⛳️ PGA Championship Special Edition

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104th PGA Championship Special Edition

It's major time. Four days from now someone will be lifting the highly-coveted Wanamaker trophy high above their head as they celebrate winning the second major tournament of the 2022 season, the PGA Championship. 

Soak it in, consume as much coverage as you can... there are only 16 days of major golf a year. These four should be nothing short of spectacular. 

Highlights

Welcome to Southern Hills

The upcoming PGA Championship at Southern Hills will see a battle between the top players in the world and a course designed to outsmart the game's best. The last major championship hosted at Southern Hills was in 2007, where Tiger Woods won the PGA by 2 strokes over Woody Austin. 

The course was given a comprehensive refresh by world-renowned architect Gil Hanse in 2019. His main focus was to bring Southern Hills's hazards, fairways, and green complexes closer to the original vision of Perry Maxwell, who designed the course in the 1930s. Maxwell is known as “the father of Oklahoma golf” and was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

Perhaps Hanse's most important decision during this process was replacing a large majority of the rough on the course with short grass.

Holes to Watch: 

10 - A 376 yard Par 4 with a creek meandering through the fairway at the 315 yard mark, forcing players to control their distance off the tee. Five deep bunkers surround the severely-tilted green on all sides. 

18 - Hanse describes it as "the quintessential American championship finishing hole." Of the seven majors previously held at Southern Hills, only two champions have been able to complete the 491 yard Par 4 in four strokes or less on their way to victory. This should make for some epic moments coming down the closing stretch on Sunday.

Drone tour from Golf Digest below: 

And for you golf course architecture nerds out there:

Betting

Players to Watch

Jon Rahm (12-1): The favorite to win alongside world #1 Scottie Scheffler. Your PGA Tour leader in strokes gained off-the-tee and from tee-to-green, Rahm has been playing some of the most consistent golf of anyone this season, having made the cut in his last 10 starts. Besides the Fortninet Championship earlier this year, Rahm has finished outside the top 30 only once (T55 at The Players). Expect to see him in contention on Sunday. 

Rory McIlroy (16-1): Hard to take a look at the length here in Tulsa and not quickly check Rory’s odds. Rory found himself in a solo 2nd at The Masters, our last major, after a dazzling 64 on Sunday, which was capped off by dueling bunker shots with Collin Morikawa on 18. Since then, he’s taken a T5 at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte. #3 on Tour in strokes gained off-the-tee, a win here would make Rory one of six players to win the PGA Championship for a third time (Nicklaus, Hagen, Woods, Sarazen, Snead).

Justin Thomas (17-1): Thomas has made his last 20 (yes, 20) cuts. In his last 10 events, he’s finished in the top-10 six times. He’s third overall in strokes gained from tee-to-green, fifth overall in scrambling, and second overall in bogey avoidance. This list goes on and on, and it’s a lot of the same. In short, Justin Thomas has been excellent this season. There are few players this year that have maintained an all around game as well as him.

Jordan Spieth (17-1): In the two events he has played since missing the cut at the Masters, Spieth hasn’t registered a round above 69. It’s no secret that the PGA Championship presents an opportunity for Spieth to accomplish something special - a career Grand Slam. Southern Hills makes that opportunity much more real. The Texan native should feel at home in the dry wind on Bermuda grass. Like any major, the pairings are exciting, and Spieth is in what can largely be considered the group to watch - he’ll play with Rory and Tiger on Thursday and Friday.

Long Shots: 

Tiger Woods (70-1): It’s a homecoming... as we mentioned before, the last time the PGA Championship was hosted at Southern Hills, Tiger hoisted the Wanamaker. Tiger's been vocal this week about his ability to compete, and you've got to believe him, especially given what he was able to accomplish at Augusta in his first start since the tragic car accident early last year. Yes it wasn't a win, or even a top 20, but he made the cut in tough conditions when Spieth, Schauffele, and DeChambeau did not. He's looking much healthier and stronger this week. Can you really ever count him out? 

Max Homa (55-1): Coming off a win at the Wells Fargo Championship, it’s hard not to root for the 2x winner this season after a very genuine and endearing press conference, where he spoke to the ups and downs of the Tour. He’s sitting at sixth in the FedEx Cup rankings right now (eight top 25s will do that) and up to his highest career Official World Golf Ranking, 28th. Homa’s tee and approach shots will have to be on point for him this week to contend, as his scoring around the greens doesn’t rank particularly high (he doesn’t register higher than 115th in the 6 main around-the-green categories). In any case, we're rooting for him. 

Alpha

Tiger Woods Partner Project Launch Today

Later today we will be announcing an extremely exciting partnership with an inspirational art brand that blends nostalgia, pop culture, and motivational quotes to create unique canvas art. These pieces have attracted the attention of some of the world's biggest celebrities and garnered a cult-like following that spans across the internet. 

The collection LinksDAO members will have exclusive, discounted access to centers around Tiger Woods. The brand we're teaming up with has acquired the right to use Wood's likeness in the art category. 

If you haven't already, react to the alpha group role in #members-roles and turn on the #alpha-chat channel's notifications in our Discord. That's where we will be announcing when this collab goes live. 

History

PGA Championship Facts You Need to Know

Before we let you go, we'd be remiss if we didn't leave you with some interesting PGA Championship nuggets. As you can imagine, things have changed quite a bit over its history. 

• The first PGA Championship was held at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, New York in October 1916. The winner received $500 and a gold medal donated by Rodman Wanamaker

• The original format was match play, all the way up until 1958

• Phil Mickelson is the oldest player to win the championship at 51 years old

• PGA Club Professionals are able to qualify and play, but no amateurs are invited unless they've won either of the Masters, U.S. Open, or Open Championship

• In the 2015 PGA at Whistling Straits, Jason Day became the first player to finish 20 under par in a major

• Jack Nicklaus has won the tournament a whopping 5 times, in 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, and1980

• Brooks Koepka won the event back-to-back in 2018 and 2019, the most recent player to accomplish that feat in a major

Threads for The Road