USGA announces qualifying sites for 2024 U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships

The USGA accepted a record number of entries for both championships in 2023.

The USGA announced Wednesday qualifying sites for the 124th U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Amateur, to be held at Southern Hills Country Club, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from Aug. 5-11, and Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, from Aug. 12-18, respectively.

U.S. Amateur local qualifying will be held between June 4 and July 3, with final qualifying between July 15 and July 31. U.S. Women’s Amateur qualifying will be held between June 17 and July 18.

Online entry applications for both championships, as well as the full list of qualifying sites, are available at champ-admin.usga.org. U.S. Amateur entries will close Wednesday, May 29, at 5 p.m. EDT and U.S. Women’s Amateur entries will close Wednesday, June 12, at 5 p.m. EDT.

The USGA accepted a record number of entries for both championships last year. The 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club received 1,679 entries, beating the previous record set in 2021 with 1,650 entries. The 2023 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club received 8,253 entries, breaking the previous mark set in 2022 with 7,749 entries.

The USGA announced significant modifications to its amateur championship qualifying model last year for the first time in more than 20 years. These changes will allow USGA championships to retain their openness while ensuring that high-caliber players are provided with ample opportunity to earn a spot in the field, and that qualifying can be conducted at the highest level among growing entries and field sizes.

The most significant revisions are to the U.S. Amateur, which will move from a one-stage, 36-hole qualifying format to a two-stage qualifying format with 45 18-hole local qualifying sites and 19 18-hole final qualifying sites. Other adjustments included modifications to exemptions.

These modifications will result in a net reduction of 94 qualifying sites, while providing more opportunities for players to earn a spot in a USGA championship through expanded exemptions, state/AGA amateur championships and traditional qualifying.

Every venue hosting USGA championships in 2024, including Pinehurst No. 2 and Hazeltine

There are some fantastic venues on the slate for 2024.

Another busy year is on tap for the United States Golf Association in 2024, and several of the organization’s biggest events are headed to the best golf courses in the world.

On the men’s side, Wyndham Clark claimed the U.S. Open title at Los Angeles Country Club in California in 2023. Next year, the best male players in the world will take on historic Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina. Martin Kaymer won the last U.S. Open staged at No. 2 (2014).

As for the women, Allisen Corpuz won the first-ever U.S. Women’s Open staged at Pebble Beach Golf Links. In 2024, the ladies are headed to Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania.

Here are all 17 of the USGA’s events on the 2024 calendar. And here are all the trophies the USGA hands out at its championships.

‘He thought he left it short’: Caddie Travis Perkins on the 38-footer that Sam Burns buried to win the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge

Caddie Travis Perkins talks about Sam Burns’ playoff win at the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge.

“Conversations with Champions, presented by Sentry” is a weekly series from Golfweek in collaboration with The Caddie Network, where we take you behind the scenes for a chat with the winning caddie from the most recent PGA Tour event. This week: Travis Perkins, caddie for Sam Burns at 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge.

It went to a playoff but it was over before you knew it. Sam Burns knocked out good buddy Scottie Scheffler with a winding 38-footer from off the green on the first extra hole to win the 2022 Charles Schwab Challenge in dramatic fashion.

According to Burns’ caddie Travis Perkins, getting the flat stick out of the bag is always key for this duo.

“If I can get the putter in his hands, anything is possible,” Perkins told John Rathouz from The Caddie Network. The Schwab win was the third of the season for Burns and fourth in his PGA Tour career.

“I’m not saying it becomes easier but you learn how to deal with the emotions and what you’re going through inside and how your body is going to react,” Perkins said. “So I think all these wins that Sam has done, they’ve all been different. This one, coming from behind the way he did … you just never know what’s going to happen. And when you get into a playoff — it’s hard to win out there — you just try to do everything you can to keep yourself in it and try not to make mistakes.”

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Back to that putt that Burns buried from way downtown.

“We were only a couple of paces away in regulation from where that ball ended up in the playoff so he kinda had an idea of what it was doing,” Perkins said. “After he made it, he came over to me and he goes ‘I didn’t think that was going to get to the hole’ but the greens had picked up some speed because they dried out so much. He thought he left it short.”

