These 14 past champions are playing in the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club
These 14 past champions are playing in the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club
The second men's major of the year has a loaded field. The 2025 PGA Championship will have 156 players in all, and its field is always considered to be the strongest in the game.
As the PGA of America notes, this year's event at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, will have 29 major winners, 14 past PGA Championship winners, three members of the World Golf Hall of Fame and three Ryder Cup captains.
Past PGA Championship winners in the 2025 field
Keegan Bradley
Jason Day
Jason Dufner
Padraig Harrington
Martin Kaymer
Brooks Koepka
Rory McIlroy
Shaun Micheel
Phil Mickelson
Collin Morikawa
Xander Schauffele
Vijay Singh
Justin Thomas
Jimmy Walker
PGA Championship winners since 1958
The PGA was a match-play event from 1916 to 1957 but switched to stroke play in 1958.
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USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Golfweek asked ChatGPT for predictions and more at the 2025 U.S. Open
Golfweek asked ChatGPT for predictions and more at the 2025 U.S. Open ChatGPT analyzed Oakmont and the field at the U.S. Open, then predicted contenders. But it shocked us with a big-name it thinks could miss the cut. Golf fans don't need artificial intelligence to know the U.S. Open is the toughest golf tournament on the schedule every year, and that Oakmont Country Club prides itself on being one of the hardest golf courses in the world. The list of men who have won there is illustrious: Tommy Armour (1927), Sam Parks Jr. (1935), Ben Hogan (1953), Jack Nicklaus (1962), Johnny Miller (1973), Larry Nelson (1983), Ernie Els (1994), Angel Cabrera (2007) and Dustin Johnson (2016). While golf media members and prognosticators have been bantering about who might win this year's U.S. Open since Scottie Scheffler won the 2025 PGA Championship last month, Golfweek decided to see what one of the biggest brains on Earth had to say on the subject. ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI that can generate human-like text, making it seem as if you're texting with a real person. A very real person. It's designed to understand and respond to user input, answer questions and even have a back-and-forth conversation. Here's what ChatGPT thinks about Oakmont Country Club, who might be a contender on Sunday afternoon, and which highly-ranked player is most likely to miss the cut. ChatGPT on Oakmont Country Club Golfweek: Let's start with the course. Among the venues that the USGA has used for recent U.S. Opens, how hard is Oakmont? ChatGPT: Oakmont Country Club is, without question, the most difficult course in the regular U.S. Open rota—and possibly the toughest test in all of championship golf. That's not just opinion; it's supported by scoring data and player feedback across decades. Let's talk numbers. In the last three U.S. Opens played at Oakmont—2007, 2016, and 1994—the winning scores were 4 under (Dustin Johnson, 2016), 5 over (Angel Cabrera, 2007), and 5 under (Ernie Els in a playoff, 1994). What's notable is that even with modern equipment, only four players broke par in 2016, and that was with a relatively calm week. In 2007, nobody broke par—Cabrera's +5 was good enough to win, and only eight players finished within 10 shots of the lead. Compare that to: 2023 at LACC (North Course): Wyndham Clark won at -10 Wyndham Clark won at -10 2022 at The Country Club (Brookline): Matt Fitzpatrick won at -6 Matt Fitzpatrick won at -6 2021 at Torrey Pines: Jon Rahm won at -6 Jon Rahm won at -6 2019 at Pebble Beach: Gary Woodland won at -13 Oakmont plays harder, period. Golfweek: Why is Oakmont so tough? ChatGPT: It's a combination of classic design and sheer brutality: Greens: Oakmont's greens are legendary—lightning fast, sloped, and crowned. They routinely roll 14+ on the Stimpmeter during U.S. Opens, making them the fastest in major championship golf. They're also massive, but pins are tucked and approaches must land on the right tier or risk a three-putt—or worse. Bunkers: Over 210 of them, many of them deep and positioned exactly where your ball wants to go. The famous 'Church