🏆 PGA Championship Recap

Xander no longer the best player without a Major

Xander Schauffele is now a Major champion, tossing the monkey off his back and shredding the unenviable title of “best player without a Major”. Xander won the PGA Championship at Valhalla by 1 stroke over Bryson DeChambeau, thereby completing an impressive wire-to-wire victory over arguably the strongest field we will see in a golf tournament this year.

In this week’s issue of The Shank Show newsletter, we’ll recap the best and most interesting aspects of the 2024 PGA Championship. But before we do, just a reminder about our new Podcast - Beyond The Tour Golf Show:

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Everything you need to know from all 4 rounds

Round 1 - Thursday

Round 1 kicked off with Xander exploding out of the gates and shooting a course record 9-under (62). This was the second time X-Man has shot 62 in a major, matching this feat at the US Open in 2023. Scottie Scheffler turned up ready to play with a hole-out eagle on the 1st - sinking his first tournament iron shot as a newly minted father from 167 yards.

The Block Party was over in round one with last year’s social media star, Michael Block, posting a +5 round of 76 which included a quad on his second hole. Blockie would miss the cut from there. Aussie star, Cam Smith, showed that he can walk on water with his short game, making par from a ridiculous position following an errant tee shot (which we have been seeing too frequently from Cam of late).

There was a lot of focus on Jon Rahm who had a terrible start - he was +4 through 5 holes and there was speculation that he had received a frosty reception from PGAT players on the range after his comments that he was “still a PGAT member, he just plays now in the LIV tour”. Rahm was able to stage a gutsy comeback to finish round 1 at 1-under. The leaderboard was building nicely with Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa and Scheffler all lurking at 4 or 5-under.

Round 2 - Friday

In the early hours before Round 2 commenced, the most sensational golf story since Tiger Wood’s scandals broke - world number 1, Scottie Scheffler, was arrested and taken to jail as he tried to enter the Valhalla property. Circumstances of the incident were vague, but it appeared Scottie had tried to navigate in his car around a traffic-controlled area resulting from an earlier fatal accident involving one of the tournament volunteers. In doing so, Scheffler is alleged to have (possibly unknowingly) ignored directions from a police officer and caused injury to the officer with his car. Amazingly, not only did Scheffler get released in time to make his tee spot, he then went out and shot a magnificent 5-under (66). Just incredible!!! And so were the memes on socials 😂😂😂.

Bryson DeChambeau and Morikawa started making their moves, both shooting 6-under (65). Brooksy was cooking and looking a massive threat to bag his 4th PGA Championship until a mudball stopped him dead in his tracks on the Par 5, 10th. Playing his second, the ball skewed hard left and out-of-bounds, leading to a momentum killing double bogey. He would never really recover from this, adding a further two bogeys on 16 and 17. Xander backed up his electric start with a solid second round 3-under (68) to hold a 1-shot lead going into the weekend. He was +1 through his final 8 holes of Round 2, which kept him within reach of the field.

Round 3 - Saturday

On Saturday, the talk of the tournament continued to be on Scheffler - this time because his usual caddie, Ted Scott, had rushed home for his daughter’s graduation and would not be on the bag. Instead, Scottie would use a replacement caddie - Brad Payne, Scheffler's longtime friend and the PGA Tour's chaplain. Payne came with plenty of golf and caddie experience, having played college golf for Pepperdine and previously caddying on the PGAT. Despite this, Scheffler got off to a terrible start, being +4 through 4 holes, and finished with a 2-over 73. This was effectively the end of Scottie’s chances to win.

The biggest move on Saturday came from Irishman, Shane Lowry, who equaled Xander’s course record of 62. Big Shane opened with a front 9 of 29, which included 5 birdies in 6 holes. Justin Rose also wound back the clock to be -5 through his first 7 holes and race up the leaderboard into contention.

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The PGA of America must have been delighted with the names at the top of the leaderboard going into the final round. Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele led the field at 15-under after shooting rounds of 67 and 68, respectively, with Bryson and Lowry and Viktor Hovland 2 shots back. There were 5 Major champions within 3 shots of the lead setting up what would prove to be a fantastic Sunday finish.