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Dressed for Success: Justin Thomas at the 2022 PGA Championship

A closer look at Justin Thomas’ apparel worn during his win at the 2022 PGA Championship.

Justin Thomas did it again this weekend, winning his second PGA Championship five years after his first.

Thomas was cool under pressure when he defeated Will Zalatoris in a three-hole playoff to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy.

Thomas and Greyson Clothiers announced a partnership in March of 2022, and JT has been repping the brand ever since. Merging fashion with sport, Greyson’s mission is to create products that are suitable for the modern lifestyle. Averee Dovsek believes the partnership between the two was the best case scenario for Thomas’ style.

We’ve already taken a look into JT’s winning equipment, so now let’s take a deeper dive into the champion’s closet and see how Justin dressed for success at the 2022 PGA Championship.

More Dressed for Success: Max Homa | Jon Rahm | Jordan Spieth

We occasionally recommend interesting products, services, and gaming opportunities. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Golfweek operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

PGA Championship: Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay finally gets the caddie trophy he’s long desired

After all these years, Jim “Bones” Mackay got the caddie trophy he’s always wanted.

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TULSA, Okla. – Jim “Bones” Mackay received some help unscrewing the 18th-hole flag from the stick not long after his boss, Justin Thomas, had tapped in to beat Will Zalatoris in a playoff to win the 104th PGA Championship at Southern Hills.

It was for a moment such as this that Bones, 56, dropped the mic for NBC Sports and Golf Channel and returned to caddying for the one player he’d told his wife if he ever got the chance to work for, they’d be having a conversation.

When Thomas approached Bones shortly after the 2021 Ryder Cup and asked him to become his full-time caddie, it was an easy decision for Bones. Thomas wanted him on the bag for moments such as Saturday evening, when a dejected Thomas sensed that his 4-over 74 in the third round had cost him the tournament. Despite the fact that Thomas would be entering the final round trailing by seven strokes, Bones delivered the tough love that was necessary.

“I’m fully confident in saying that I wouldn’t be standing here if he didn’t give me that, wasn’t necessarily a speech, but a talk, if you will,” Thomas said. “I just needed to let some steam out. I didn’t need to bring my frustration and anger home with me. I didn’t need to leave the golf course in a negative frame of mind. I just went down, ‘I played pretty well yesterday for shooting 4-over, and I felt like I’d played terrible.’ And he was just like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to be stop being so hard on yourself. You’re in contention every single week we’re playing.’ ”

PGA: Leaderboard | Photos | Winner’s bag

Bones continued: “It’s a major championship. You don’t have to be perfect. Just don’t be hard on yourself. Just kind of let stuff happen, and everything is trending in the right direction. So just keep staying positive so that good stuff can happen.”

“I left here in an awesome frame of mind,” Thomas said.

On Sunday, after taking a few last putts on the practice green, Thomas handed his putter back to Bones. No words were exchanged, but Thomas calmly took the fresh glove Bones had rested over an alignment stick and started walking towards the golf carts that were shuttling players and caddies to the first tee. Kids along a railing called out to him, but his mind was elsewhere. Instead, he slapped the glove against his right thigh. Hard. He did it again, and then a third time. He was in the frame mind to pounce if any of the inexperienced leaders faltered.

It didn’t look that way early when Thomas made two bogeys in his first six holes, including a shank off the tee at the par-3 sixth hole that Bones later joked was “a shanky, barkie, sandy.” Thomas found his stride and shot 67, the only player in the last seven groups Sunday to break par, and when he ended up in a three-hole playoff, he went for the kill.

“Bones did an unbelievable job of keeping me in the moment,” Thomas said.

PGA: Leaderboard | Photos | Winner’s bag
Justin Thomas and Bones Mackay on the 11th hole during the final round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club.. (Photo: Matt York/Associated Press)

Winning majors is old hat for Bones, who had won five previously during his 25 years on the bag for Phil Mickelson. But he didn’t have the caddie trophy to show for it.

As detailed in the new book, “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and unauthorized) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar,” Mickelson had a tradition where he gave his winning flag from 18 to his grandfather, a former Pebble Beach caddie, who hung them on his kitchen wall. Mickelson’s first major flag from the 2004 Masters went there, four months after his death.

