The best of the best gather in Tulsa, Okla., for the 104th playing of the PGA Championship. Southern Hills Country Club will host the event for the first time since 2007, when the greatest of all time, Tiger Woods, won the event by two shots. He’ll be back this week, and he transcends the world of golf on the grandest stage any time he decides to tee it up. Ninety-seven of the world’s top 100 players will join him this week on the 7,500-yard, par-70 layout, only missing Paul Casey, Harris English and Phil Mickelson. This article will preview the course from a statistical perspective and the PGA DFS slate, which includes two $1 million first-place prizes. Lastly, we’ll cover the results from the last eight majors and how each golfer has fared in them. Let’s dive into an in-depth look at this tournament and go over some early PGA Championship DFS picks.
PGA DFS Preview | PGA Championship 2022
Course Length
Par 70, 7,500 yards
Statistical Preview for Each Hole
For each hole, we’ll give the expected approach distance a golfer can reasonably expect to face on their approach shots on each hole.
- Par 4, 472 Yards: Bunkers guard the left side of the dogleg-left par 4 that will surely grab plenty of golf balls this week. The narrow opening will also push plenty of balls into the rough.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 175-200
- Par 4, 500 Yards: The 225-yard carry over the bunker/creek complex shouldn’t be too much of an issue for players this week, but the creek that continues up the hole and runs parallel to the fairway up to the green will be.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 200-225
- Par 4, 444 yards: The easiest tee shot of the day so far, a dogleg left that players should be able to carry the corner and set up their first scoring chance of the day.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 125-150
- Par 4, 377 Yards: The fairway gets narrower the closer one gets to the green, but some golfers will likely try to drive it as close to the green as possible.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 100-125
- Par 5, 656 Yards: One of the longest holes on the PGA Tour, this par 5 isn’t a walk in the park by any means. A small green awaits the third shot, which likely comes in the 150- to 175-yard range if there’s a bad shot on either of the first two. Two good shots should get golfers a short wedge into the green.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 75-100
- Par 3, 226 yards: A well-guarded green with both bunkers and water coming into play. The creek runs up the left side of the green and will come into play when the pin is on that side.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 200-225
- Par 4, 443 yards: The same creek from above runs up the right side of this par 4, causing shots that go slightly offline to the right, at least one penalty stroke. The hole opens up to the left, but it’s assumed that most golfers will likely lay back with a 3 wood or something lower off this tee and look for a longer approach shot coming into the green.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 175-200
- Par 3, 220 yards: The creek looms for those who go long of the green, which brings in a large number on a relatively straightforward par 3.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 200-225
- Par 4, 395 yards: Two fairway bunkers will gobble up golf balls for those that try to carry the corner and don’t hit it perfect. Those that do will have less than 100 yards in. Some golfers may elect to lay up short of those bunkers with less than driver, leaving around 150 yards into the green.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 125-150
- Par 4, 406 Yards: A creek that cuts the fairway at about 300 yards off the tee will force players to hit something in the 250-yard range off the 10th tee.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 125-150
- Par 3, 173 Yards: The shortest of the par 3’s should be a scoring opportunity this week, as the green is small and guarded by three bunkers that don’t seem hard to navigate.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 150-175
- Par 4, 460 Yards: A right-to-left, sloping fairway should aid players in getting an additional roll off the tee. A blind shot that ends up being wider than expected should make this hole one of the easier ones to score on this week.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 150-175
- Par 5, 632 Yards: Par 5’s are typically great scoring chances for pros, but not here at Southern Hills, as each measures over 632 yards. On this one, water surrounds the elevated green short of the bunkers that guard it. Eagle could be in play, but it would take two perfect shots. Golfers will likely lay up short of the ponds, leaving an approach shot under 100 yards.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 50-75
- Par 3, 230 Yards: The only real trouble on this downhill par 3 is an errant shot way left, which is out of bounds at Southern Hills.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 225-250
- Par 4, 414 Yards: A shorter par 4 that will play even shorter for those that can carry the fairway bunker on the left. This should be a good scoring opportunity.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 100-125
- Par 4, 522 Yards: The longest par four on the course plays as a par 5 for its members. Much like the second hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links, it turns from one of the easiest holes to one of the hardest.
- Average Approach Shot Distance: 200-225
- Par 4, 371 Yards: The shortest par 4 on the course could play as drivable one of the days this week, as has been the case in years past at the PGA Championship. It sure would add an element of lure to the final few holes.
- Approach Shot Distance: 100-125
- Par 4, 491 Yards: A great closing hole where 3 will be a good score all week. Not only is the hole long, but it also has one of the trickiest greens on the course and, with the right pin, could be absolutely diabolical.
- Approach shot Distance: 200-225
Average Approach Shot Distance Tally
- 50-100 Yards: 2
- 100-125 Yards: 2
- 125-150 Yards: 3
- 150-175 Yards: 2
- 175-200 Yards: 3
- 200-225 Yards: 5
- 225-250 Yards: 1
Designer(s)
Perry Maxwell
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With four par 4’s reaching over 490 yards, it would be tough no matter what course the tour is playing. To add to that, there are only two par 5’s, and they both measure over 630 yards long. If one wants to contend, they will need scoring on the few par 4’s under 400 yards.
PGA Championship 2022 PGA DFS Player Preview
Ninety-seven of the of the top 100 golfers in the world are here to compete. Here are the top 20 and how their odds and DraftKings salaries look. Check the next section for how these golfers have fared in the last eight major championships.
Major Championship Results (Last 8)
While no major championship is the same as another, playing against the world’s best is the common denominator. Major courses are typically set up as hard as they can be, so at least there are a few similarities. Twenty-eight golfers have competed in each of the last eight majors, and only two of them have made the cut in all of them: Jon Rahm and Shane Lowry. Scottie Scheffler has only played in seven and has never missed a cut or finished worse than 19th in any of them — a pretty outstanding record, similar to Rahm’s, whose worst finish was 27th at this year’s Masters. Hideki Matsuyama is also 7-for-7, having had to withdraw from the British Open last year. His worst finish is 26th. Robert MacIntyre is the most surprising name of golfers to have at least seven starts in the last eight majors and make the cut in all of them. He only has one top-10 mixed in, but he has been able to find the weekend every single time. Lastly, Bubba Watson has squeaked through the line twice, finishing in 80th at the 2021 PGA Championship and 71st at the 2020 edition, but it helped extend his made-cut streak at major championships to at least seven.
Rahm and Scheffler are joined by Collin Morikawa as the only three golfers in the field to have come in the top 10 five out of the last eight majors. Morikawa missed the cut at the U.S. Open in 2022 but has been incredibly productive since. Rory McIlroy leads a list of five others who have four top-10s in the last eight majors. The other four are Louis Oosthuizen, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Will Zalatoris, who has been either feast or famine in the majors, coming in the top 10 four times but missing the cut in his other two starts. Ten others have at least two top-10s in the last eight majors, including Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Sungjae Im and Corey Conners.
For the entire field, major championship history for the last eight tournaments can be found by clicking here.
Top 10 Averages for PGA Championship 2021
- Strokes Gained Off the Tee: 0.60
- Strokes Gained on Approach: 0.98
- Strokes Gained Around the Green: 0.45
- Strokes Gained Putting: 0.43
- DFS Points: 77
- Average DFS Salary: $8,018
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