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Southern Hills Country Club will host the 104th PGA Championship in May as “Glory’s Last Shot” has found a new place on the golf calendar since pros last laid eyes on the Perry Maxwell design. Established in the 1930’s with the help of a little oil money, the likes of Dustin Johnson (+1400), Bryson DeChambeau (+1800), Xander Schauffele (+2000) and defending champion Phil Mickelson (+9000) should feel right at home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Tiger Woods (+5000) won the most recent PGA Championship held in the Sooner State at 8-under, successfully defending his title at Medinah the year before and claiming victory in 2007. Not only did that week in August mark Woods’ 13th major championship, but it also marked a historic week for Southern Hills itself as it became the first course to host four PGA Championships and three U.S. Opens. That should be music to the ears of Brooks Koepka (+1600) as the four-time major winner has played his best golf in those two championships.
Plenty has happened at Southern Hills in the near decade and a half since. Byeong Hun An (+25000) won the 2009 U.S. Amateur, Gil Hanse led the restoration process in 2018, and most recently Alex Cejka won the 2021 Senior PGA Championship.
Steve Stricker held the 54-hole lead this past spring before carding a 7-over 77 in the final round. This gave way for Cejka to win by four-strokes at 8-under as the German was one of seven players to finish under-par by week’s end. While the 50+ age division is a far cry from the world’s best, I suspect the scoring won’t look all too different and may in fact be similar to that of the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.
(If you are unwilling to check out the highlights from the Senior PGA Championship, the good people at The Fried Egg have you covered with video and written content pertaining to the golf course.)
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They mention Augusta National a number of times and the schedule leading up to The Masters appears to be perfect for Jason Kokrak (+10000), but I can’t say I am in love with his prospects in the year’s first major championship given what he has shown in his two appearances. Likely playing in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players Championship, and Valspar Championship, Kokrak should be firing on all cylinders once he arrives in Georgia.
Despite this, it is actually his PGA Championship chances I prefer as I am willing to suggest this potential form will still be evident just one month later. Three victories – four if you include the QBE Shootout – over the span of 13 months are hard to ignore as this late bloomer is now just a major championship away from claiming his spot among the game’s elite.
Known to play some of his best golf in Texas, perhaps Oklahoma will treat the world No. 21 just as kindly. As the 36-year-old’s latest victory at the HPE Houston Open is one I believe he could lean on when looking at Southern Hills. A big ballpark with tricky Bermuda rough lining the fairways, tight run-offs around the greens, and firm and fast conditions sounds an awful lot like Memorial Park and the scoring may be indicative of such. Southern Hills is inherently hillier – it is in the name after all – but I reckon the bones of the operation are not far off. Factor in the potential for Oklahoma winds and a player with strong history in this part of the country could prove to have an edge.
University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State alumni such as Viktor Hovland (+2200), Abraham Ancer (+6600), and Matthew Wolff (+8000) will receive plenty of attention the week leading into the championship, but the one I am drawn to is in fact Talor Gooch (+20000). Already experiencing vast market movement, Gooch’s number at FanDuel opened at +21000 and has since dropped to +10000.
Yet to be listed at all major sportsbooks, PointsBet Sportsbook has the recent RSM Classic winner at +20000 for the year’s second major championship. I know I wrote about peaks and valleys and whatnot when discussing The Masters, but I am willing to invest at this number without knowing if this past swing season was just a flash in the pan or the beginning of a prolonged period of success.
Possessing little major championship experience, a strong showing at The Masters may be needed to get his feet wet ahead of the PGA Championship. However, he was able to make a nice Sunday charge this past March at TPC Sawgrass finishing in a tie for fifth at the Players Championship and bolstering his confidence in the process.
Arguably a top-10 iron player in the world with a top-10 around-the-green game, there is a great deal to like about Gooch’s profile. While it may be a bit of a stretch to consider him a major champion in 2022, his number is stretched too long and thus has captured my attention.
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