Woods, top 100 in PGA C’ship field
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Tiger Woods walks onto the 18th green during the final round of the Masters in April 2024.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON – Tiger Woods and the world’s 103 top-ranked golfers were among those named on May 7 as the field was announced for next week’s 106th PGA Championship at Valhalla.
The 15-time Major winner has struggled to walk four rounds in events since suffering severe leg injuries in a 2021 car crash but finished 60th in the Masters in April.
The American great, ranked 801st, hopes to play once a month through the US and British Opens – he has accepted a special invitation into June’s US Open.
The 48-year-old withdrew after three rounds in 2022 in his most recent PGA Championship start, and he skipped 2023 after ankle surgery. He has won this Major four times in his storied career.
The PGA field includes 33 Major champions, 16 of them former PGA Championship winners.
Two vacancies remain in the field of 156, awaiting winners of this week’s PGA Tour events if they are not already qualified for the showdown at Louisville, Kentucky.
The line-up includes top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, who won his second Masters title in April, and the rest of the top 103 players in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) .
Scheffler is skipping this week’s PGA Tour signature event – the Wells Fargo Championship – to be with wife Meredith as she prepares to have a baby.
Defending champion Brooks Koepka of the United States is among 16 players from the LIV Golf League who will compete in the year’s second Major.
Other LIV players from the world’s top 100 include fifth-ranked Jon Rahm, England’s 17th-ranked Tyrrell Hatton, Australia’s Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert, Poland’s Adrian Meronk, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann and American Patrick Reed.
Other Major winners from LIV include Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Martin Kaymer.
American Talor Gooch, last term’s LIV season champion, was invited for his fifth consecutive PGA Championship. His best result was a share of 20th in 2022 but he missed the cut in 2023.
Louis Oosthuizen declined a special invitation due to an undisclosed personal commitment.
Notable names who did not receive invitations include former Masters champion Sergio Garcia, along with Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz.
Garcia has fallen to 714th in the rankings with a lone top-10 in an OWGR event – a T5 at last season’s International Series Oman – since signing with LIV and giving up his DP World Tour membership.
The field includes 21 club professionals, 20 qualifiers and Michael Block, who returns after sharing 15th in 2023 at Oak Hill. AFP, REUTERS
