The 106th edition of the PGA Championship, the second major of the 2024 calendar, will be held at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky from May 16-19. Designed by all-time major champion Jack Nicklaus, Valhalla is ranked as the top course in Kentucky and is listed among “America’s 100 Greatest Courses” by Golf Digest. Valhalla has hosted three previous PGA Championships, two Senior PGA Championships, and the 2008 Ryder Cup. The last PGA Championship at Valhalla was in 2014 when Rory McIlroy won his second Wanamaker Trophy and fourth major title.
In preparation for the tournament, Valhalla’s new ownership group has made numerous updates to the course. Included in those are the renovation of the clubhouse, adding a new agronomy center, a waterfall on the 13th hole, and new tee boxes on the first, 12th, 14th, and 18th holes. The entire course has also been re-sodded from Bentgrass to Zoysia, a warmer-season turf. This should allow for easier maintenance of the course during the summer. The course will play about 100 yards longer than it did in 2014. The first hole is 50 yards longer, and No. 14 can be played as a 250-yard par three.
One of the main storylines this year will be two-time PGA Championship winner, and Louisville native Justin Thomas getting to play a major in his own backyard. “Growing up in Louisville, and as much as this town means to me and the support I get, it’s going to be really, really cool to say the least,” Thomas recently said. “I know it’s going to be a busy week. It’s going to be a hectic week. I just have to remind myself it’s a golf tournament that I’m trying to perform. So, I’m going to have to be very, very selfish, and understand that the job isn’t to entertain and see people, it’s to go there to try to do a job and that job is to win the golf tournament.”
Before it became a golf course, the 500-acre parcel of Kentucky property was difficult to develop because half of the site was a floodplain with high-tension electric poles everywhere. Nicklaus, however, drew on his extensive training and prior experience to produce a unique design that includes a par 5 with an alternate fairway, a par 4 with an island green, and a finishing hole with a horseshoe-shaped green. As he is known to do, Nicklaus has returned periodically to update the course.
For the PGA Championship, Valhalla will play as a par 71 measuring over 7,400 yards. It has the reputation of being somewhat of a “bombers” course with wide fairways and players able to blast away off the tee on many of the holes. Back in 2014, it played as the longest par-71 course in PGA Championship history. Said Tour veteran Brandt Snedeker about the course, “You’ve got to drive the ball in play there, first and foremost, if you’re going to have any chance at all of being successful. Par 5s are a key factor. If they’re reachable for guys like me, the medium hitters, then I have a good chance. If they’re not, the big hitters have a huge advantage.”
It is a typical “Nicklaus design” in that it places a huge premium on precise second shots. It’s also a shotmakers course. Greens are firm and fast. Said Phil Mickelson back in 2014, “The fairways are always generous. But the biggest thing is coming into the greens, you want to hit a lot of shots high and soft. There’s a lot of collection areas. You’ve got to carry a lot of bunkers and get the ball stopped quick. The higher and softer you hit the ball, you seem to be able to make a lot more birdies at Valhalla. So that will be the biggest thing
As for the course itself, the easier front nine is more wide open with slightly undulating fairways that pitch and roll through a low-lying valley. Along with being more difficult and having more imaginative holes, the back nine is a much more traditional tree-lined layout that also has plenty of hazards and changes in elevation. Overall, the par 3s are challenging. There is also a good mix of longer and shorter holes for each of the par types.
ODDS TO WIN 2024 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
- Jon Rahm +800
- Scottie Scheffler +800
- Rory McIlroy +1000
- Brooks Koepka +1200
- Patrick Cantlay +1800
- Xander Schauffele +2000
- Viktor Hovland +2200
- Justin Thomas +2800
- Cameron Smith +2800
- Collin Morikawa +2800
- Tony Finau +2800
- Dustin Johnson +3300
- Jordan Spieth +3300
- Jason Day +3300
- Hideki Matsuyama +4000
- Tyrrell Hatton +4000
- Max Homa +4000
- Sung-Jae Im +4000
- Matthew Fitzpatrick +4000
- Shane Lowry +4500
- Tommy Fleetwood +5000
- Cameron Young +5000
- Tom Kim +5500
- Corey Conners +5500
- Sam Burns +6000
- Patrick Reed +6600
- Justin Rose +6600
- Bryson DeChambeau +6600
- Joaquin Niemann +8000
- Min Woo Lee +8000
- Kurt Kitayama +8000
- Wyndham Clark +8000
- Rickie Fowler +8000
- Adam Scott +8000
- Sahith Theegala +8000
- Tiger Woods +10000
- Keith Mitchell +10000
- Davis Riley +10000
- Louis Oosthuzien +10000
- Ryan Fox +10000
- Keegan Bradley +10000
- Talor Gooch +10000
- Si Woo Kim +10000
- Daniel Berger +10000
- Gary Woodland +10000
- Thomas Pieters +12500
- Adam Hadwin +12500
- Abraham Ancer +12500
- Russell Henley +12500
- Sergio Garcia +12500
- Harris English +15000
- Aaron Wise +15000
- JT Poston +15000
- Mito Pereira +15000
- Brian Harman +15000
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout +15000
- Phil Mickelson +15000
- Billy Horschel +15000
- Marc Leishman +15000
- Seamus Power +15000
- Harold Varner III +17500
- Sepp Straka +17500
- Robert MacIntyre +17500
- Francesco Molinari +17500
- Denny McCarthy +17500
- Mackenzie Hughes +20000
- Joel Dahmen +20000
- Jason Kokrak +20000
Odds Provided by bet365 – Subject to Change