Speaking of erstwhile winners, Tiger Woods will be out in a few minutes. He lifted the Wanamaker Trophy the last time the PGA was staged at Southern Hills. Here’s how the Guardian reported major No.13 at the time.
The opening shot of the 2022 PGA Championship was hit by the 1991 champion John Daly. The big man went on to register the first birdie of the week, and by definition, for what it’s worth, became the first leader of the tournament. He was soon joined at -1 by a few others making a fast start: Oban’s Bob MacIntyre, US-reared Mancunian Sam Horsfield, PGA pros Matthew Borchert and Michael Block, Texan veteran Ryan Palmer, 2009 champion YE Yang, and major champion in waiting Xander Schauffele, who screeched a short iron at 10 from 120 yards to three feet, and tidied up for his birdie. The second major of the year is very much under way!
-1: Daly (4), Yang (4), Palmer (3*), MacIntyre (3*), Borchert (2), Block (2*), Horsfield (1), Schauffele (1*)
Preamble
It’s a shame that Phil Mickelson won’t be at Southern Hills to defend the title he won so memorably last year at Kiawah Island, where he channeled the PGA Championship’s old slogan, Glory’s Last Shot, to become the oldest winner of a major at 51 years and 11 months. It was a story for the ages. Do his ridiculous LIV-related shenanigans wash back and cast a stain on that amazing tale? Nah. It’s not ideal, of course, but in a couple of years/months, when it all comes down, it’ll be nothing more than a footnote, a historical curiosity. We’ll miss Lefty, of course we will, but here we are. Onwards!
Another week of historical wonder awaits. Jordan Spieth will become only the seventh man to win a career grand slam if he adds the Wanamaker Trophy to a CV that already lists wins at the Masters, US Open and Open. Masters champ and world number one Scottie Scheffler could complete the second leg of a calendar grand slam. Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka could join the likes of Byron Nelson and Seve as a five-time major winner; the pair could also join Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead as a three-time PGA champ. As for Tiger … well, he couldn’t win major number 16, and his second hobbling around on one leg, could he?
This is before we get to Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Cam Smith, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, DJ, Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick, Will Zalatoris … well, we could be here all day. Actually, we will be here all day, starting our coverage when the marquee match of McIlroy, Spieth and Woods go out just after 2pm BST. It’s going to be a long one. The LIV tour can do one. It’s on!
Tee times (USA Unless stated, All times BST)
Starting at hole 1
13:00 John Daly, Shaun Micheel, Yong-Eun Yang (Kor)
13:11 Matthew Borchert, Takumi Kanaya (Jpn), Troy Merritt
13:22 Dean Burmester (Rsa), Chris Kirk, Kyle Mendoza
13:33 Sam Horsfield (Eng), Nic Ishee, Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi),
13:44 Shaun Norris (Rsa), Carlos Ortiz (Mex), Kevin Streelman
13:55 Cameron Davis (Aus), Rikuya Hoshino (Jpn), Matt Kuchar
14:06 Stewart Cink, Jason Dufner, Padraig Harrington (Irl)
14:17 Abraham Ancer (Mex), Thomas Pieters (Bel), Kramer Hickok
14:28 Richard Bland (Eng), Garrick Higgo (Rsa), Matt Jones (Aus)
14:39 Tom Hoge, Si Woo Kim (Kor), Beau Hossler
14:50 Ryan Fox (Nzl), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Shawn Warren
15:01 Yuki Inamori (Jpn), Sebastian Munoz (Col), Zac Oakley
15:12 Bio Kim (Kor), Casey Pyne, Brendan Steele
18:30 Ryan Brehm, Min-Woo Lee (Aus), Wyatt Worthington II
18:41 Justin Harding (Rsa), Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den), Sean McCarty
18:52 Adam Hadwin (Can), Hudson Swafford, Cameron Tringale
19:03 Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry (Irl), Adam Scott (Aus)
19:14 Patrick Cantlay, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas
19:25 Jason Day (Aus), Rickie Fowler, Harold Varner III
19:36 Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm (Spa), Scottie Scheffler
19:47 Daniel Berger, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Ian Poulter (Eng)
19:58 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner
20:09 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Sergio Garcia (Spa), Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)
20:20 Harry Higgs, Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Erik van Rooyen (Rsa)
20:31 Alex Beach, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Bernd Wiesberger (Aut)
20:42 Jared Jones, Aaron Wise, Joel Dahmen
Starting at hole 10
13:05 Robert MacIntyre (Sco), Alexander Noren (Swe), Ryan Palmer
13:16 Adria Arnaus (Spa), Colin Inglis, Jinichiro Kozuma (Jpn)
13:27 Michael Block, Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Sadom Kaewkanjana (Tha)
13:38 Tony Finau, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Xander Schauffele
13:49
Bryson DeChambeau
14:00 Viktor Hovland (Nor), Cameron Smith (Aus), Will Zalatoris
14:11 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Jordan Spieth, Tiger Woods
14:22 Patrick Reed, Justin Rose (Eng), Bubba Watson
14:33 Lucas Glover, Kevin Na, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa)
14:44 Sam Burns, Davis Riley, Cameron Young
14:55 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Lee Westwood (Eng), Gary Woodland
15:06 Oliver Bekker (Rsa), Brian Harman, Ryan Vermeer
15:17 Laurie Canter (Eng), Lanto Griffin, Dylan Newman
18:25 Brandon Bingaman, Talor Gooch, Ryosuke Kinoshita (Jpn)
18:36 Tim Feenstra, Anirban Lahiri (Ind), Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor)
18:47 Rich Beem, Alex Cejka (Ger), Jesse Mueller
18:58 Seamus Power (Irl), Russell Knox (Sco), Scott Stallings
19:09 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Corey Conners (Can), Jason Kokrak
19:20 Keegan Bradley, Martin Kaymer (Ger), Marc Leishman (Aus)
19:31 Cameron Champ, Russell Henley, Zach Johnson
19:42 Branden Grace (Rsa), Webb Simpson, Henrik Stenson (Swe)
19:53 J. J. Spaun, Sepp Straka (Aut), Adam Schenk
20:04 Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor), Keith Mitchell, Matthew Wolff
20:15 Lucas Herbert (Aus), Austin Hurt, Chad Ramey
20:26 Tyler Collet, Chan Kim, Maverick McNealy
20:37 Paul Dickinson, Patton Kizzire, Luke List