Record crowds are expected at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky for this week’s PGA Championship.
It’s been a decade since players battled it out for the Wanamaker Trophy at the venue and there has been plenty of demand to watch the world’s best in the flesh.
Around 200,000 avid fans are expected to flood through the gates from Thursday through to Sunday after record sales for both general and hospitality tickets.
The previous record for hospitality was set in 2017 at Quail Hollow, the scene of Rory McIlroy’s win at last week’s Wells Fargo Championship, but there is now a new benchmark.
“These are great golf communities,” said PGA of America Chief Commercial Officer Jeff Price.
“Each one has a depth of love and passion for the game that certainly comes out, and then when you can showcase cities of that size to a global stage, the communities really respond. And Louisville certainly has stepped up this year.”
With the men’s professional game still fractured, the Majors have assumed even more significance in recent years.
As such, anticipation is always extremely high when one of the sport’s four marquee events comes around.
And rarely have so many of the biggest names been on such fine form at the same time, meaning those tuning in on the ground could be in for a treat.
McIlroy will grab many of the headlines after his Quail Hollow masterclass and given he won the last PGA Championship at Valhalla 10 years ago.
The Northern Irishman was back to his blistering best as he hunted down Xander Schauffele to win the Wells Fargo Championship for a fourth time, meaning the omens could hardly be better ahead of his latest attempt to land that elusive fifth Major.
“It's really funny, so going into Valhalla in 2014 I had won my last two starts and going into this year I've won my last two starts,” McIlroy said after wrapping up his 26th PGA Tour win. “Just need to try to replicate whatever I did in 2014, just try to do that all over again.
“I'm feeling really good with my game. I need to stay in my own little world next week and not get too far ahead of myself, but if you can step on to the first tee at Valhalla on Thursday and feel as good about my game as I did today, I think I'll have a good chance.”
Elsewhere, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler will be bidding to complete the second leg of the calendar Grand Slam and claim a fifth victory in six starts.
Defending champion Brooks Koepka is also expected to challenge for a fourth PGA Championship following his recent triumph at the LIV Singapore event. He headlines a 15-strong LIV contingent that includes a host of Major champions.
Tiger Woods is also in the field at the venue where he beat Bob May in a playoff to land the 2000 PGA Championship en route to completing the ‘Tiger slam’.
Wherever you look there is plenty of intrigue, so it’s little wonder it is set to be so well attended. While TV ratings might have dipped with the men's game still divided between the PGA Tour and LIV, the numbers on the ground, certainly at the biggest tournaments, prove there is still plenty of fan interest left in golf.
