PGA Championship returns to Oak Hill for the first time since 2013, when the tournament used to be held in August; Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy among those looking to impress; watch throughout the week live on Sky Sports Golf
Monday 22 May 2023 06:59, UK
Forget about Oak Hill being ready to host the PGA Championship, the bigger question is are the players ready for Oak Hill?!
This is one of the hardest set-ups that I've ever seen outside a US Open and it's going to be a mammoth task for every single player. You usually see at the PGA Championship a set-up closer to what we get week in, week out at a PGA Tour event, whereas this is going to be an absolute beast.
It's the Gypsy King of golf courses, as you wouldn't want to get in the ring against Tyson Fury and you don't want to come out fighting your game against the challenge of Oak Hill! It's a huge task.
What's difficult about it? Every task known to man as a golfer on that golf course has to be spot on, although the first think you've got to do around here is drive it really well and long.
You've got to be an amazing player and hit everything very close. If you miss the green, then you've got to be an incredibly good chipper and an unbelievably good bunker player! Even if that's all working as you would hope it to be, you've still got to putt like a freak every hole.
The rough seems to be sitting up almost vertically and you don't want to play here on a cold and windy day, as it's only going to make a long course even longer. The course is firm, which only makes it harder, so we could do with a sprinkling of rain to make those fairways feel a little bit wider.
If you go out there and you're one-dimensional, or you're relying on one aspect of your game to bail you out then you're simply not going to get it done around here. It's going to be a proper player that goes on to win this on Sunday.
Rory McIlroy comes into this event in a challenging run of form and, if I'm being honest, I worry for him this week and really think it's going to be tough for him to get the job done around here.
He missed the cut at The Masters and struggled at Quail Hollow, with his issue of late being primarily that he has not been driving it straight. If you're not driving it well around here then you're just hacking out from the rough, so you're instantly up against it. I hope McIlroy can prove me wrong!
Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler are the two players that you definitely look at as the world's top two. Scheffler has won twice this year already, but Rahm has to be the standout favourite to win this week.
Rahm drives it so well, he's a wonderful iron player and has the whole lot in his game at the moment, This time last year there may have been question marks over this putting, but not anymore. The Masters champion will certainly be ready to rock after a couple of weeks off and you can't bet against him.
The LIV players will all want to be the first to win a major while playing on their circuit and there's a few of them who could certainly do that this week.
Talor Gooch has been on a winning streak on the LIV circuit, so you have to look at him as a contender, while Dustin Johnson is a great driver of the ball and coming into form with his win Tulsa on Sunday.
There's also, of course, Brooks Koepka, who is a major champion and knows exactly what to expect from this week. He had a good week at The Masters but failed a little by fading away on the final day, but he's a big-time player and will want to perform well here this week.
Watch the 105th PGA Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 1pm on Sky Sports Golf.
