News

Will the PGA Championship be another boring Sunday?

Published

12 years ago

Aug 9, 2014

If the 2009 major championship season was the year of the botched storyline–Cabrera over Perry, Glover over Mickelson and Duval, Cink over Watson, Yang over Woods–the 2014 campaign has shaped up as the curse of the boring Sundays.

Oddly, the Masters appeared in the midst of a final-round masterpiece seven holes in, with an electrifying 20-year-old Jordan Spieth scorching Augusta National’s opening holes for a one-shot lead and seemingly traversing his way to an extraordinary bit of history.

At that moment though, the enormity of the occasion set in, Spieth fell off and Bubba Watson was never challenged on the back nine. The U.S. Open was essentially over by Friday afternoon. The Open Championship—while employing a marketable lead character—held an ounce of final-round drama for roughly five minutes. Should viewers even stick around this Sunday for ~~Glory’s Last Shot~~ the PGA Championship?

The pattern is alarming, and not the greatest development when golf has experienced a bevy of attacks, but it’s also random. For the most part, there’s no rhyme or reason to the excitement level of a major championship Sunday. As each tournament’s final round is an independent event, it’s no more likely we see an exciting PGA Sunday following three dramatic major finishes than three weak ones.

While that debunks one set of evidence for a PGA snoozefest, does there exist any data that suggests 2014’s final major will have a rollicking conclusion? And what exactly is an “exciting finish” anyway?

To reverse order here, the term “exciting finish” is obviously ambiguous and any definition will be somewhat arbirtrary, but our rubric is simple. A tournament where there is a significant question as to the victor somewhere over the final two holes of regulation is deemed “exciting.”

As for the potential of an exciting finish this week, there are certainly positive signs on this subject, but it’s all a matter of whether they prove truly substantive.

We can point to the fact that Valhalla has a proven track record producing impressive showdowns over the final 18 holes in stroke play (and added time). Of course the 2000 PGA Championship battle between Tiger Woods and Bob May lives on in folklore—possibly this generation’s “Duel in the Sun”—but the 1996 PGA at Valhalla didn’t exactly lack excitement either. That event also went to a playoff, and the Senior PGA Championships Valhalla hosted in 2004 and 2011 were in question all the way through.

Actually, three of these four tournaments finished in playoffs! If any major championship course boasts an ability to bring out the scintillating conclusion, it’s Valhalla.

Four tournaments are a small sample size though, and likely too small to indicate that Valhalla is unusually adept at fostering interesting Sunday action. We could easily say that Valhalla’s 4-for-4 strike is simply the product of randomness. We need a much bigger pool of professional tournaments on the layout to gather real insight here.

Maybe that’s a bust, but this isn’t the only potential reasoning favoring a nerve-wracking Sunday. Combing back through the past 15 PGA Championships (1999-2013), conservatively 11 of them fit our admittedly strict “exciting finish” criteria. That’s a 73 percent rate of success for closing drama.

As for the other majors, the findings are similarly robust. The Masters is 9 for 16 (57 percent), the U.S. Open 11 for 16 (69 percent) and the Open Championship 10 for 16 (63 percent). Over this large time span, a clear trend develops: Significantly more majors see tension over the final holes than not.

From the outset then, the PGA had a healthy majority chance of being must-see Sunday television. In fact, every major experiences a probability of this sort. Three consecutive majors not following this path, as has been the case in 2014, is really an incredibly unlikely occurrence.

Based on these percentages, you should’ve woken up Thursday morning expecting a spectacular Sunday finale.

And that premonition should only be stronger now.

We have to of course add the 54-hole leaderboard into the exciting finish equation. After all, it’s tougher to envision a packed leaderboard late Sunday when one player is out in front by six or eight to start the day.

The current PGA Championship standings contain no such frontrunner and are decently crowded. Five players are within three of the lead, nine are within four and 18 are within six. The leader, Rory McIlroy has turned three major championship 54-hole leads into Sunday snoozers, but they all involved instances where the Northern Irishman was ahead by at least three. At the PGA, his lead is just one.

Overall, these 54-hole scores show a lot of promise for a race to the finish in round four. This year’s Masters leaderboard may have been even more primed for a great finish than the PGA–and we all know how that worked out–but all that instance proves is that a smushed leaderboard is not a guarantee of a highly-charged Sunday, not an improbability for one.

Really things are looking up for us to avoid a shutout in 2014 major championship Sundays. No negative signs are readily apparent and majors tend to slide toward final-holes uncertainty. And this leaderboard is decently suited for a tight battle.

I expect this event to be closed out right at the end Sunday. Who will be the victor? That’s anyone’s guess. But the existence of such a question after these past two months is progress in itself.

Related Topics:

Up Next

Photos from the 2014 Wyndham Championship

Don't Miss

Tiger withdraws, re-injures surgically repaired back

Kevin Casey

Kevin's fascination with the game goes back as long as he can remember. He has written about the sport on the junior, college and professional levels and hopes to cover its proceedings in some capacity for as long as possible. His main area of expertise is the PGA Tour, which is his primary focus for GolfWRX. Kevin is currently a student at Northwestern University, but he will be out into the workforce soon enough. You can find his golf tidbits and other sports-related babble on Twitter @KevinCasey19. GolfWRX Writer of the Month: September 2014

22 Comments

Ballstriker

Aug 11, 2014 at 1:38 am

That would be a firm NO! Fantastic finish!