“Mackay understood and respected that gesture, but 19 more Tour victories would follow, including four majors and he never got to keep a single flag,” Shipnuck wrote.

“That’s a giant f— you to a caddie,” Shipnuck quotes someone very close to Mackay. “When Phil wins the Masters, he gets the green jacket, the trophy, the big check, all the glory. He had to take the flags, too?… For Phil not to follow the tradition was hugely disrespectful.”

During the week of the WM Phoenix Open, Bones hosted a dinner party for players and caddies at his home and without fail he would be asked, “Where are the flags?”

Shortly after their break-up in the summer of 2017, Mickelson overnighted to Bones the major flags they had won together.

“But Phil autographed them in comically large letters, which Mackay felt disfigured the keepsakes,” Shipnuck reported and noted that Bones never displayed them in his home.

Bones didn’t participate in Shipnuck’s book, and when asked to confirm these details from Shipnuck’s book this week, he declined. But he also didn’t refute them.

It is rich with irony that Bones was on the bag for the winner at the PGA where Mickelson was supposed to be the defending champion and elected not to play. On Sunday, Bones tucked the 18th flag into the left pocket of his shorts.  When asked if he knew where he would display it, he smiled wide.

“I’ve got a spot in mind,” he said, saying he’d have to get approval from his wife, “but somewhere that my friends can come around and see it.”

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2022 PGA Championship prize money payouts for each player at Southern Hills in Tulsa

The top three finishers at Southern Hills, site of the 2022 PGA Championship, earned more than $1 million.

TULSA, Okla. — The 2022 PGA Championship purse was boosted to $15 million dollars this year by the PGA of America.

That raised the first-place check to the whopping sum of $2.7 million. In fact, the top three finishers at Southern Hills Country Club earned more than $1 million.

That first-place check is going to Justin Thomas, who won the PGA for the second time. He defeated Will Zalatoris in the three-hole aggregate playoff.

The 2021 PGA Championship winner, Phil Mickelson, took home $2.16 million.

Take a look at the complete final money list from the second men’s major of the year.

2022 PGA Championship prize money

Pos Player Score Winnings
T1 Justin Thomas -5* $2,700,000
T1 Will Zalatoris -5 $1,620,000
T3 Mito Pereira -4 $870,000
T3 Cameron Young -4 $870,000
T5 Matthew Fitzpatrick -3 $530,417
T5 Tommy Fleetwood -3 $530,417
T5 Chris Kirk -3 $530,417
8 Rory McIlroy -2 $436,600
T9 Abraham Ancer -1 $357,813
T9 Tom Hoge -1 $357,813
T9 Seamus Power -1 $357,813
T9 Brendan Steele -1 $357,813
T13 Tyrrell Hatton E $253,750
T13 Lucas Herbert E $253,750
T13 Max Homa E $253,750
T13 Davis Riley E $253,750
T13 Justin Rose E $253,750
T13 Xander Schauffele E $253,750
T13 Cameron Smith E $253,750
T20 Sam Burns 1 $191,250
T20 Talor Gooch 1 $191,250
T20 Webb Simpson 1 $191,250
T23 Stewart Cink 2 $129,768
T23 Rickie Fowler 2 $129,768
T23 Lucas Glover 2 $129,768
T23 Shane Lowry 2 $129,768
T23 Kevin Na 2 $129,768
T23 Joaquin Niemann 2 $129,768
T23 Aaron Wise 2 $129,768
T30 Tony Finau 3 $83,750
T30 Bubba Watson 3 $83,750
T30 Bernd Wiesberger 3 $83,750
T30 Adri Arnaus 3 $83,750
T34 Brian Harman 4 $61,607
T34 Matt Kuchar 4 $61,607
T34 Marc Leishman 4 $61,607
T34 Keith Mitchell 4 $61,607
T34 Patrick Reed 4 $61,607
T34 Jordan Spieth 4 $61,607
T34 Gary Woodland 4 $61,607
T41 Viktor Hovland 5 $43,839
T41 Kyoung-hoon Lee 5 $43,839
T41 Luke List 5 $43,839
T41 Troy Merritt 5 $43,839
T41 Kevin Streelman 5 $43,839
T41 Cameron Tringale 5 $43,839
T41 Adam Schenk 5 $43,839
T48 Keegan Bradley 6 $32,146
T48 Laurie Canter 6 $32,146
T48 Cameron Davis 6 $32,146
T48 Jon Rahm 6 $32,146
T48 Harold Varner III 6 $32,146
T48 Denny McCarthy 6 $32,146
54 Ryan Fox 7 $29,250
T55 Jason Day 8 $27,925
T55 Brooks Koepka 8 $27,925
T55 Francesco Molinari 8 $27,925
T55 Collin Morikawa 8 $27,925
T55 Sebastian Munoz 8 $27,925
T60 Lanto Griffin 9 $26,125
T60 Russell Henley 9 $26,125
T60 Rikuya Hoshino 9 $26,125
T60 Si Woo Kim 9 $26,125
T60 Jason Kokrak 9 $26,125
T60 Hideki Matsuyama 9 $26,125
T60 Louis Oosthuizen 9 $26,125
T60 Charl Schwartzel 9 $26,125
68 Billy Horschel 10 $25,000
T69 Kramer Hickok 11 $24,625
T69 Beau Hossler 11 $24,625
T71 Adam Hadwin 12 $24,250
T71 Justin Harding 12 $24,250
T71 Shaun Norris 12 $24,250
T71 Thomas Pieters 12 $24,250
T75 Patton Kizzire 15 $23,950
T75 Maverick McNealy 15 $23,950
77 Robert MacIntyre 17 $23,800
78 Sepp Straka 18 $23,700

