Ask any young golfer what they want to achieve in their career, and the answers will typically be the same. Winning The Masters at Augusta National, outlasting the field in the gruelling US Open or defying the conditions on the British coast to prevail in the Open Championship will be the most common responses. Participating in the Ryder Cup will also be on the agenda.

But the PGA Championship? It barely gets a look-in – and yet this is one of the most storied major tournaments in men’s golf. Perhaps the time is right to redress the balance?

Best of the Best

To win the PGA Championship, you have to beat the very best. That includes PGA TOUR behemoths like Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, who lead the way in the golf odds for the 2023 edition at 7/1, 8/1 and 9/1, respectively, but also LIV Golf rebels such as Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka.

The US PGA odds are an excellent representation of the depth of talent in world golf right now. Outside of the majors, you’d never see the likes of Matt Fitzpatrick (28/1), Hideki Matsuyama (40/1) and Keegan Bradley (66/1) available at such lengthy prices, and that confirms that the PGA Championship is one of the toughest tournaments to win in the sport.

Tweet

For that alone, more respect should be put on its name…

Home Sweet Home

Another element of difficulty attached to the PGA Championship is that it doesn’t have a settled home. Unlike The Masters, the PGA is played on a rotational basis at a series of different courses, and that means that the players don’t have a chance to get comfortable – at Augusta, you sometimes sense there’s little in the way of a surprise anymore, which perhaps explains why the winning scores have been getting lower and lower at the first major of the calendar year.

But no such home comforts in the PGA. From the wind-swept Ocean Course at Kiawah Island and the mammoth 7,800-yard Whistling Straits to the infamous Bethpage Black, the PGA Championship stops by some of the most devilish layouts in America – making it fun to watch and ensuring the champion very much earns their stripes.

Tweet

For many years, the PGA Championship enjoyed a match play format that the likes of Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen seemed to favour before the event switched to strokeplay at the end of the Second World War. It’s never looked back since.

The winner bags an automatic invite into the other three majors and the Players Championship – plus a guaranteed PGA TOUR card – for the next five years, as well as an honorary invitation to play in the PGA Championship whenever they want to for the rest of their lives. Oh, and a winner’s prize of a handy $2.7m.

A switch in the calendar from August to May gives the PGA Championship more focus and a greater poignancy, taking place as it does the weekend before Memorial Day. The tournament does a fantastic job of marking the occasion, which gives the final round of the event on Sunday a heightened feel of emotion and meaning. All things considered, the PGA Championship is a fantastic tournament to win. It’s high time it was mentioned in the same breath as golf’s other three majors.