Pews' between 3 and 4 are iconic, but every bunker feels like a penalty area. Narrow fairways and thick rough: The USGA always narrows the fairways at Oakmont, and the rough is dense, upright, and penal. Driving it in the short grass is a premium, especially with how firm the course usually plays. No water hazards, no gimmicks: Oakmont beats you up with angles, firmness, and speed. There are no ponds, no forced carries over lakes—just pure shotmaking, and nowhere to hide if you're off. In short: Among recent venues, Oakmont is the bar-none toughest. It demands everything—tee ball placement, spin control, elite lag putting and mental endurance. Even top players often leave with their confidence dented. Golfweek: What do you anticipate will be the hardest hole at the 2025 U.S. Open? ChatGPT: If history, design and setup trends are any guide, the most difficult hole at the 2025 U.S. Open will almost certainly be the first hole—and yes, that's as intimidating as it sounds. Oakmont's first hole is a par 4 that plays to about 480 yards. Right out of the gate, players face a brutally demanding tee shot that sets the tone for the day. The fairway tilts left to right, and anything slightly offline can kick into the rough or into the right-side bunkers. In the 2016 U.S. Open, fewer than 50 percent of players found the fairway on No. 1 all week. The green is angled front-to-back slopes severely from left to right. If you miss on the wrong side, it's a guaranteed bogey or worse. Most courses ease players into a round with a mid-length par 4 or scoring opportunity. At Oakmont, the first tee shot is more of a stress test—no warm-up swings, no bailouts, and no faking it. It's a major reason players say Oakmont gets in your head before your round even starts. Who might win the 2025 U.S. Open? Golfweek: Predict three players who will be in contention for the lead at the U.S. Open at the start of the fourth round? ChatGPT: Great question—and one that requires blending data, history, course fit and recent form. Predicting who will actually be leading after 54 holes is always a gamble, but three players stand out as especially likely to be in the hunt at Oakmont on Saturday night of the 2025 U.S. Open. Here are three names I'd put real stock in: Scottie Scheffler Why he'll be there: No one in men's professional golf has been more consistent than Scheffler over the last 18 months. He's leading the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green by a wide margin again in 2025, and Oakmont is a ballstriker's crucible. He drives it long and straight, controls spin beautifully, and has shown major resilience even when his putter isn't firing. Oakmont fit: Scheffler's natural shot shape—a tight fade with the driver—matches up well with Oakmont's demanding tee shots. His elite iron play will give him chances on holes where most players are scrambling for bogey. Plus, his recent putting switch (to the TaylorMade Spider Tour X L-Neck) has stabilized what was once a glaring weakness. Xander Schauffele Why he'll be there: Xander has been the most consistent U.S. Open performer of the past decade, with seven straight top-15 finishes since 2017. He finally broke through with a major win at the 2024 PGA Championship, and there's no reason to think he won't carry that confidence into Oakmont. Oakmont fit: He's cool under pressure and rarely beats himself. That kind of temperament plays at Oakmont, where the course demands total discipline. He's also top 10 in proximity from 175–225 yards in 2025—exactly the kind of approach range you face all week there. Tommy Fleetwood Why he'll be there: Fleetwood's name might surprise some, but he's put together a quietly excellent season and ranks among the best in strokes gained around the green and scrambling—a huge asset at Oakmont. His U.S. Open record is strong (T-2 in 2018, T-4 in 2017), and he thrives in tough, windy, firm conditions. Oakmont fit: Fleetwood is a grinder. He's not flashy off the tee, but he puts the ball in play and thrives when par is a good score. His creativity and feel on and around the greens could give him a real edge over players who are used to softer setups. Golfweek: Who is a player no one will be talking about who you think could finish in the top 10 at Oakmont? ChatGPT: Sahith Theegala He's not under-the-radar to golf fans anymore, but in a major field packed with big names and major winners, Theegala still qualifies as a sleeper—especially at a venue like Oakmont, where the course itself is the star, and emotional control is as critical as ball control. 