The PGA Championship, 카지노사이트the second major men’s golf season, will be held at Oak Hill Country Club (par 70, 7,394 yards) in Rochester, New York, for four days from the 18th (Korean time).
In this event, 156 world-class athletes compete to compete for the title.
The total prize money for the tournament has not yet been determined. Last year, the total prize money was 15 million dollars and the winning prize was 2.7 million dollars (approximately 3.61 billion won).
The Wanamaker Trophy, given to the winner, is considered one of the representative championship trophies in major golf tournaments, along with the Claret Jug awarded to the Open champion.
The ‘self-confidence showdown’ between PGA Tour players and LIV Series players, which attracted fans’ attention at the Masters, is expected to draw great attention at the PGA Championship.
Among the players participating in this year’s PGA Championship, 18 are from LIV.
Ram winning the Masters [AP=연합뉴스]
At the Masters in April, PGA Tour’s Jon Lam (Spain) and LIV’s Brooks Koepka (USA) competed for the title until the end, and Lam became the main character in the green jacket.
LIV players Koepka and Phil Mickelson (USA) tied for 2nd place, and Patrick Reed (USA) also tied for 4th place. LIV players also showed formidable skills.
LIV, which was launched in June of last year, has not yet won a major tournament since then.
Last year’s Open Champion Cameron Smith (Australia) was on the PGA Tour when he won the championship, and later moved to LIV.
In this tournament, the ‘Big 3’ Lam, the world’s No. 1 to 3 representing the PGA, Scotty Scheffler (USA), and Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) are expected to compete for the championship.
If Ram wins, he will stand at the top of three of the four major tournaments following the 2021 US Open and this year’s Masters.
McIlroy, who missed the cut at the Masters, will challenge for the third time in his career following 2012 and 2014.
Justin Thomas (USA), who won this event last year, is also aiming to win the PGA Championship three times, including in 2017.
Jordan Spieth (USA) can achieve the ‘Career Grand Slam’ by winning only this tournament.
LIV players are also not easy.
Mickelson, who finished runner-up at the Masters, wrote the myth of the first ever ’50 major champion’ in this competition in 2021.
He also won two straight PGA Championships in 2018 and 2019 with Koepkado.
The number of PGA Championship victories over the past five years is three times for LIV, ahead of the PGA Tour, Colin Morikawa (USA) in 2020 and Thomas twice in 2022.
Korean players will also challenge for the second major championship after Yang Yong-eun in this event in 2009.
Lim Seong-jae is on the rise after winning a come-from-behind championship by 5 strokes at the Korea Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour Woori Financial Championship, which ended on the 14th in Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi-do. Kim Si-woo also has strong confidence after finishing runner-up at AT&T Byron Nelson on the PGA Tour last week.
Lim Seong-jae holding the winning trophy of the Woori Finance Championship [Courtesy of KPGA]
On the final day of this tournament in 2009, Yang Yong-eun performed an amazing come-from-behind drama against Woods and achieved the splendid feat of becoming the first Asian male player to ascend to the major throne.
Since then, the only Asian player to win the men’s major tournament is Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) of the 2021 Masters.
Yang Yong-eun (left) greeting Woods after beating Woods in 2009 [EPA = Yonhap News]
This is the fourth time the PGA Championship has been held at Oak Hill Country Club, following 1980, 2003 and 2013.
In 1980, Jack Nicklaus (USA) won an overwhelming victory by 7 strokes, but this is where somewhat unexpected winners such as Sean Meekil in 2003 and Jason Dufner (USA) in 2013 came out.
The length of the course is 250 yards longer than in the 2013 tournament, and holes 6 (503 yards) and 17 (502 yards) are par 4 holes over 500 yards. Hole 18 (par 4, 497 yards) has a narrow fairway, and hole 11 (245 yards) is also a long par 3.