The 106th edition of the PGA Championship, the second major of the 2024 calendar, will be held at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., this weekend. The last PGA Championship held at Valhalla was in 2014 and was won by Rory McIlroy (his last major championship victory). McIlroy also won this past weekend by five strokes at the Wells Fargo Championship. He is currently 8-1 but is still the second choice on the odds board.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (+450) and his wife, Meredith, welcomed their newest family addition last week, and the Masters champion is scheduled to play this week at Valhalla. Scheffler, like McIlroy, comes into the PGA Championship with a victory on his last start having won at the RBC Heritage the week after the Masters last month.

The 106th PGA Championship returns to Valhalla Golf Club for the fourth time and the first time since 2014. Valhalla has hosted the PGA Championship on three previous occasions:

1996: Mark Brooks (-11/277) defeated Kenny Perry in a playoff.

2000: Tiger Woods (-18/270) defeated Bob May in a playoff.

2014: Rory McIlroy (-16/268) defeated Phil Mickelson by one stroke.

Valhalla has also hosted the Senior PGA Championship twice and it was won by Hale Irwin in 2004 and Tom Watson in 2011. It was also the site of the 2008 Ryder Cup where Team USA, captained by Paul Azinger, defeated Team Europe, captained by Nick Faldo, 16.5-11.5.

The PGA of America, with its current membership of 29,000 members, is an organization of golf professionals that was founded in 1916 by one-time American department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker and the PGA Championship trophy bears his name. From 1916 to 1957, the PGA was a match-play event.

It remained in a match-play format until 1957, during which time Walter Hagen recorded five wins (tied for the most in the tournament’s history), with players such as Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson also claiming the trophy.

Jack Nicklaus tied Hagen for most wins in the stroke-play era, winning five times between 1963 and 1980, with his fifth and final PGA Championship coming at Oak Hill.

Tiger Woods is third on that list of most PGA Championship wins with four, twice defending his title in 2000 and 2007. Gary Player and Lee Trevino, along with Justin Thomas, Rory, McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson in recent times, are among the list of players to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy on more than one occasion.

Designed by all-time major champion Jack Nicklaus, Valhalla is ranked as the top course in Kentucky and is listed among “America’s 100 Greatest Courses” by Golf Digest. Located just east of Louisville, Valhalla, and which opened for play in 1986, it’s a beautiful 486-acre property that features rolling terrain and narrow tree-lined fairways surrounded by penal rough and tricky undulating greens.

PGA Championships in recent years have gone to longer layouts, and Valhalla is no exception, playing at 7,609 yards this week for a par-71. The yardage is 100 yards longer than it was in 2014.

The fairways are considered wider than most major championships at 30 yards on average, but they are still on the narrower side (ninth most on tour) compared with most PGA Tour stops.

In 2014, the average round played at +0.54 over par (eighth-most-difficult course that year).

The elevation changes will provide many shots with uneven lies. There are 62 bunkers and seven water danger holes as a stream known as Floyd’s Fork meanders throughout the course.

While there are numerous ways to attack the course, players will have to keep it in the fairway as the Fescue/Bluegrass rough is four inches here.

The major agronomic change at Valhalla since players saw it last is the tees and fairways moving to Zoysiagrass from Bentgrass. The Zoysia will be a little firmer and faster, which will increase distance but will also lead to some shots running out of the fairway.

The greens are still Bentgrass and are small (5,000 square feet — fifth smallest on tour) and will be fast (13-14 on the stimpmeter).

The front nine is easier because it is flatter and wide open. It also features Fescue-carpeted mounding and naturally occurring limestone used to defend greens and water areas. The second, third and sixth are situated along the edges of the property, and each interacts with the Floyd’s Fork stream.

Along with being more difficult, the back nine is a much more traditional tree-lined layout that also has plenty of hazards and changes in elevation. The signature island green 13th hole requires only a short wedge on approach from the fairway.

Three of the par-3s play at over 205 yards and averaged 3.08 in 2014. The par-4s have been lengthened and five of them measure 480 yards or longer and they averaged a score of 4.17 in 2024. The three par-5s are reachable in two shots, but both the seventh and 10th holes are more difficult with water and bunkers around the greens.