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Lynch: Rory McIlroy had more major disappointment in Tulsa, but time is on his side. Just ask Ray Floyd.

Careers have chapters, and Rory McIlroy wouldn’t have to look far at Southern Hills for proof of that.

TULSA, Olka. — It’s a glib Hallmark sentiment to note that 155 men departed the 104th PGA Championship disappointed and only one didn’t. A handful of the 20 club professionals competing surely had no real expectation of making the cut and were happy to make folks proud at the club back home. Same for a few ex-champions content to enjoy a 36-hole stroll down memory lane. Disappointment is a burden particular to those with expectations, and within that there are tiers.

Dispirited. Dejected. Despondent. Distressed. Whatever box a player checks isn’t necessarily related to his departure time. A man who packs up Friday evening might be deflated, but he’s hardly feeling worse than one who gets into contention and comes up painfully short.

Some of the best players in the world left their G5 contrails over Tulsa a couple days ago. Like world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, doomed by a second-round 75. And Dustin Johnson, after a pair of 73s. Patrick Cantlay missed the cut by more than a touchdown. Sergio Garcia bade farewell to the PGA Tour—if we are to believe his recent petulant declaration—with his 12th major MC since winning the Masters.

Others made the cut but didn’t make any headway, including Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and Brooks Koepka. Tiger Woods falls into a grey area, discouraged by his withdrawal but perhaps encouraged that he managed another major start in his recovery. But some will leave sorely disappointed. Pissed even.

2022 PGA Championship
Rory McIlroy reacts after missing a putt on the sixth hole during the final round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills. (Photo: Matt York/Associated Press)

Rory McIlroy grabbed the first round lead then stalled for three days, his run of four consecutive birdies early Sunday briefly teasing a last gasp charge that sputtered out into an 8th place finish. This was the 28th major he has contested since that last victory at Valhalla in 2014. He’s finished inside the top 10 in 15 of them, but not always—not often, even—in actual contention.

Believers will see McIlroy’s performance at Southern Hills as testament to his determination and ability to put himself in the mix. Doubters will present it as more evidence of softness and inability to get over the line. Such is the era in which he lives and the burden he lives with. The same social media commandos would have slated Jack Nicklaus for his 19 runner-up finishes in majors, a statistic that is really proof of just how difficult they are to win. For now, McIlroy will have to comfort himself with the knowledge that the millstone of expectation is never draped on an also-ran.

This was assuredly an opportunity that slipped by for McIlroy. The playoff he missed by three shots was between two men who finished Sunday evening exactly where he had finished Thursday morning: 5-under par. He knows great careers are judged on these tournaments, on a player’s ability to work his way into a position to go for the kill. He also knows his dozen worldwide victories since the ’14 PGA Championship don’t much mitigate his lack of success in majors. Even in his own mind, it might actually accentuate it.

