Sam Torrance: Jon Rahm’s the man to beat at US PGA but don’t overlook Brooks Koepka
Sam Torrance previews this week’s US PGA Championship and fancies Brooks Koepka to rival the three favourites, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
Oak Hill is a venue I know well from playing the 1995 Ryder Cup and I’m back in New York state this week to cover what promises to be a great US PGA Championship.
It’s a wonderful place and a really classy old course which has a rich history of staging majors, most recently when Jason Dufner won this event here 10 years ago.
The set-up has changed a bit since I played it and there is a school of thought that it will suit the longest drivers.
Having had a quick look I’m not sure yet, but the removal of hundreds of trees and lengthening of the par four 18th to 560 yards suggests it certainly won’t hurt those big hitters.
Majors tend to be set up to reward hitting fairways and greens, ensuring the cream rises to the top, so distance might not be the only important factor.
Last month we had a fabulous Masters and this US PGA Championship has all the makings of another great major tournament.
There are some top players in great form, notably Green Jacket winner Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and, despite missing the cut at Augusta, Rory McIlroy.
Rahm is definitely the best player on the planet at the moment. Still only 28, he’s a two-time major winner and improving with every season.
The Spaniard has plenty of power off the tee but is also brilliant at controlling the ball. The world No1 just needs to play his game and he will be very hard to beat.
Scheffler, who is from neighbouring New Jersey, is another all-rounder with no real weaknesses to his game.
Last year’s Masters winner has already got two titles in 2023 including the Players Championship, the unofficial fifth major.
The world No2 is yet to finish worse than 12th in 10 starts this year and looked to be coming into form when finishing in the top five last week at the Byron Nelson.
McIlroy hasn’t done much since his disappointing Masters but I’m sure that was nothing more than a blip and I don’t expect any lasting problems.
If anything, he perhaps struggled with the great desire that he clearly has to complete the career grand slam and join that very top echelon of golfers in history.
Beyond the three favourites, I’ll be keeping an eye on Brooks Koepka, who is showing signs of the form that brought him four majors in less than two years, including back-to-back US PGA Championship victories in 2018 and 2019.
He was tied for second at the Masters last month and has challenged in his last two starts on the LIV Golf tour, where he mostly plays now.
Koepka has got great guts and self-belief; when his body is in good shape, as it now seems to be again, he is a contender at any event.
World No4 Patrick Cantlay is yet to win a major but it such a good player, a steady eddie.
He has just started working with Joe LaCava, who previously caddied for Tiger Woods and Fred Couples, and that could be both a boost and an advantage.
You can’t discount Dustin Johnson, who won last week’s LIV event. DJ is a two-time major winner and was runner-up at both the 2019 and 2020 US PGA Championships.
Defending champion Justin Thomas doesn’t seem to have quite hit form yet this year, but Tony Finau is another shout to become the 10th first-time winner of this title in the last 15 editions.
One who could surprise them all is Jason Day, who won his first title for five years last weekend. The Australian former world No1 was magnificent, recalling a spell when he looked invincible.
Of the British contenders, my one to watch is Tyrrell Hatton. He made it back-to-back top-five finishes last week and I feel like he is going to burst through and win a major soon.
Sam Torrance OBE is a former Ryder Cup-winning captain and one of Europe’s most successful golfers. Follow him @torrancesam