PGA Championship: Who could boost Ryder Cup qualification hopes with maiden major win at Oak Hill? | Golf News

Seven of the last 12 majors and eight of the past 14 PGA Championships have been won by first-time major champions, but will this week’s event at Oak Hill produce another maiden victory?

Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Smith all won their maiden majors last year, while a host of prospective candidates are looking to add their name to the list and make the Wanamaker Trophy their first major title.

The PGA Championship comes with just over four months to go until the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf Club, meaning a victory for any European or American in the field this week will move them a big step closer to featuring in Rome this September.

Who are those looking to claim a maiden major in Rochester to improve their Ryder Cup qualification hopes? We take a look at some of the Team Europe and Team USA contenders…

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Luke Donald says it is ‘a shame’ that some players are unavailable for Ryder Cup selection after resigning their DP World Tour membership following their move to LIV Golf.

The Europeans

Tommy Fleetwood

Fleetwood is still to break his victory duck on the PGA Tour having won six titles on the DP World Tour, most recently at the Nedbank Golf Challenge last November.

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Highlights from the fourth and final day of the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, where Tommy Fleetwood defended his title

The Englishman keeps getting close – over the last few months he has finished third at the Valspar Championship and fifth at the Wells Fargo Championship – and it does seem a matter of when, not if the 32-year-old lifts a trophy Stateside.

Fleetwood ended up fifth at last year’s PGA Championship at Southern Hills and now has five top-fives in majors. Making his maiden PGA Tour triumph a major championship would surely lead to someone updating the image on his Wikipedia page, which remains a snap from 2012!

Tyrrell Hatton

Unlike Fleetwood, Hatton has won a PGA Tour event, the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational, and on a number of occasions this season he come close to adding to that.

A back-nine birdie blitz at The Players in March came too late to deny Scheffler the trophy but did propel him into second place, while he heads into the PGA Championship off the back of successive tops fives, at the Wells Fargo Championship and the AT&T Byron Nelson.

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After Tyrrell Hatton’s superb final round at The Players, Sky Sports Golf’s Andrew Coltart assesses whether the Englishman can go on and win a major.

“I think most of my game has been fairly consistent,” Hatton said. “I’ve been driving the ball quite nicely, which goes a long way, and holing a few putts. I’ve been doing more off the golf course this year in terms of training and it’s been nice see some positive results. It’s just generally feeling better in myself. My main goal was really to be a bit more comfortable in my own skin.”

Viktor Hovland

The Norwegian caught the eye with his golf and fashion choices at Augusta in April – seriously, his floral shirt on day one of The Masters is hard to forget, however much you try!

Can Viktor Hovland become the next first-time major winner?

Hovland went on to finish seventh in the first major of the year, having ended up fourth at The Open in the final big-four event of 2022.

He has had a quiet few weeks since Augusta, finishing outside the top 50 at the RBC Heritage and then in a share of 43rd place at Quail Hollow. However, he has the game to contend at Oak Hill so keep an eye on him…and his wardrobe!

Other potential European breakthroughs

Seamus Power won on the PGA Tour earlier in the season at the Bermuda Championship and arrives with successive top-20 finishes to his name, while Poland’s Adrian Meronk is inside the world’s top 50 after victory at the DS Automobiles Italian Open earlier this month.

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Highlights from the final round of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, where Seamus Power claimed victory

Victor Perez started the year with Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship victory, with Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald looking on with interest to see how many of his other prospective rookies – including Yannik Paul, Rasmus Hojgaard and Robert MacIntyre – get on at Oak Hill.

The Americans

Tony Finau

Finau may not have won a major yet but he has become accustomed to picking up trophies, with his triumph at the Mexican Open a few weeks ago his sixth PGA Tour title and fifth since August 2021. The American is adamant he has the game to win a major and fancies his chances at Oak Hill.

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Highlights from the Mexico Open, where Tony Finau added to his PGA Tour victory tally

“I feel like a different player, more so than I’ve ever been,” Finau said in his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday. “More confident in my game and my abilities than I’ve ever been and just who I am as a person and as a player.

“It’s a golf course that fits my style. It’s long. You’ve got to hit it in the fairway. Those are things that I’ve done well over this last year and hopefully I take that right into this week.”

Max Homa

“When you’re younger, you come to these big, big events and you don’t know if your great golf game is good enough to compete. I know that mine is.”

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Simon Holmes uses force plates and camera systems to analyse Max Homa’s swing and share tips on how to hit with more balance and stability.

Those the words of world No 6 Max Homa, who, surprisingly, is yet to even crack the top 10 at a major. His share of 13th at last year’s PGA Championship is his best return to date amid eight missed cuts and five other distant finishes.

Like Finau, though, Homa has six PGA Tour wins, most recently at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, a triumph that has since been followed by claiming second spot at the Genesis Invitational and, a few weeks ago, sharing eighth place at the Wells Fargo Championship.

Homa added: “It’s nice to be here. I feel comfortable, not really changing much or working on too much.”

Cameron Young

In the mix until the end before ultimately missing out. It looks like being the story of Arsenal’s Premier League season and it has been the tale of Cameron Young’s PGA Tour career.

Cameron Young could move inside the world’s top 10 with PGA Championship victory this week

The genial American is still awaiting his first win having hoovered up a number of second and third-placed finishes at the Open Championship, PGA Championship, Genesis Invitational, Wells Fargo Championship and Dell-Technologies Match Play, among others, over the last couple of years.

Young seems incredibly comfortable in major tournaments, with his runners-up spot at St Andrews last summer and finish of third at Southern Hills in the PGA Championship a few months earlier followed by a share of seventh at Augusta National in April. Could the nearly man become the main man this week?

“It has been a bummer to come up short but the more times it’s happened, the more I’ve tried to use it as proof to myself that I can win a golf tournament out here and win a big one,” Young said on Tuesday. “One of these times it will work out.”

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Ahead of this week’s PGA Championship, check out the top 10 shots ever played at the tournament.

Other American contenders

Patrick Cantlay is the highest-ranked player in the world rankings without a major title, with the world No 4 finishing no worse than 21st in his last seven PGA Tour starts, while Olympic gold medallist Xander Schauffele has 11 top-10 finishes to his name in majors without finding the missing victory required.

WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play winner Sam Burns will want to contend and Rickie Fowler has raised hopes of maiden major title after a strong run of results in recent months, while Sahith Theegala and Kurt Kitayama have the added incentive of trying to impress Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson during their pursuit of major glory.

Will we see a maiden major winner at at the 105th PGA Championship? Watch throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 1pm on Sky Sports Golf.