But careers have chapters, and McIlroy wouldn’t have to look far at Southern Hills for proof of that.

Forty years ago, Raymond Floyd went wire-to-wire here to win his third major at the PGA Championship. Six years had passed since his second major, and the second came seven years after the first. Floyd joined the PGA Tour in 1963 and his first five starts were T57-MC-MC-MC-Win. He went on to win the ’69 PGA Championship. He was 26 years old, but also a hard-partying playboy. That changed one March morning in 1974.

Floyd was on his way to missing the cut at the Greater Jacksonville Open when a pal approached and urged him to withdraw so they could be at the track that afternoon. He did, and returned to the hotel for his belongings. “I came here for four days, and I’m staying for four days,” his wife, Maria, told him.

They stayed another two days, during which time Maria told her husband that if he wasn’t committed to golf then he was still young enough to find another career. It was, Floyd told me years later, a slap upside the head. The second chapter in Floyd’s career—the period in which he became Raymond Floyd—was authored in that hotel room.

Of his 22 PGA Tour wins, 17 came after that conversation. He won the Masters by eight in 1976, the PGA Championship by three in’82, and a chaotic shootout at Shinnecock Hills in ’86 to become, at the time, the oldest U.S. Open champion. He damned near added another two Green Jackets as he neared 50, finishing second in ’90 and ’92.

McIlroy is 33, and is neither partier nor a playboy. He is not frittering away his talent. If his clock is ticking, it is slow and faint. The entire second half of his career lies ahead. He isn’t slumping—he’s won twice in the last year. Sure, each missed opportunity in the majors must hurt, but only he knows if each one weakens his resolve. The frequency and good humor with which he puts himself in a position to be disappointed suggests that his determination is undimmed. All he needs is the results, and he has ample time to render this barren run a distant memory.

This is a sport where even the best lose much more than they win. It’s the manner of the losing that often hurts most. Leaving Tulsa without a trophy isn’t necessarily painful for McIlroy, but he will rue his failure to build on the early opportunity and give himself a chance on the weekend. When he’s done licking that wound, he’ll do what 100-odd other guys who competed here will do: dust himself off and get ready to risk having his heart broken all over again in 25 days at the U.S. Open. It’s what they do, all in the hope of that one day when the heartbreak doesn’t happen.

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Justin Thomas defeats Will Zalatoris to win 2022 PGA Championship in a playoff

It was the first playoff at the PGA Championship in 11 years.

TULSA, Okla. – Justin Thomas never gave in.

Not when he had to battle a cold and allergies before the first round began. Not when he got the worst of the draw the first two days. Not when his putter let him down in the third round. And not when he faced a seven-shot deficit entering Sunday’s final 18 holes at Southern Hills Country Club.

Make that the final 21 holes.

With help from Mito Pereira’s heartbreaking debacle on the 72nd hole, Thomas won the PGA Championship and his second Wanamaker Trophy in a three-hole aggregate playoff against Will Zalatoris, who was seeking his first PGA Tour title.

PGA: Leaderboard | Photos

The 2017 PGA champion came storming home with four birdies in his last 10 holes in regulation to sign for a 3-under-par 67 to reach 5 under, then birdied the first two extra holes at the par-5 13th and par-4 17th and added a tap-in par on the par-4 final hole to defeat Zalatoris by one shot.

2022 PGA Championship
Justin Thomas acknowledges the crowd after a putt on the 17th green during the final round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club. (Photo: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)

Thomas matched the largest comeback in PGA history; John Mahaffey was seven shots back entering the final round before winning the 1978 PGA in a playoff against Tom Watson.

Thomas joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Johnny Miller and Tom Watson as the only players since World War II to win at least 15 PGA Tour titles and two majors before turning 30.

The 104th edition of the PGA also will be remembered for the brutal ending to Pereira’s Cinderella story. Playing in just his second major and first PGA, Pereira took a 3-shot lead into the final round, led by two with four to play and led by one shot going to the final hole.