Holes from 13 through 16 are among the most difficult on the course because of Floyd’s Fork. The closing hole is the uphill par-5 18th, which has a split fairway option and a horseshoe green.

PGA Championship Recent Trends

​10 of the last 14 PGA champions have been younger than 30 years of age.

9 of the last 13 PGA champions have been Americans.

6 of the last 12 PGA champions were ranked in the OWGR (Official World Golf Rankings) Top 10.

8 of the last 12 and 5 of the last 7 PGA champions had already picked up at least one victory earlier in the season.

11 of the last 13 PGA champions had earned at least a top-20 finish in their previous start before the PGA.

11 of the last 15 PGA champions had 5 or fewer starts in the PGA.

11 of the last 12 PGA champions had at least a top-20 or better in a previous PGA Championship start.

17 of the last 18 PGA champions had at least a top-30 or better in a previous PGA Championship start.

Jon Rahm (20-1, Bet Rivers)

With Scheffler, McIlroy and Koepka ahead on the odds board and all coming off victories in their last starts, it seems like Rahm is a bit of the forgotten man this week.

Rahm has yet to win in his debut season on LIV Golf, but he has not finished outside the top 10 in any of those seven events.

His brand of explosive ball-striking and sharp short game makes him one of the game’s true elites and a danger on any golf course, especially one like Valhalla. His suitability for this test is enhanced further by his exceptional long iron game, shown by him ranking second from 175-200 yards and fourth from 200+ yards on the PGA Tour last year for Proximity to the Hole from those distances.

Rahm is a two-time major winner with victories at Muirfield Village, Olympia Fields and Torrey Pines, so he has a great track record on correlated courses.

Bryson DeChambeau (28-1, DraftKings)

DeChambeau still leads the golf world for Driving Distance and can overpower most golf courses.

He is a previous winner on a Jack Nicklaus design having won the Memorial at Muirfield Village in 2018.

Nine of his 10 career wins have come on Bentgrass greens, including at Muirfield Village and Winged Foot.

He led the Masters for Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee and finished top 5 in last year’s PGA at Oak Hill, so he has some good recent form at major championships.

Joaquin Niemann (41-1, Circa Sports)

Niemann has drifted a bit after his hot start to 2024, but he has been the best player on LIV Golf this season with two victories and six top-10s.

The 25-year-old Chilean is coming off a seventh at LIV Singapore on Zoysiagrass where he gained over eight strokes on approach.

Niemann has top-5 finishes to his credit at Muirfield Village and Olympia Fields along with a victory at Riviera two years ago, so he has proved he can play well on long and difficult courses with Bentgrass greens.

He rates second only to DeChambeau in Driving Distance and is first for Strokes Gained: Approach over the last 36 rounds.

Tony Finau (90-1, Caesars Sportsbook)

It has been a little over a year since Finau won last, in Mexico.

He has been a mess with the putter, but his tee-to-green game has still been very good, ranking 10th on the PGA Tour this season for Total Driving and sixth over the last 36 rounds for Strokes Gained: Approach.

He is a fit for a bigger golf course as he ranks behind only McIlroy, Rahm, Scheffler and Schauffele for Strokes Gained on longer courses.

80% of bets are on Jordan Spieth (+180) to MISS the cut at PGA Championship.

Spieth is the most bet player to MISS the cut at BetMGM

73% of bets are on Tiger Woods (+140) to make the cut at PGA Championship.

Tiger is the most bet player to make the cut at BetMGM

PGA Championship - First Round Leader betting at BetMGM

Favorite
▪️ Scheffler +1200
▪️ McIlroy +1600
▪️ Koepka +2500

Highest Ticket%
▪️ Scheffler 14.1%
▪️ McIlroy 11.7%
▪️ Kitayama 10.9%

Highest Handle%
▪️ McIlroy 27.8%
▪️ Scheffler 15.8%
▪️ DeChambeau 7.7%

Odds to win PGA Championship at BetMGM

Scheffler +450
McIlroy +750
Koepka +1400
Schauffele +1400
Rahm +1800
Aberg +1800
DeChambeau +2500
Morikawa +2800

Xander Schauffele leads the PGA Championship at 9-under par after a bogey-free round at Valhalla in Louisville. His 62 tied the lowest round in major championship history. Schauffele was at +1400 pre-tournament, but is now the favorite at +240 at DraftKings Sportsbook. Tony Finau and Sahith Theegala are tied for second at 6-under. Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tom Hoge, Thomas Detry and Collin Morikawa are all tied for fourth at 5-under. Tiger Woods struggled throughout the day and finished at 1-over par.