Round 4 - Sunday

The final round would prove to be a 3-horse race. The challenges from Morikawa and Lowry were short lived. Collin’s putter ran stone cold all day (only 1 birdie in an even par round) and even though Shane was 2-under through 4 holes, he then stalled to finish T6 with Collin.

That left Bryson and Viktor to chase down Xander. And they certainly mounted formidable challenges. Bryson was -4 through 10 and Viktor looked like he was primed for his first Major win as he went -6 through holes 5 to 13. Hovland took the outright lead when Xander made a sloppy bogey on 10, and the stage was set for a grandstand finish. Despite the pressure, Xander looked very comfortable opening with a front 9 of 4-under (31). Following the poor bogey on 10, he followed up with back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12 to take back the outright lead. From there, it was going to take something special to rip the Wanamaker trophy out of his grasp.

But Majors have a way of keeping things interesting. Bryson looked to be in trouble when he pulled his tee shot left on 16. It was headed deep into the trees when it ricocheted out onto the fairway. DeChambeau then hit one of the shots of the tournament - stiffing an 8-iron from 219 yards to make birdie, which he then backed up with another birdie on 18 to claim a share of the lead at -20 with Xander. Hovland also had a chance to join the lead if he made birdie on 18, but he slid his birdie putt past the hole and missed the comebacker to finish with bogey (but still outright 3rd).

With 2 holes to play, it was all in front of Xander. Playing the final 2 in even par would see him in a playoff, whilst 1-under would give him his first Major victory. After making a clutch up and down on 17 for par, Schauffele was faced with an awkward lie for his second shot on 18. The ball was well above his feet and he wasn’t able to make a proper stance. He then proceeded to hit a fantastic approach just left of the green avoiding the hazard, followed by a solid chip leaving him a 6-footer for the victory. His putt caught the left edge of the hole and could easily have lipped out. But when it is your time, it’s your time, so the ball dropped into the cup and Xander Schauffele became the 2024 PGA Champion, going wire-to-wire.

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🍴Quick Bites

Here are some quick bites from The Masters for you to snack on:

• Rory’s divorce and alleged affair - during his victory at Quail Hollow last week, news broke that Rory McIlroy had filed for divorce from his wife. Since then, rumours have surfaced about an alleged affair between Rors and CBS Golf and Football correspondent, Amanda Balionis. A developing situation, and of course social media has been all over it (see Club Pro Guy below).

• PGA of America CEO calls for urgent deal - in press conferences leading up the the PGA Championship, CEO of the PGAA Seth Waugh called for an urgent deal between the PGAT and the PIF, saying that the game of golf was niche and wasn’t big enough to support two competing tours. We wonder whether Seth made these statements with even a second’s consideration of golf in a global context rather than US-centric? 🤷‍♂️

• Lucas Glover tees off on Player Directors - in one of the more sensible comments lately coming from PGAT players, Glover has said that Players have no business determining strategy and making decisions about the future of the PGAT. “Tour players play golf. Businessmen run business. They don’t tell us how to hit seven irons. We shouldn’t be telling them how to run a business”. Sage advice for Tiger and Co. These comments from Glover have now been followed by the further resignation of Policy Board Director, Mark Flaherty. Not a good reflection on the internal workings of the PGAT right now.

📅 Schedule for the Week

Your golfing schedule for the week, and how to watch is below:

• PGAT: Charles Schwab Challenge - Colonial Country Club (Texas), $9.1m purse, Friday 24/5 to Monday 27/5 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, Main Coverage starts 6am AEST Friday, Featured Groups from 10.15pm Thursday.

• LIV Golf: no event

• DPWT: Soudal Open - Rinkven International Golf Club (Belgium), $2.5m purse, Thursday 23/5 to Sunday 26/5 - Coverage on Foxtel & Kayo, starts 9.00pm AEST Thursday.

• Asian Tour: no event

• LPGA: no event