Cameron Smith in action in last year’s PGA Championship – photo PGA of America
Golf’s second major championship for men’s golf in 2022, the PGA Championship, gets underway on Thursday at the Southern Hills Country
Club in Tulsa in Oklahoma, the venue being used for the eighth time as a major venue, four of those previous being this championship and three the US Open.
The course has undergone significant change since Tiger Woods won the 2007 PGA Championship, noted designer Gil Hanse working his magic on the layout in 2018.
The field is typically the strongest in major championship golf and will include one of the stronger representations numerically of players from our part of the world, namely eight Australians and one New Zealander.
That group is headed by world number 4, Cameron Smith, missed cut at the recent RBC Heritage which came just a week after his impressive 3rd place at the Masters and an earlier win at the Players Championship.
Smith has already recorded four top finishes in major championships so he has shown a capacity to contend at this level and must be considered some sort of chance this week.
His missed cut at Hilton Head came just a few days after the disappointment of the final stretch of his Masters tilt and although his only event since the RBC Heritage was when teaming with Marc Leishman for a midfield finish in New Orleans, his proven capacity to contend at the pointy end of major championships will hold him in good stead.
Smith is happy at the state of his game and his mind as he heads into the event as one of the favourites.
“The game feels really good,” he said on Tuesday. “I had a bit of a refresh, the last two weeks. Had three weeks off. Yeah, so it was good to set the clubs down for probably ten days, and then got back into it working hard. Had my trainer and psychologist over last week and did a lot of good work at home.
“So Yeah, it feels really good. I feel fresh.”
Smith typically does not overdo preparation for major championships preferring to keep himself fresh and to treat each week the same.
“I like to treat every week the same. I don’t like to turn up earlier and do some more prep. I like to think of every week the same. I do the same preparation.
“I play 18, 27 holes, really figure out the firmness and the speed of the greens and then from there, just really work on some shots on the range that I may have picked up here and there. Yeah, just get ready and fresh for Thursday.”
Adam Scott has played well in 2022 but, with the exception of the Genesis event, he has seldom contended. Scott has 19 top tens in major championships, six of them coming in this event and did finish 12th at this venue in 2007 but that was a long time ago on a golf course that is significantly different than was the case back then.
He has been consistent in 2022 and could contend at various stages of the event but a win looks beyond him.
Jason Day was close to the peak of his powers when he won this event in 2015 and performed well in several other PGA Championships although his form in the last couple of years is well below that level. He has shown however the occasional sign of late that some of that early career form might be returning.
It is hard to imagine him contending but given the comeback he is making after the death of his mother Dening it would be great to see him featuring at some stage.
Marc Leishman has struggled to find the form we know he is capable of in recent months but will play his 12th PGA Championship this week. Leishman has yet to record a top ten in this event and has missed his last three cuts at the PGA Championship.
Given Leishman’s current form it is hard to see him improving on that record.
Lucas Herbert will play his 4th PGA Championship with two cuts made although a best of 71st in either. The highly talented Victorian missed the cut in his last individual event at the Masters and his form has been patchy in 2022, his 7th at Bay Hill his best by some way.
Herbert is likely to contend at the PGA Championship in the years ahead but not, it would seem, in 2022.
Min Woo Lee plays the PGA Championship for the first occasion but his form in 2022 has been well below his capabilities although his 14th place finish at the Masters was impressive. He has missed the cut in four of his other five cuts on the PGA Tour this year although his Masters effort proved a major event debut is not too daunting for the West Australian.
Cameron Davis finished 59th on debut in this event last year and although 2022 has been somewhat of a roller-coaster for the Sydney golfer, he did finish an impressive 3rd at the RBC Heritage event a month ago.
Matt Jones will play his eighth PGA Championship but has yet to record one finish inside the top ten. The two-time Australian Open Champion finished runner-up at the recent Texas Open and was third at the opening event of the season in Hawaii but that aside his results have provided a rocky ride.
New Zealander, Ryan Fox, will play his 4th PGA Championship with little to get excited about thus far but he arrives in the US off the back off some excellent finishes in Europe this season and this might offer a chance to better his previous best in this event when 27th in 2018.
It is hard to go past Cameron Smith once again leading the Australasians.
As to the overall winner Scottie Scheffler again looms as the man most likely given his solid week on return from his Masters victory when 15th at the AT&T event in Dallas. Scheffler has been 8th and 4th in his only two previous appearances at the PGA Championship and must surely be a strong chance to win a second major title.
If I was looking for a little bit of value amongst the leading chances it might be Hideki Matsuyama who despite injury concerns this year, his third place finish in Dallas last week gave evidence that he is not too far from where he needs to be to add yet another high finish in majors.
The Japanese star has yet to miss a cut in nine starts in this event and has two top fives amongst those stats.
Tiger Woods won the event at Southern Hills when it was last played there in 2007 and below is a pre-event chat with him.
