Scottie Scheffler. Photo: Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire
By Steve Keating for Reuters
The wild card coming into this week's PGA Championship was not Scottie Scheffler but his wife, Meredith, who had the golf world on baby watch wondering if her world number one husband would be at Valhalla Golf Club for the year's second major.
That suspense ended with reports of the birth of the couple's first child at the weekend sending new dad Scheffler to Louisville as the red-hot favourite to claim the Wanamaker trophy and get halfway to the calendar grand slam.
With four wins in his last five starts, including a second Masters Green Jacket last month, it seemed the best chance of stopping Scheffler from adding another major to his collection was keeping him at home in Texas thinking about names for their newborn.
Scottie Scheffler reacts to missing a birdie putt on the 18th hole of The Players Championship. Photo: photosport
But for the 156 player field there was no such luck.
Having not played a competitive round since his win at the Heritage three weeks ago there will be some rust to shake off but oddsmakers are unmoved, installing Scheffler as the 3-1 favourite ahead of twice champion Rory McIlroy at 7-1.
In 10 starts this season Scheffler has seven top five finishes, his worst result a tie for 17th.
"He's been on such a hot run... he's had so much momentum," said 2008 Masters champion Trevor Immelman, now a golf analyst for CBS.
"You kind of wonder if any rust has started to collect on his game being out of competitive golf for the last three weeks or so, but he has proven to us that his mental toughness, the way he prepares, the way he handles things out in competition.
"He seems to be able to just pretty much handle everything that gets there in his way."
Confident McIlroy
The last of McIlroy's four major wins came at Valhalla a decade ago and the Northern Irishman returns to Louisville in blazing form with back-to-back wins at the Zurich Classic and on Sunday at the Wells Fargo, where he steamrolled Olympic champion Xander Schauffele.
The world number two will be bursting with confidence after a spectacular final round that saw him come from two shots down to Schauffele to surge to a five-shot victory, even after a double-bogey on the final hole.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
"I'm going to a venue next week where I have won; it feels like the stars are aligning a little bit," said McIlroy after firing a final round six-under 65 securing his 26th career title.
"I still have a lot of golf to play and a lot of great players to try to beat but I am going into the next major of the year feeling really good about myself."
Tiger Woods also collected one of his 15 major titles at Valhalla in 2000 with a playoff win over Bob May but no one, except for perhaps the 48-year-old himself, expects a repeat this week.
Battered by injuries, some stemming from a near fatal car crash in 2021 that almost resulted in the amputation of his right leg, Woods has seen limited action this year finishing at the bottom of the leaderboard on 16-over at the Masters.
LIV Golf will have 16 players in the field with the spotlight squarely on defending champion Brooks Koepka, who is bidding for a fourth PGA Championship title.
The only player to have won a major as a LIV Golf member, Koepka also arrives in Kentucky in good form coming off a win in Singapore.
"He's a contract killer, simply," said two-times major winner Andy North, a commentator for ESPN. "He shows up at a major championship, opens his locker, and there's like the 'Mission: Impossible' thing: 'Here's your assignment, go kill somebody this week'.
"That's how he approaches golf at major championships.
"I think the fact that he can raise his game at majors where most people's games go the other way, that's really a huge testament to him and his mental makeup."
-Reuters