The world’s best golfers are heading to Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma to take part in the 2022 PGA Championship, starting on May 19.
This is the second major of the year, following the Masters in April, and everyone is looking for clues over who will win the 2022 PGA Championship.
World number one Scottie Scheffler was a class above the rest at Augusta National, but can he back it up with a win at the PGA?
We’ve looked at major results since 2000 to predict what might happen at Southern Hills.
Should you back a big name?
Phil Mickelson sprung something of a surprise by winning the PGA Championship in 2021. At the age of 50, he became the oldest major champion in history.
Mickelson – winner of five major tournaments before his triumph last year – is part of a long list of former major winners to emerge victorious at the PGA. Since 2000, half of the PGA champions had at least one major to their name before teeing off.
Among them is two-time PGA champion Rory McIlroy, who will be hoping to end his eight-year major drought at Southern Hills. McIlroy can take heart from a scintillating finish at the Masters, where he shot his second lowest round at a major tournament.
As well as favouring players with major pedigrees, the PGA has thrown up more than its fair share of unfancied winners. Five champions since the turn of the century had never finished in the top 10 of a major before, including 2020 winner Collin Morikawa, who had a previous best of 35th.
Does home advantage count?
Majors held in the US tend to favour homegrown players. Since 2000, Americans account for more than half of the champions at the Masters, the US Open and the PGA Championship. However, home advantage has been greatest at the PGA, with 15 of the last 22 winners born in the States.
The current generation of US golfers is arguably as good as any we have seen – they crushed Europe at last year’s Ryder Cup and occupy six of the world’s top 10 rankings. The last six PGA Championships have been won by Americans – can anyone break that sequence?
What happened at Southern Hills last time?
The PGA Championship is returning to Southern Hills for the first time since 2007. Tiger Woods collected his 13th major title last time out in Oklahoma. He took control of the tournament with a spectacular second-round 63 and never relinquished it.
Most of the field found it difficult that week, with just five players under par across the four days. History suggests that Southern Hills is one of the toughest courses around. In the 14 subsequent years, only one course (Oakland Hills in 2008) has seen fewer players break par.
In their search for birdie opportunities, the 2022 hopefuls could do worse than review Tiger’s scorecards from 2007. Out of a total score of eight under par, he was four under across his visits to the two par 5s.
Who has performed best in recent majors?
As a former victor, Morikawa will start as one of the favourites in the betting on who will win the 2022 PGA Championship. Morikawa is the only winner of multiple majors since 2020; he has also secured a further four top-20 finishes over that period.
World numbers one and two Scheffler and Jon Rahm have reasons to be optimistic, too. Scheffler has a target on his back following his dominant win at the Masters, but with a win and several other top-20s, Spaniard Rahm has an equally impressive record at major tournaments over the last two years.
Rahm leads European hopes alongside McIlroy and the highly-rated Norwegian Viktor Hovland. While Hovland is yet to secure a top-10 finish at a major, he can take confidence from his form elsewhere that has seen him rise as high as number three in the world rankings.
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