2024 PGA Championship: Dates, tee times, terrain, course information and how to follow as Brooks Koepka defends at Valhalla

The big golf season is underway with the 2024 PGA Championship taking place this week.

This year’s PGA Championship will be held at the famous Valhalla Golf Club, where Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have already won the prestigious title.

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But LIV Golf star Brooks Koepka will be the defending champion this summer after his stunning victory at Oak Hill last year.

Koepka won the title in New York, finishing two ahead of Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler.

New dad Scheffler will be the man to beat after his Masters victory and his incredibly dominant form this season.

But 2014 PGA champion McIlroy is also in fine form after winning in his last two starts, including at the Wells Fargo Championship last weekend.

There will be many more stories to tell in Kentucky as the best fields of the year compete for the iconic Wanamaker Trophy.

2024 PGA Championship: start date and time

The 106th edition of the PGA Championship will be held from Thursday May 16 to Sunday May 19.

It takes place at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.

Play is scheduled to begin at 1pm UK time on both opening days and 3pm UK time on weekends.

2024 PGA Championship: How to Follow

talkSPORT journalists Sean O’Brien and Rupert Bell will have regular updates from Louisville throughout the week.

To tune in to talkSPORT via the website, click HERE for the live stream.

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, via your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

The action will also be shown live on Sky Sports Golf.

Sky Sports Golf will begin its extensive coverage on Monday before its tournament coverage begins on Thursday.

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2024 PGA Championship: Course Details

Valhalla will play to a par 71 and have a maximum length of 7,609 yards.

Jose Maria Olazabal and Michael Block, a club professional who played at Oak Hill last year, hold the course record at 63.

This is the fourth PGA Championship at Valhalla. Mark Brooks won in 1996, Woods in 2000 and McIlroy in 2014. It also hosted the Ryder Cup in 2008.

The course wraps around Floyd’s Fork River which comes into play on several holes while the par 5 18th “Photo Finish” is a classic major finishing hole.

2024 PGA Championship: Course and tee times

The field will be made up of 156 players before the cut on Friday evening.

The PGA Championship is considered to have the strongest field of the year because it invites twenty PGA clubs or teaching professionals rather than amateurs like other majors.

Defending champion Koepka will lead the LIV Golf contingent that will also include Cameron Smith, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, among others.

Jordan Spieth needs glory in Valhalla to complete his career Grand Slam while local boy Justin Thomas will aim for his third PGA Championship.

Woods is also ready to tee off.

The full field has been confirmed and can be found here.

Groupings and departure times will be announced on Tuesday.

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2024 PGA Championship: What was said?

After an opening 72 at Oak Hill, Koepka shot rounds of 66 twice and 67 on the final day to clinch his fifth major in brilliant fashion.

It was a wake-up call to the golf world at LIV, players are always a big presence at the biggest events and Koepka remains eager to learn more.

He said: “This one is really special. I think this one is probably the most significant of all, with everything that’s happened, all the crazy things in the last few years.

“I’m not sure I dreamed of winning that many when I was a kid.

“No one knows all the pain. It often happens that I can’t even bend my knee. This victory felt good. It was really good.

“I have a chance again every time I play. So I’m very happy with the way I’m playing.

“I like the way I worked with everyone. It’s been a lot of fun.

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2024 PGA Championship: hole-by-hole guide

1st (The Post), 484 yards, par four: Lengthened about 40 yards since 2014, this dogleg left presents a significant challenge both off the tee and into the green, which is guarded by intimidating bunkers at the front left or rear right. pin positions.

2nd (Winning Colors), 500 yards, par four: A gentler dogleg left than the opening hole, but Floyd’s Fork – which winds through the front nine – runs along the left side of the fairway and the green, which is also protected by three bunkers.

3rd (Honest Abe), 208 yards, par three: Floyd’s Fork sweeps right of the green and waits for any shot that misses or misjudges the wind and catches the slope to push the ball into the hazard. The hole is named for Kentucky’s only president, Abraham Lincoln.

4th (Mine that Bird), 372 yards, par four: A short par four that some of the longer hitters may be able to reach, while those who choose to relax will need to find a precise approach to a significantly contoured green .

5th (The Sun Shines Bright), 463 yards, par four: the only hole on the course without a single tree, the fifth is a dogleg to the right with a fairway surrounded by bunkers and over to the green, which also features a run-off area to the left.

6th (Long Shot), 495 yards, par four: One of the most difficult holes on the course challenges players to get as close to Floyd’s Fork as they dare from the tee, before turning from 90 degrees to the right and make a long approach to a green. guarded on the left by a large and deep bunker.

7th (Genuine Risk), 597 yards, par five: a risk-reward hole that features a split fairway. Going left shortens the hole by more than 50 yards, but the landing area is only 26 yards wide and surrounded by rough bluegrass and water, and also leaves an approach plane above more than ‘water.

8th (Float Like a Butterfly), 190 yards, par three: The shortest par three on the course, but with a difficult green that is protected in front by a deep bunker and more sand on the left.

9th (Twin Spires), 415 yards, par four: The tee shot must avoid the three fairway bunkers on the right and two others on the left, before an uphill approach to a relatively narrow green guarded by a bunker on the right which runs along the length of putting surface.

10th (Big Red), 590 yards, par five: A double dogleg par five that features a fairway bunker on the right side of the driving area and an undulating two-tiered green. Rory McIlroy made an eagle here in the final round en route to victory in 2014.

11th (Holler), 211 yards, par three: The shallow target sits at an angle to the tee and is guarded by bunkers to the front left and back right of the green. Anything too far to the left will roll down a steep slope.

12th (Sting Like a Bee), 494 yards, par four: The fairway narrows considerably as it approaches the end of a slight dogleg to the right, leaving an approach of approximately 180 yards to another elevated green which is at an angle and is protected. through one of the deepest bunkers on the course.

13th (The Limestone Hole), 351 yards, par four: The shortest par four on the course requires a positional tee shot to avoid the six bunkers to the left of the fairway and set up a wedge approach to the “island” green built on large rocks and framed by a waterfall.

14th (On the Rocks), 254 yards, par three: The longest par three has a two-level green with two bunkers in front and two behind, with shots from the back bunkers played on a putting surface that slopes back to front. .

15th (Julep), 435 yards, par four: Brush Run Creek flows down the right side of the entire hole and appears most prominently on the green, where any shot pushed off target is likely to find danger, particularly toward a straight front pin.

16th (Home Stretch), 508 yards, par four: The stream presents more of a threat from the start this time and meanders from a green protected by two front bunkers and a severe drop to a mowed area of close to the right.

17th (Straight Up), 472 yards, par four: Tee shot must avoid fairway bunkers – McIlroy made a vital birdie from the right one in the final round in 2014 – to establish an approach to a green guarded by more interconnected bunkers short left.

18th (Photo Finish), 570 yards, par five: A large bunker to the left of the fairway can push tee shots close to the water on the right, but a good drive will give most players the chance to reach the large horseshoe-shaped green. in two.