1. He's a creative shotmaker with a great short game. Oakmont requires creativity and feel—two of Theegala's strengths. He plays with a natural flow and doesn't overly rely on mechanics, which helps him on uneven lies, thick rough, and the types of awkward recovery shots that Oakmont dishes out routinely. 2. Top-tier putting and touch. He's ranked among the top 30 on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting in 2025 and has shown the ability to drain mid-range putts under pressure. Oakmont's greens will be a nightmare for players who rely too much on analytics or struggle with speed control. Theegala, on the other hand, has the kind of natural putting stroke that holds up well on fast, sloped greens. 3. Major confidence curve. He's trending in the right direction. Theegala notched a T-6 at the 2024 British Open Championship, a T-12 at Augusta in 2025, and a strong run at the Players earlier this year. The experience is adding up, and he's shown he can handle big stages without losing his rhythm or confidence. 4. Comfortable in chaos. Some players unravel when they miss fairways or when the course gets firm and fiery. Theegala doesn't. He's a scrambler by nature, and Oakmont rewards guys who stay patient, aren't rattled by bogeys, and can grind out 72 tough holes. Who might miss the cut at the 2025 U.S. Open? Golfweek: Give me a big-name players who you think is most likely to miss the cut. ChatGPT: If you're looking for a bold prediction—and one that could stir up some clubhouse conversation—I'd say the big-name player most likely to miss the cut at the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont is Bryson DeChambeau. That might seem controversial on the surface, especially considering how well he played in the 2024 majors and how much he's embraced U.S. Open setups in the past. But Oakmont is not Winged Foot or Pinehurst, and the setup in 2025 may be his undoing. Here's why Bryson is at risk: 1. Oakmont neutralizes power without precision. Bryson's strategy in 2020—bomb it as far as possible and gouge it onto the green—worked at Winged Foot because the fairways were narrow but the rough was uniform and not overly penal in some areas. At Oakmont, that same approach is far riskier. Oakmont's fairways are extremely narrow, the rough is thicker and clumpier, and the greens are firmer and faster. Miss a fairway here, and you're often looking at a layup, not a wedge from the rough. It's a course that rewards accuracy and punishes any loss of control—off the tee, into the greens, and especially around them. 2. Short game and putting concerns. Bryson has made strides with his putter, but Oakmont's greens are an entirely different animal. They're famously the fastest in major championship golf, and Bryson's tendency to struggle with speed control and lag putting under pressure could become a major liability. If you're not extremely precise with your spin and trajectory into these greens, three-putts (or worse) pile up fast. 3. Course architecture doesn't favor his style. There are no real 'gettable' par 5s at Oakmont (No. 12 being the exception, and even that's relative), and no holes where a high-risk/high-reward strategy offers a clear payoff. In fact, trying to overpower Oakmont can backfire quickly—ask players like Phil Mickelson or John Daly, both of whom struggled mightily here in past Opens when they tried to play aggressively. In 2016, when Bryson was still an amateur, he did make the cut at Oakmont, finishing T-15—but he was playing a far more controlled, conservative game back then. In recent U.S. Opens, he's had mixed results: wins at Winged Foot and Pinehurst, missed cut at Torrey Pines. Bottom line from ChatGPT ahead of the 2025 U.S. Open If Bryson comes in swinging driver with reckless abandon, Oakmont could chew him up. And if his iron play and touch around the greens aren't sharp, he could be heading home Friday night. He's got the talent, but this venue asks the wrong questions of his current game.
