta and won the last time the PGA Championship was staged here while Jordan Spieth is aiming to become the sixth player to win the career Grand Slam.
Key Stats/Skill Set Required
- Driving Distance
- Total Driving
- Strokes Gained: Off The Tee
- Bogey Avoidance
- Par 5 Scoring
- Strokes Gained: Tee To Green
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Approaches: 200+ Yards
- Proximity
- Scrambling
Valhalla is a beast of a course, a true major test.
What one does off the tee is going to be critical with distance a must, but being wayward will rule you out as the rough is thick and gnarly.
That will make a strong long approach game another key.
This is a ballstriker’s course, scoring on Par 5s and avoiding bogeys are absolute musts, as they are in all majors.
Profiling recent winners we are looking for a player in their 20s or early 30s who ranks in the
Top 20 of the Data Golf rankings with a win this season, a Top 20 last start and Top 10s in the PGA Championship previously and in one of their last two majors.
Key Correlation Courses/Tournaments
- Muirfield Village
- TPC Southwind
- PGA National
- Sherwood
- The Concession
- Bellerive
BEST BET
XANDER SCHAUFFELE
Xander Schauffele could not profile any better for the PGA Championship as he looks to break through for his first major win.
The 30yo with seven PGA Tour wins has really struggled to break through for a signature victory and has twice thrown away the 54-hole lead in big tournaments since March but he is playing truly elite golf.
Since January, Schauffele has played 11 individual tournaments with eight Top 10 wins including seconds in The Players and Wells Fargo.
He has the perfect game for Valhalla as the best long approach player on the PGA Tour while he ranks second in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green and in Bogey Avoidance, fourth in Par 5 Scoring and sixth in Total Driving.
He has to be in the mix.
BEST VALUE
LUDVIG ABERG
The rise of Ludvig Aberg has been something else and after his stirring run at Augusta, a major seems very much on the cusp for the talented Swede.
Total Driving is the most important stat to look at this week and Aberg ranks third.
He ranks second in Proximity, eighth in Bogey Avoidance and 13th in strokes Gained: Off The Tee.
Aberg ranks in the Top 20, finished Top 20 last start and was runner-up at The Masters.
He is just going to contend in all the majors with his game.
JOAQUIN NIEMANN
There is probably no more underrated golfer on the planet right now than Chilean superstar Joaquin Niemann, who has thrived on the LIV circuit.
He won the Australian Open last year while he won at Mayakoba and Jeddah.
Finished T-22 at The Masters and has finished in the top nine in the last four LIV events.
He leads LIV in Strokes Gained: Approach while he ranks second in Driving Distance.
Great winning hope this weekend.
BEST ROUGHIES
TONY FINAU
It is astonishing the price that Finau is set to be sent out here.
He ranks 10th in Total Driving, ninth in Par 5 Scoring, 12th in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green and 14th in Strokes Gained: Approach.
He has finished Top 10 in this tournament in the past three times, most recently in 2021, and he is playing good golf with eight Top 20s in his last 14 starts.
Finau can definitely compete for the win but Top 10 is the best bet.
KEITH MITCHELL
‘Cashmere’ Keith Mitchell may be the most underrated player in the field this week.
The big hitter has not played in a major since last year’s US Open but that T-20 finish was his best result in a big one.
He ranks sixth on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee while he ranks ninth in Par 5 Scoring, ninth in Proximity and tenth in Strokes Gained: Approach.
He has won at PGA National in the past and looks a nice Top 20 play.
TOP AUSTRALIAN
MIN WOO LEE
Valhalla is the perfect setup for Min Woo Lee and he is a great bet to be the Top Aussie.
Cam Smith is a huge lay considering how erratic he has been off the tee.
Lee ranks second in Total Driving, sixth in Par 5 Scoring, eighth in Driving Distance and tenth in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee.
TOP CANADIAN
COREY CONNERS
Conners is not renowned as a winner but he is an elite ball-striker who can absolutely force his way into the Top 10.
Conners ranks third on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Approach while he ranks Top 10 in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green and Long Approaches.