Trying to become the first from Chili to win a major and the first PGA Tour rookie to win the PGA since Keegan Bradley in 2011, Pereira answered back whenever he faced adversity in the final round and never relinquished the lead.

Until the final 72nd hole.

After leaving his birdie putt on the lip on the 17th, Pereira drilled his tee shot on 18 into a creek on the right side of the fairway. After a penalty drop, he left his uphill third shot left of the green and needed three more shots to make a double-bogey 6 and miss the playoff by one shot.

In 15 minutes, he lost his grip on the Wanamaker, his place in history and his chance to put his first PGA Tour title on his resume.

“Obviously sad to be here and not in the playoff,” Pereira said. “On 18, I wasn’t even thinking about the water. I just wanted to put it in play, and I guess I aimed too far right. I just hit in the water. It’s not how I wanted to end up this week, but really good result.

“Today I was really nervous. I tried to handle it a little bit but it’s really tough. I thought I was going to win on 18, but it is what it is. I thought I was nervous the first day. Then I thought I was nervous the second day. Then I thought I was nervous on the third day but the fourth day was terrible. I mean, this morning was tough. I just played it through, and actually had a one-shot lead on 18 and that was pretty good and sad to hit it in the water. I wish I could do it again.”

Zalatoris, the 36-hole leader, made key 8-footers for birdie on par on the 71st and 72nd holes to finish with a 71 and earn a spot in the playoff. He has now finished runner-up in two majors; he finished a stroke behind Hideki Matsuyama in the 2021 Masters.

Pereira finished with a 75 and at 4 under. Joining Pereira at 4 under was Cameron Young, who grabbed a share of the lead earlier in the round but a double-bogey 6 on the 70th hole did him in as he finished with a 71.

In a tie for fifth at 3 under were Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and Chris Kirk, Fitzpatrick, playing in the final group, was unsteady throughout his 73, while Fleetwood came home with 67 and Kirk a 68.

The 15-time major champion and four-time Wanamaker Trophy winner Tiger Woods withdrew hours after his third round. Woods shot his worst score – a 9-over-par 79 – in his PGA Championship career. Woods clearly labored through the round and the second round, his right foot, ankle and leg that was severely damaged during a single-car rollover accident 15 months ago causing him pain.

It was his first WD from a major since turning pro in 1996.

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Rory McIlroy speechless after another missed major opportunity at 2022 PGA Championship

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy is now 0-for-his-last-28.

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TULSA, Okla. – Rory McIlroy will rue the missed opportunity that was the 104th PGA Championship.

He closed in 2-under 68 for a 72-hole total of 2-under 278. Another top-10 at a major and another major without a victory. The four-time major winner is now 0-for-his-last-28.

This one stung. So much so that McIlroy left Southern Hills without saying a word to the media. He declined all requests, packing his bags and departing in his Cadillac courtesy vehicle.

McIlroy stewed after the round on Saturday, too, blowing off the media. What could he say other than that he likely had cost himself a shot at the title. McIlroy raced into the lead on Thursday with a 65. His strut was back. This was going to be the week he got one for the thumb and claimed his fifth major title. He only hit six fairways on Friday and shot 1-over, failing to take full advantage of playing in the better weather wave, but was lurking at 4 under.

PGA: Leaderboard | Photos

On Saturday, McIlroy made a double bogey and a triple bogey on the par 3s and lost nearly 4 strokes to the field on the greens. He shot 74 – the eighth time in his last nine major starts that’s he posted a round of 73 or worse – and entered the final round nine strokes behind 54-hole leader Mito Pereira.

It would take a heroic effort to overcome his deficit. But just like at the Masters in April where he shot a final-round 64 to finish second to Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy came out of the gates hot on Sunday with nothing to lose. He reeled off four birdies in a row starting at No. 2. He was 4 under and it seemed possible that he could post a low score and back door his way into his fifth major title as an inexperienced bunch ahead of him succumbed to the pressure.

McIlroy bogeyed the difficult par-3 sixth hole and the dream was over. He didn’t make another birdie all day. He hit 14 greens on Sunday, but too many times his birdie putts were from long range and he left them short when he could ill afford to. At the 12th, he belted a 361-yard drive and had 92 yards left to the green.