Xander Schauffele’s act is annoying, and it has been for a long time. He’s the master of the fast start and weekend fade. This is similar to the U.S. Open last summer when he fired a first-round 62 before slowly deteriorating the next three days and finishing 10th. His game looks so sharp in most areas that there’s a decent chance he can keep it up, but I’m not betting on it. Schauffele has eight top-10 finishes with no wins this season, in addition to 12 career top-10 finishes in majors without a win. He’ll start looking over his shoulder at Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and hopefully Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau on the weekend.

Scottie Scheffler played his B-game on Thursday and finds himself only five strokes off the lead. Scottie putted pretty poorly, and wasn’t quite as crisp with his irons (when compared to his usual lofty standards) and is still in contention. That’s how good he is. I’d bet (pun intended) that we see the Scottie we’ve seen the previous five tournaments show up the rest of the tournament. So long as he finds his putter and can get even to the field there, he’ll be right there on Sunday.

Tony Finau and Sahith Theegala putted the lights out on Thursday and both find themselves T2 headed into Friday. But we have two different stories here. Theegala is 9th on Tour in SG: Putting, so his performance is not out of the ordinary. Finau, on the other hand, is 160th on Tour in SG: Putting this season. Considering he lost around-the-green, and barely gained off-the-tee…Finau could be in for some regression.

Live PGA Championship Odds

Schauffele +225
Free Scottie +400
McIlroy +450
Koepka +1200
Morikawa +1400
Theegala +2000
Finau +2500
DeChambeau +3300

The cut has come and gone and we will not be seeing Tiger Woods play the weekend (or Jon Rahm, Ludvig Aberg, Akshay Bhatia, Sungjae Im, Sam Burns, or Wyndham Clark for that matter).

Scottie Scheffler survived his brief incarceration and shot a 5-under 66 to finish the day T4. Other big-name movers include Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas, and Keegan Bradley.

Putter regression found Tony Finau, as expected, but he was able to ride his elite approach game to a 2-under round and T8 overall.

Xander Schauffele wasn’t invincible again in round 2, but he did finish atop the leaderboard heading into the weekend, one stroke ahead of Morikawa. Xander’s putter went away (lost 1 stroke to the field) but he was very strong T2G and looks poised for yet another top 10 finish.

The question now becomes…how far back is too far back? The T11 group 7-under that includes Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama is about as far back as I think is reasonable. Five shots off the lead of a proven stud, with Morikawa, DeChambeau, Scheffler, Finau, Hovland, and a real up-and-comer in Sahith Theegala is probably too much for anybody below that number.

I’d play a live Top 20 on Max Homa. Max lost putting and off-the-tee today, but was good with his irons and around-the-green. Max loves these tough fields and challenging courses, and I expect him to play well over the weekend.

I’ll be looking to fade Harris English in Round 3 who rode a red-hot putter (gained 4.65 strokes) to a 4-under despite losing on approach and off-the-tee.

Odds to win PGA Championship BetMGM

Schauffele +275
Scheffler +300
Morikawa +500
DeChambeau +1000
Theegala +1200
Koepka +1600
Hovland +2000
McIlroy +2800

Going into Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship, there are six players within 2 shots of the lead — and none of them is named Scottie Scheffler.

Xander Schauffele (+240) and Collin Morikawa (+260) are tied for the lead at -15 with Sahith Theegala (+600) at -14, and Viktor Hovland (+750), Bryson DeChambeau (+600) and Shane Lowry (+1200) at -13.

Scheffler shot a round over par for the first time in 266 days (2-over-73) and dropped back to -7, making him +25000

Odds to win PGA Championship at BetMGM

Schauffele +260
Morikawa +275
DeChambeau +700
Theegala +750
Hovland +800
Lowry +1200
Rose +3300
Macintyre +4000
Burmester +5000
JT +6600
Finau +8000