This is the second of two posts on setting up my replay of the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill (Acorn Hill). The first post described the Day Conditions as well as some of this course’s particular challenges. This one will recap the actual tournament results and give a bit of history on the event.
Actual Tournament Results
Though starting the tournament with a 2-over par 72, Brooks Koepka responded with rounds of 66, 66, and 67 to finish 9-under par to take home the Wanamaker trophy following his third career PGA Championship. In addition, Koepka became the first golfer to win a major golf championship as a member of LIV Golf.
The 2023 PGA Championship runner ups, Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland, finished the tournament tied for second place at 7-under par. CBS Sports provides an excellent summary of the final round, including highlights of all the players atop the leaderboard.
Previous Winners
To add a bit of historical perspective, Walter Hagen won the PGA Championship five times (1921, 1924, 1925, 1926, and 1927) in match play. The tournament shifted to stroke play in 1958. Under that format, Jack Nicklaus won five times (1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, and in 1980 at Oak Hill East), and Tiger Woods won four times (1999, 2000, 2006, and 2007).
Having won at Southern Hills in 2022, Justin Thomas was this tournament’s defending champion. (Xander Schauffele won in my replay of that event.) Thomas also won in 2017. However, in 2023 Thomas struggled all four rounds (+2, +3, +5, +2) and finished T65 at 12-over par. He would not win a tournament that year and missed qualifying for the FedEx cup play-offs by one stroke, as well.
PGA Professionals
Michael Block qualified for the 2023 PGA Championship by winning the 2023 Southern California PGA Championship. A 46-year-old teaching club pro out of California, Block captivated the fans in New York by competing well all four rounds (70, 70, 70, 71) to finish 1-over par and tied for 15th place. No PGA professional has ever finished inside the top 10. Finishing at T11, only club pros Lonnie Nielsen (1986) and Tommy Aycock (1974) have bettered Block’s ranking.
Following the third round, as reported by CNN, Block told reporters: “I’ve learned at this point to enjoy the moment, to sit back and relax and enjoy it because it goes by fast, and life goes by fast. Before you know it, you’re 60 years old and retired and look back at the videos on this and remember that was the best week of my life, and more than likely this is probably going to be the best week of my life.”
While playing next to Rory McIlroy in the final round, Block’s hole-in-one on no. 15 was one of the great moments in the tournament.
LIV Entrants
As reported in Golf Digest, eligibility for play in the PGA Championship followed 13 criteria, and LIV players that met them were eligible to play. These included:
- All former winners of the PGA Championship
- Winners of the last five Masters (2019-23)
- Winners of the last five U.S. Opens (2018-22)
- Winners of the last five OPEN Championships (2017-22).
- Winners of the last three THE PLAYERS Championships (2021-23)
- And eight other criteria ranging from the top 3 on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) ratings, the 20 top finishers from the 2023 PGA Professional Championship (e.g., Michael Block), the 70 top players who earned the most PGA Championship points, and other competition-based outcomes
As noted, among LIV entrants, Bruce Koepka won his third title in this event. Yet several other 2023 LIV players also finished well or qualified, including Bryson DeChambeau (T4), Cameron Smith (T9), Mito Pereira (T18), Patrick Reed (T18), Harold Varner III (T29), Thomas Pieters (T40), Dustin Johnson (T55), and Phil Mickelson (T58).
Brenden Steele, Trey Mullinax, and Abraham Ancer did not make the cut. Of the LIV players participating in the tournament, only Koepka and Smith received an APBA card in the 2023 set. In addition, several other 2023 PGA Championship competitors have since joined LIV, most notably Jon Rahm (the 2023 Master’s winner, who overtook Koepka in the final round).
Without a change in the qualifying rules, future PGA Championships will likely see fewer LIV players participating in the field. Two-time PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson (age 53) will retain eligibility as will 2010 winner Martin Kaymer (age 39). But those who have qualified by winning other more recent majors or THE PLAYERS Championship, such as Dustin Johnson (Masters 2020) and Cameron Smith (THE PLAYERS 2022 and THE OPEN 2022) are on a clock with respect to playing in future PGA Championships.
The next post will address the Replay and Actual Results from Round 1.