USA Today
4 hours ago
- USA Today
This college golf star made an albatross in winning the Missouri Amateur qualifier
This college golf star made an albatross in winning the Missouri Amateur qualifier As far as days on the course go, Missouri men's golfer Veikka Viskari's round on Thursday may be hard to beat. Not only did the Mizzou sophomore from Espoo, Finland, record the best score of the day in his Missouri Amateur Qualifier with a 7-under 64 at The Falls Golf Club in O'Fallon, Missouri, and book his place in the Missouri Amateur Championship field, but Viskari recorded one of the rarest scores in the sport in the process. Viskari made an albatross at the par-five sixth hole, which measures 524 yards from the back tees. An albatross is three strokes under the designated par for the hole, which means he holed his second shot. The feat is more rare than a hole-in-one on a par 3, according to an article from the PGA of America, which places the average player's odds of making an ace at approximately 12,500-1 and the odds of an albatross — a hole-in-one on a par 4 or a 2 on a par 5 — at 6 million-1. Viskari was even par for his round stepping onto the sixth tee after recording two birdies and two bogeys in his opening five holes. He closed his outward nine with a bogey at the eighth and birdie at the ninth to turn in 3-under 33 before firing a bogey-free, 4-under 31 on the back nine with four birdies to win the qualifier. His albatross helped him stave off Fenton's David Strickland, who posted 65 to finish one shot off the top spot. Viskari was one of 33 qualifiers from the O'Fallon site to book their spot in the Missouri Amateur Championship, which will take place at MU's home course, The Club at Old Hawthorne, from June 24-29. The Missouri Amateur Championship is a 144-player event that includes two rounds of stroke play with a 64-player cut. At that point, the advancing players compete in match play — one-on-one knockouts — until a winner is determined. Viskari is one of two Mizzou players currently qualified for the event, as sophomore Brock Snyder finished tied for third in his qualifier at Paradise Pointe Golf Course in Smithville, Missouri, with a 2-under 70. Tolton grad and Columbia local Andrew Fallis, a current Missouri State player, also qualified for the event, posting an even-par 72 to tie for fifth at a qualifier at Rivercut Golf Course in Springfield, Missouri. More: Border War date: Day announced for Missouri basketball vs Kansas in Kansas City More: Harrison Mevis set to play in UFL playoffs. How former Missouri football kicker has performed Viskari recently wrapped up his sophomore season, which was his first in Columbia after transferring from VCU. He had a 73.58 scoring average over 12 tournaments for head coach Glen Millican's team.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rory McIlroy knows his form is a problem heading into US Open
Rory McIlroy admitted he is concerned about his form ahead of next week's US Open after missing the cut at the RBC Canadian Open. The Masters champion shot a dismal second-round 78 on Friday, carding a quadruple bogey, a double and four other bogeys in an eight-over-par round that left him languishing 21 shots behind halfway leader Cameron Champ, who finished on 12 under. Advertisement It is the first time the world number two has missed the cut since the Open at Royal Troon last July. McIlroy's round continued his troubled build-up to next week's US Open at Oakmont having been forced to switch to a different driver after his previous model was deemed non-conforming in a random test on the eve of last month's US PGA Championship, in which he finished joint-47th. Rory McIlroy missed the cut in Canada (Nathan Denette/AP) 'Of course it concerns me. You don't want to shoot high scores like the one I did today,' McIlroy said on the PGA website. 'Still I felt like I came here obviously with a new driver thinking that sort of was going to be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn't. Advertisement 'Obviously going to Oakmont next week, what you need to do more than anything else there is hit fairways. Still sort of searching for the sort of missing piece off the tee. 'Obviously for me, when I get that part of the game clicking, then everything falls into place for me. Right now that isn't. Yeah, that's a concern going into next week.' McIlroy was already facing an uphill battle after shooting one over par on Thursday and his day began to unravel after taking an eight on the par-four fifth. That occurred after he fired his second shot out of bounds from the rough and was forced to take a further penalty after playing a provisional. He then missed the green with his fifth shot and needed three more to find the hole. Advertisement Things got worse from there with further bogeys at the eighth and 10th before he double-bogeyed the 11th and then dropped more shots at the 13th and 17th. There was at least some relief with birdies on the 15th and at the last, but McIlroy is preparing for a 'lot of practice' over the weekend. He added: 'I think there's still learnings that you have to take from a day like today. 'Even though the last two days didn't go the way I wanted them to, there's still things I can take from it and still things I can learn. 'I'm going to have to do a lot of practice, a lot of work over the weekend at home and try to at least have a better idea of where my game is going into next week.' Advertisement Elsewhere, Irishman Shane Lowry's two-under-par 68 took him to eight under and a share of seventh place along with six other players. Andrew Putnam climbed to second on 10 under, while Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen was tied third on nine under with Canadians Richard Lee and Nick Taylor. Justin Rose, beaten by McIlroy in a play-off at the Masters in April, also missed the cut after finishing one under following a round of 74.