When he had to have birdie, McIlroy wedged to 15 feet. The fans applauded, but it was a meek effort and he failed to convert the putt. His wedge game is a work in progress and continues to hold him back in big moments. McIlroy made bogey at 17, meaning he shot 2-over on the final 13 holes once he was on the brink in contention. The only putt of substance he made on the way to the house was an 11-foot par putt at 18.

It added up to another missed opportunity and it left McIlroy speechless.

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PGA Championship: Bubba Watson changes driver shafts. Finally!

Bubba Watson switched his driver shaft for the first time in over a decade.

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TULSA, Okla. — It was the phone call that Kenton Oates had dreamed about, but never thought would happen. Two weeks after the Masters, where Bubba Watson had finished T-39, he was calling Oates, who is a PGA Tour rep for Ping Golf and one of the people who helps to ensure that Watson, who has a lifetime contract with Ping, is happy with his clubs.

“On the Wednesday of New Orleans, Bubba called me and said, ‘Hey Man, send me like three or four regular graphite shafts. I want to try something lighter and get a little more pop in my bat back,'” Oates recalled.

Watson has been happy to try new drivers over the years and has typically switched into Ping’s newest models easily. These days, he uses a Ping G425 LST, but he had been playing the same pink Grafalloy Bi-Matrix X prototype shaft for more than a decade.

Aside from the color, what makes it unique is that the top and middle sections are graphite, but the lower third of the shaft is steel, so it is extremely heavy by today’s standards. According to Oates, it weighs about 88 grams, which is about 30 grams more than many graphite shafts that elite players on the PGA Tour use.

“We had been down this road before,” Oates said. “The last time we tried this with Bubba, we remembered that so many shafts today are really stable, and they can make your shots under-spin and not curved as much. So we added a little loft, put some weight on the toe to make sure the ball would cut for him, because if Bubba can’t hit his stock cut he’s not going to play the club.”

Bubba Watson at 2022 PGA Championship
Bubba Watson testing shafts with Ping’s Spenser Rothluebber (left) Tuesday at the 2022 PGA Championship. (David Dusek/Golfweek)

Oates sent the shafts to Watson, including a 60-gram Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 60 TX, and Watson texted him within days and said he loved it.

Stunned, Oates and the Ping team had two challenges to overcome next, getting a customized, pink HZRDUS Smoke Black shaft from Project X and getting Bubba’s grip just right.

“The minute he told us he liked that one, we got on the horn with David Wilson at True Temper [Project X’s parent company] and said, ‘Hey, can you get us a pink one?'” said Oates. “To their credit, they got us a pink on by the time we got to the Byron Nelson [three weeks later].”

Meanwhile, the club builders in Ping’s tour department in Phoenix, known as Ping WRX, had managed to do one of the hardest things in club fitting: get Bubba Watson’s driver gripped just the way the two-time Masters champion likes. Watson needs 11 layers of tape under the top hand of his Ping Gold grip, and 13 layers under the bottom hand, and the cord in the grip needs to be in just the right spot.

“Bubba Watson gripping instructions takes up a whole line in the Excel spreadsheet we have in the truck,” Oates said with a laugh.

Bubba Watson's pink Project X HZRDUS Black driver shaft
Bubba Watson’s pink Project X HZRDUS Black 60 TX shaft (David Dusek/Golfweek)

But after the ping Project X shaft arrived at the Byron Nelson, Watson didn’t love the way the grip on it felt as much as the grip on the black shaft. With Watson, everything is about feel, and there was something not quite right with the grip on the pink shaft.

“The black shaft is set to the perfect amount of openness,” Oates said. “If you put Bubba Watson’s driver down into a playing position, and you held the grip so the rib felt square in your hands, the face would be pointing 7 to 10 degrees to the left, which is open for a lefty.”

Rather than tinker at a major championship, Spencer Rothluebber, who builds clubs in Ping’s PGA Tour van, encouraged Watson to go with the black shaft and leave re-gripping the pink one for another week.

The advice has proved to be solid as Bubba Watson is leading the field in strokes gained tee to green heading into the final round of the 2022 PGA Championship and is averaging 331 yards on the two driving distance average-measured holes.

“He’s like a kid again,” Oates said.

Maybe the wait for that call was worth it.

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