The gift that keeps on giving, Pádraig Harrington has returned for a 27th appearance in the PGA Championship. True to form, he still believes.
“Every person I meet this week is a stop and hello and a handshake. I haven’t seen them in nine months,” quipped Harrington – a winner of the Wanamaker Trophy in 2008 – of how his preparations have been slightly disrupted in getting reacquainted with his peers on tour. Much of his itinerary these days is spent on the Champions Tour, which accounts for him seeing less of some people.
Harrington will feature in three of the majors this season. He is in the PGA Championship as a past champion, into next month’s US Open as the current US Senior Open champion and qualifies for the Open as a past champion.
“I feel great about my game,” he said. “Some weeks maybe all the things haven’t come together. I’ve certainly had some trials and tribulations this year on the greens compared to last year. Hopefully I’m through that. I’m definitely swinging better in terms of hitting it straighter. Maybe not as quick as I was last year, but straighter.
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“There’s lots of good stuff for the rest of the year, but I do feel like I’m under a little bit of stress this weekend, which is kind of what happens when you come out with the young guys. You feel like you need your A-game.
“I’ve got to be a little bit more comfortable about my game and what I’m doing. When you think you need your A-game, your B-game turns up. When you think you need your B-game, your A-game turns up. You’ve got to feel comfortable in the environment.”
Schauffele knows the value of friendship
Xander Schauffele plays himself out of the bunker on the 12th hole during a practice round prior to the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Xander Schauffele had some words of advice for parents and children on the process of starting out in golf.
“Parents, just to kind of let your kid enjoy the sport as much as possible, or any sport they’re playing,” he said. “And to any young kid, a really good thing that I had was a friend to play with.
“Golf is very much an individual sport and can get a bit lonely, especially for a kid when you see a bunch of other kids playing team sports. So having a friend, someone that’s better than you, is always a really good thing. You’ve got someone to lean on and someone that’s going to make you better.”
Trouble in store at ‘severe’ 11th
The severity of the 11th hole at Aronimink Golf Club has not gone unnoticed ahead of the PGA Championship. Photograph: Michael Reaves/Getty Images
The talk of the caddie shack ahead of the championship is the conditioning – and severity – of the 11th green, with some estimating it could prove problematic when scorecards are in hand.
The PGA of America, however, would appear to be ahead of the game.
In addressing the issue, Kerry Haigh, the chief championships officer, admitted the green has been managed to run slower than other putting surfaces.
“The 11th green is the most severe greens complex on the golf course depending on the speed. The hole location has to be determined based on the speed of the green,” said Haigh.
McKibbin has ‘no regrets’ about joining LIV Golf
Tom McKibbin chips from the rough at Aronimink Golf Club. Photograph: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Tom McKibbin’s education in the majors is an ongoing one, emphasised by his missed cut on his debut at the Masters. However, the 23-year-old is convinced the US PGA Championship offers an opportunity to contend.
He is also looking to put aside all the noise about LIV Golf’s woes. McKibbin – a teammate of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton on that circuit, which will have its funding cut at the end of the year – claimed he had “no regrets” about making the jump to that startup tour.
On the topic of making his sixth career appearance in a major, with a best finish of tied-41st in the 2024 US Open, McKibbin remarked: “I feel like I’ve improved a lot in different aspects of my game and I am more comfortable. They’re all different in their own way and all provide a good test of golf.”
Word of Mouth
“What makes it unique is the strength of the field; the amount of players that are in the top-100 in the world is the most out of all the four majors. It’s about just a good test of golf on a strong golf course . . . and if you want to achieve amazing things in this game you have to lift all four majors. So it’s everybody here, it’s a huge goal.” – Justin Rose, who won his only major so far at the US Open in 2013, on the merits of the PGA Championship compared to the other three majors.
By the Numbers: 174
That’s how many bunkers are located around the Aronimink course for the US PGA Championship, although not all of them are in play off the tee for tour players.