The season’s second major championship is upon us, with the 106th PGA Championship set to commence at Valhalla Golf Club. In turn, let’s continue our PGA DFS coverage series by providing our PGA Championship preview, first look, course breakdown, weather forecast and so much more.
As with all major championships, LIV golfers are eligible to compete which always brings with it some intrigue. There is plenty to break down, and tons to consider when trying to narrow down which players you’ll be placing action on within the betting markets, or the DFS streets.
Be sure to check out our PGA DFS projections that will be posted on Tuesday, which will feature fantasy point projections, ownership projections, and other valuable data points to help you out. This data will be updated constantly by our data science team leading up to lock to give you an edge on the competition. Below I have broken down everything you need to know to get you ready for the tournament, in addition to some early leans in the betting markets I have my eyes on.
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2024 PGA Championship Preview – Course Statistics
Course –Â Valhalla Golf Club
Location –Â Louisville, KY
Yardage – 7,600 yards
Par –Â 71
Fairways –Â Zeon Zoysiagrass
Greens –Â Bentgrass
This will be Valhalla Golf Club’s fourth time hosting the PGA Championship (1996, 2000, 2014), but this time around there has been major changes to the course to help it play firmer and faster. The bentgrass fairways were replaced with Zeon Zoysiagrass in 2021. This new grass sets up as a much firmer surface, permitting more roll out on the fairways. They also removed patches of rough between the fairways and bunkers, allowing for more balls to find their way into the traps.
As with all major championship golf courses, it will be set up to play very challenging. Reports of four inch thick rough flank the fairways and well-protected greens. Golfers will face many uneven lies on the subtle hills in the fairways, and often be faced with approach shots that severely punish misses in any direction. Green complexes across the course are often elevated, which will repel away poorly struck shots that don’t produce enough spin.
Off the tee, length will certainly play a factor given the shear distance of the course, but accuracy will be paramount. The ability to work the ball in both directions will also be a major benefit, as dogleg holes both left and right require it. Water hazards come in play on seven of the 18 holes, and will certainly play a factor. In short, all facets of a player’s game will be tested this week. The course itself is an absolute monster, and I’m excited to watch the best in the world take it on.
Valhalla Golf Club Past Winners
PGA Championships:
- 1996 – Mark Brooks
- 2000 – Tiger Woods
- 2014 – Rory McIlroy
Senior PGA Championships:
- 2004 – Hale Irwin
- 2011 – Tom Watson
Boys Junior PGA Championship:
- 2018 – Akshay Bhatia
2024 PGA Championship – Key Stats
- Strokes Gained: Off the Tee –Â It’s extremely hard to envision a poor driver of the golf ball competing in this tournament due to the difficulty of some of the tee shots at Valhalla.
- Strokes Gained: Approach –Â This is a ball strikers course through and through. Smaller than average greens surrounded by well placed bunkers, water hazards, and run off areas make for very difficult approach shots.
- Bogey Avoidance –Â Major championship golf is all about avoiding the big numbers, pars are great scores.
- Proximity 175+ – Given the raw length of this course, there will be numerous shots into greens from 175 or more yards out. Players who are proficient with their long irons will gain a big advantage on the field
2024 PGA Championship Recent Form Overview
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (Last 50 Rounds)
- Scottie Scheffler
- Rory McIlroy
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Keith Mitchell
- Ludvig Aberg
Strokes Gained: Approach (Last 50 Rounds)
- Scottie Scheffler
- Tom Hoge
- Jon Rahm
- Cameron Smith
- Lucas Glover
Strokes Gained: Around the Green (Last 50 Rounds)
- Mackenzie Hughes
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Scottie Scheffler
- Stephen Jaeger
- Si Woo Kim
Strokes Gained: Putting (Last 50 Rounds)
- Taylor Montgomery
- Cameron Smith
- Wyndham Clark
- Adam Scott
- Sahith Theegala
2024 PGA Championship Weather Forecast
Thursday – High of 81 degrees, winds 2-6mph all day, 20% chance of precipitation. Excellent scoring conditions
Friday –Â High of 79 degrees, winds 4-5mph in the morning increasing to 9mph in afternoon, 50% chance of precipitation. Chance for a slight delay here.
Saturday – High of 82 degrees, winds 4-5mph in the morning increasing to 9mph by afternoon, 20% chance of precipitation. Great scoring conditions.
Sunday – High of 84 degrees, winds 4-5mph in the morning increasing to 9mph by afternoon, 40% chance of precipitation. Could see some scattered thunderstorms halting play.
Predicted wave advantage – Hard to really see much of an advantage for either wave at this point. If I had to pick, I’d slightly prefer Thursday PM/Friday Am to avoid the increased winds on Friday afternoon. However, it’s not enough to sway me in either direction definitively at the moment.
This forecast can, and likely will change as the week progresses. Be sure to check on the weather Wednesday night before making any determinations on a possible wave advantage when building out DFS lineups or first round leader bets.Â
2024 PGA Championship First Clicks
Wyndham Clark +3500 – Getting one of the longest hitters in the field, and the reigning U.S. Open champion at 35:1 really piques my interest. His 47th place finish at last week’s Wells Fargo certainly isn’t going to excite the masses, but most of his struggles came on and around the greens where he lost a total of five(!) strokes to the field.
He ranks 14th in strokes gained around the green and 3rd in strokes gained putting amongst the PGA Championship field over the last 50 rounds, so I’m willing to call his short game performance this past week an anomaly. With three finishes inside the top 3 over his five previous starts, this number is too good to pass up on for one of the game’s rising stars.
Cameron Young +4500 – Young has yet to win on the PGA Tour, but does have an astounding 15 finishes inside the top 10 in only 60 total career starts on the PGA Tour. This is a rare talent, whose first win is not a matter of if, but when. So why not this week? He’s already shown he can compete in majors, with five top 10 finishes (including two top 3 finishes) in just 11 career starts.
We know he hits the ball a country mile, with an average driving distance that hovers around 310 yards. His game is tailor made for major championship golf, and has proven it on the longest and hardest layouts the world has to offer. He’s a great fit for the demands of the course, and IÂ love the value in this number as it currently sits on a few books. Get it while you can, I expect this number to dip to +4000, or even +3500 by the time the tournament gets underway.
