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The 2022 PGA Championship took place at Southern Hills Championship Course in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is the second major on the PGA Tour. This was once the final major of the year but since the PGA changed its schedule it is now after The Masters. The golf course was created in 1935 during the great depression. It is a par 70 at 7,556 yards. Southern Hills went through a major restoration in 2019 right before the pandemic. This will be the fifth PGA Championship that the golf course will be holding. One of the biggest stories this year is that defending champion Phil Mickelson did not play. The reason he did not defend his championship is that he might try to play on a rival golf tour based in Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, Tiger Woods was in the field.
Round one of the 2022 PGA Championship had some great pairings with one being Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Jordan Spieth. Those three have won multiple majors and all of them have made an impact on the PGA Tour. Rory McIlroy said that Phil Mickelson should have been here playing. Many believe that Mickelson has a long road back to the PGA Tour unless he goes to the Saudi Arabia tour. The course is 400 yards longer than it was in 2007. Southern Hills has two par 5’s measuring over 600 yards. The player that had the best odds to win is the Masters champion, Scottie Scheffler. Woods’s odds were +6500 to win. It would have been great to see him win. My pick going into the match was Justin Thomas. He has been a solid player and he looked to be on the verge of winning his first major on the PGA Tour. As luck would have it, my choice was right as Thomas mounted a comeback for the ages to win in a playoff.
Round One
The excitement was to see Tiger Woods once again in a major. The conditions were windy, and it showed. Many players struggled. Woods started well but by the end of the first round, he was two-over-par. His playing partner Rory McIlroy led after day one. McIlroy has not won a major since the 2014 PGA Championship. Throughout the first round, we all saw that it was wearing on him just like it did during the Masters. My favorite Justin Thomas played very well and was near the top of the scoreboard.
Round Two
This is where Tiger showed some comeback after round one. Woods shot a 69 which is a one-under-par round. But it wore on him just like it did in the first major. Other players like McIlroy stayed steady. Bubba Watson made his way up the leaderboard. Many say that Watson is the worse player on the tour to play with. The name that started to show up was Miro Pereira from Chile as he showed Southern Hills the solid player he is. That set up the weekend and showed who might win the 2022 PGA Championship.
Round Three
This is where it went awful for Tiger Woods. He shot a 79, his worst round ever in a major. All of us saw the wear and tear on his repaired knee. He said he might try and play in the final round but decided to withdraw. It was just the second time in his career he withdrew from a major the last one was due to a wrist injury. On the other hand, players like Mike Fitzpatrick started to make some noise. But Bubba Watson went the wrong way on the leaderboard. Pereira held the lead going into the final round.
Round Four
A player that many have known from past majors, Will Zalatoris, put his name in the ring. We saw Cameron Smith also shine. Justin Thomas also made a solid shot at the lead. We all know for certain players fold under the pressure of winning majors. That is what happened to Pereira as he had a bad tee shot off the 18th hole. That shot led to a double-bogey which knock him out of the lead. It ended up being a three-hole playoff between Zalatoris and Thomas. Thomas was seven back as the final round began. The last PGA Championship that had a playoff was 2011 won by Keegan Bradley over Jason Dufner. Dufner would win a PGA Championship just two years later. In the end, the 2022 Champion is Justin Thomas defeating Will Zalatoris. What a week of golf and now on to the 2022 U.S. Open.
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