For the second year in succession, LIV Golf players will appear in the PGA Championship, with a total of 16 teeing it up at Valhalla for the chance to write their names into the history books.
For some, recent Major wins elsewhere ensured their participation, whereas for others, places in the top 100 of the world rankings earned them a spot. Meanwhile, for the likes of David Puig and Talor Gooch, special exemptions proved their route to the Major.
The most surefire way to book a place at the PGA Championship is to win it, with those who achieve it earning a lifetime exemption, and three of the 16 LIV golfers in the field have earned that right. Here is how they achieved it.
Phil Mickelson – 2005 and 2021
Mickelson is one of two LIV Golf players who has won the PGA Championship twice. He first lifted the Wanamaker Trophy at New Jersey’s Baltusrol Golf Club in 2005.
In a tight affair, 27 players were within two shots of the lead after the opening round, with Mickelson one of six at the top of the leaderboard following a three-under 67. However, following the second round, the direction of travel became clearer. This time, a 65 saw Lefty lead by three shots over Jerry Kelly going into the weekend.
Mickelson was nowhere near as dominant on Saturday, and his 72 allowed the consistent Davis Love III to draw level with him heading into the final round. After rain delayed the conclusion, play resumed on Monday, where Mickelson completed his second successive round of 72 with a birdie putt on the 18th to edge out Thomas Bjorn and Steve Elkington and claim his second Major title.
It would be 16 years until Mickelson won the trophy again. This time, the location was Kiawah Island in South Carolina. After an opening round of 70 left Mickelson three shots off leader Corey Conners, he made five birdies over the last nine holes during the second round to tie the lead with Louis Oosthuizen.
By the end of Saturday, he had the outright lead and the final round saw Mickelson jostle with Brooks Koepka for the title before he eventually emerged the winner by one shot, making him the oldest Major champion in history, aged 50.
Martin Kaymer – 2010
Five years after Mickelson’s first win, German Martin Kaymer claimed his maiden Major title at Whistling Straits. After an opening round of 72 left Kaymer five off the lead, he improved on Friday with a 68 that left him four shots back.
Kaymer was still well in the reckoning after Saturday when an impressive five-under 67 kept him to within four shots of overnight leader Nick Watney. Kaymer then took advantage of a somewhat chaotic final round, which saw the lead held by seven players at various stages as Watney faded.
Kaymer shared the clubhouse lead with Bubba Watson and they were nearly joined by Rory McIlroy, but he missed a 15-foot putt for birdie. Dustin Johnson came even closer. His bogey on the final hole looked to have seen him into a playoff, but he was deemed to have “grounded his club” in a bunker near the 18th and suffered a two-shot penalty.
That left Kaymer and Watson to slug it out in the three-hole playoff. After falling one behind following the first, Kaymer drew level with a birdie on the second playoff hole before closing out the win after Watson bogeyed the par 4 that followed.
Brooks Koepka – 2018, 2019 and 2023
Bellerive Country Club in Missouri was the venue as Koepka won his third Major with the 2018 PGA Championship title. After an opening round of 69 left him five off the lead, he made significant inroads on Friday, with a joint-record round of 63 to leave him third behind Kevin Kisner and Gary Woodland.
Koepka’s bid to become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2000 to win the US Open and PGA Championship in the same year was still well on track after Saturday when a 66 gave him a two-shot lead over Adam Scott. He repeated the score on Sunday to see him hold off the charging Woods, whose 64 wasn’t quite enough.
In 2019, Koepka again lifted the Wanamaker Trophy, this time at Bethpage Black. He did it in some style, too, opening a seven-shot lead heading into the final round. There was drama before he got over the line, though.
In the final round, the leader bogeyed five of his last eight holes. Dustin Johnson even got within a shot of him with three to play, but Koepka held on to win by two after Johnson had a wobble of his own with bogeys at 16 and 17.
Four years later, Koepka made it three PGA Championship wins. A one-shot lead heading into the final round at Oak Hill became three after his first four holes, and he never really looked like losing it, eventually beating Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler by two.
Koepka won the LIV Golf event that came before the 2024 edition, in Singapore, so heads into it full of confidence. Will he draw level with Woods on four PGA Championship wins by Sunday evening?
