PGA '23: Capsules of leading players at Oak Hill for PGA Championship
A capsule look at 10 leading players for the PGA Championship, which starts Thursday at Oak Hill Country Club (listed in predicted order of finish):
CAMERON YOUNG
Age: 26.
Country: United States.
World ranking: 15.
Worldwide wins: None.
Majors: None.
Best PGA Championship finish: Tie for third, one shot out of a playoff, in 2022 at Southern Hills.
Backspin: The last player to make the PGA Championship his first win on a major tour was Shaun Micheel at Oak Hill in 2003. Young comes in with a far higher pedigree. He was tied for the lead with five holes to go at the PGA last year and was runner-up at St. Andrews. The first win should come soon.
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TONY FINAU
Age: 33.
Country: Unites States.
World ranking: 11.
Worldwide wins: 6
Majors: None.
Best PGA Championship finish: Tie for fourth in 2020 at Harding Park.
Backspin: Finau has four PGA Tour wins in the last 10 months, all of them by three shots or more. He also has four top 5s in the majors since 2018 and brings one of the most refreshing, no-excuse attitudes to golf.
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JORDAN SPIETH
Age: 29.
Country: United States.
World ranking: 10.
Worldwide wins: 16.
Majors: Masters (2015), U.S. Open (2015), British Open (2017).
Best PGA Championship finish: Runner-up in 2015 at Whistling Straits.
Backspin: This will be his seventh time playing the PGA Championship when he has a shot at the career Grand Slam. He has not come particularly close in any of them. Complicating his chances this year are sitting out the AT&T Byron Nelson last week with an injury to his left wrist.
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JON RAHM
Age: 28.
Country: Spain.
World ranking: 1.
Worldwide wins: 20.
Majors: Masters (2023), U.S. Open (2021).
Best PGA Championship finish: Tie for fourth in 2018 at Bellerive.
Backspin: Rahm will try to become the first player since Jordan Spieth in 2015 to get the first two legs of the Grand Slam. He already has four wins this year and leads the PGA Tour in scoring average.
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SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER
Age: 26.
Country: United States.
World ranking: 2.
Worldwide wins: 6.
Majors: Masters (2022).
Best PGA Championship finish: Tie for fourth in 2020 at Harding Park.
Backspin: As well as Rahm has played this year, Scheffler has not been too far behind. He has not finished worse than a tie for 12th in nine PGA Tour starts this year. He has won the Masters and The Players Championship in successive years.
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PATRICK CANTLAY
Age: 31.
Country: United States.
World ranking: 4.
Worldwide wins: 8.
Majors: None.
Best PGA Championship finish: Tie for third in 2019 at Bethpage Black.
Backspin: Cantlay has taken his place among the elite on the PGA Tour except for rarely contending in the majors. He was tied for the lead through 15 holes in the 2019 Masters, his only close call. He says it’s a small sample size (21 majors since his return from back injury), but it’s getting bigger.
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RORY MCILROY
Age: 34.
Country: Northern Ireland.
World ranking: 3.
Worldwide wins: 32.
Majors: PGA Championship (2012, 2014), U.S. Open (2011), British Open (2014).
Best PGA Championship finish: Won at Kiawah Island in 2012 and Valhalla in 2014.
Backspin: He missed the cut in the Masters, took three weeks off and tied for 47th in the Wells Fargo, his only start until the PGA Championship. McIlroy has gone 31 majors without winning one. His wife is from Rochester and he is an honorary member at Oak Hill.
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JUSTIN THOMAS
Age: 30.
Country: United States.
World ranking: 14.
Worldwide wins: 15.
Majors: PGA Championship (2017, 2022).
Best PGA Championship finish: Won at Quail Hollow in 2017 and Southern Hills in 2022).
Backspin: He hasn’t won since the PGA Championship last year and has struggled with his putting. He has only four top 10s on the PGA Tour since winning at Southern Hills. Thomas fell out of the top 10 in the world for the first time in nearly six years.
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BROOKS KOEPKA
Age: 33.
Country: United States.
World ranking: 43.
Worldwide wins: 13.
Majors: PGA Championship (2018, 2019), U.S. Open (2017, 2018).
Best PGA Championship finish: Won at Bellerive in 2018 and at Bethpage Black in 2019.
Backspin: Koepka has shot 63 both times he won the PGA Championship. His 54-hole lead and runner-up finish at the Masters was an early sign of his improved health and his reputation of performing his best in the majors.
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PHIL MICKELSON
Age: 52.
Country: United States.
World ranking: 78.
Worldwide wins: 48.
Majors: Masters (2004, 2006, 2010), PGA Championship (2005, 2021), British Open (2013).
Best PGA Championship finish: Won at Baltusrol and became the oldest major champion at Kiawah Island.
Backspin: Mickelson rarely contended against 48-man fields on LIV Golf and then he shot 65 in the final round and was runner-up at the Masters. He skipped his title defense at the PGA Championship. Playing well at Augusta was not a surprise. To repeat the performance at Oak Hill would be.
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XANDER SCHAUFFELE
Age: 29.
Country: Unites States.
World ranking: 5.
Worldwide wins: 8.
Majors: None.
Best PGA Championship finish: Tie for 10th in 2020 at Harding Park.
Backspin: Schauffele has contended at every major except for the PGA Championship. He went on a tear last summer with three PGA Tour titles in three months, and he goes into Oak Hill coming off a runner-up finish in the Wells Fargo Championship.
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