Reply Report comment
MHendon

Aug 10, 2014 at 10:25 pm

No Tiger equals boring, boring, boring…. Golf is DEAD without Tiger, I bet the TV ratings where miserably low. Know one cares about these other guys. Tiger, Tiger, Tiger we need Tiger, our golf god Tiger, where lost without you Tiger!!!! Ok so that was a joke… great tournament!

Reply Report comment
Christian

Aug 10, 2014 at 10:22 pm

Put me down for a “no”.

Reply Report comment
Taylor

Aug 10, 2014 at 9:35 pm

This was the best final round I have seen in quite some time. It was only too bad that the light became an issue at the end and the whole playing up thing on 18. I think phil or rickie could have had a better shot to make an eagle.

Reply Report comment
- Christian
  
  Aug 10, 2014 at 10:21 pm
  
  Put me down for a “no”.
  
  Reply Report comment
marcel

Aug 10, 2014 at 9:02 pm

what a final day!!! great work Rors and super push from everyone

Reply Report comment
PaloAltoPlaya

Aug 10, 2014 at 8:45 pm

Far from boring!! Tiger who?!?!?

Reply Report comment
R

Aug 10, 2014 at 4:58 pm

Yes, total snooze fest today. Only a super tightly packed leaderboard.

Reply Report comment
- Kevin Casey
  
  Aug 10, 2014 at 7:01 pm
  
  I wouldn’t say it was insanely tightly packed last night, decently so as I mentioned. But I also agreed that today would be a great finish. Thankfully, the action so far is obliging!
  
  Reply Report comment
Dick

Aug 10, 2014 at 2:14 pm

Because of the inclement weather, yes.

Reply Report comment
west

Aug 10, 2014 at 12:56 pm

These articles are the real snooze fest…

Reply Report comment
MHendon

Aug 10, 2014 at 11:32 am

Personally I found the Open to be pretty interesting, but unlike the author of this article I don’t need Tiger in the hunt to be interested.

Reply Report comment
- bradford
  
  Aug 11, 2014 at 12:46 pm
  
  Let it go…This wasn’t about Tiger until YOU took it there. You are the cause, not the solution.
  
  Reply Report comment
Bobby

Aug 10, 2014 at 11:30 am

Prediction time!

Phil shoots a 64 to get to -17 and Rory shoots -4 to also get to -17. Playoff time! But I don’t have a clue who will win the playoff

Reply Report comment
Christosterone

Aug 10, 2014 at 10:21 am

I could watch re-aired coverage of the 1976 PGA abd would be riveted…
So i am clearly not the demographic to ask as I will watch Sunday Majors regardless of who is in contention.

And while I am jingoistic (typically) I find myself rooting for Bernd Wiesberger….it would make a difference in his life to a degree none of the others in contention would experience…imho

Reply Report comment
Pingback: Will the PGA Championship be another boring Sunday? | Spacetimeandi.com
marty

Aug 10, 2014 at 8:47 am

It will be boring for tiger woods fans.

Reply Report comment
Stuart

Aug 10, 2014 at 5:40 am

Still think scott a real show

Reply Report comment
Dan

Aug 10, 2014 at 2:23 am

I hope wiesbergers nerves hold. he has the game to win this

Reply Report comment
Christosterone

Aug 10, 2014 at 12:37 am

Graham DeLaet goes 62

Reply Report comment
- Madeoflite
  
  Aug 10, 2014 at 2:12 am
  
  No chance
  
  Reply Report comment
  - paul
    
    Aug 10, 2014 at 2:39 am
    
    65? ????
    
    Reply Report comment

Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

13 mins ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

What is Lorem Ipsum?

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

Why do we use it?

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

1 day ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

Jon Rahm +1300
Cameron Young +1500
Bryson DeChambeau +1700
Xander Schauffele +1850
Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2600
Collin Morikawa +3500
Brooks Koepka +3900
Justin Rose +4300
Russell Henley +4600
Si Woo Kim +4700
Justin Thomas +4800
Robert MacIntyre +5300
Patrick Cantlay +5300
Viktor Hovland +5400
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Jordan Spieth +5900
Sam Burns +6000
Hideki Matsuyama +6200
Adam Scott +6400
Rickie Fowler +7000
Chris Gotterup +7400
Patrick Reed +7400
Min Woo Lee +7800
Ben Griffin +8000
Sepp Straka +8400
Shane Lowry +9000
Akshay Bhatia +9200
Maverick McNealy +9200
Joaquin Niemann +9200
Jake Knapp +9200
Jason Day +9600
Kurt Kitayama +10000
J.J. Spaun +10000
Harris English +10500
Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
Gary Woodland +11000
David Puig +11000
Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
Jacob Bridgeman +12000
Keegan Bradley +12500
Corey Conners +14000
Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
Sungjae Im +15500
Sahith Theegala +15500
Harry Hall +15500
Alex Noren +16000
Thomas Detry +16500
Marco Penge +16500
Kristoffer Reitan +17000
Alex Smalley +17000
Wyndham Clark +17500
Sam Stevens +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Daniel Berger +18500
Ryan Gerard +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
Dustin Johnson +21000
Pierceson Coody +23000
Aaron Rai +24000
Jordan Smith +24000
Angel Ayora +24000
Bud Cauley +25000
Matt McCarty +26000
Jayden Schaper +26000
Brian Harman +27000
Taylor Pendrith +27000
Ryan Fox +27000
J.T. Poston +27000
Cameron Smith +29000
Ryo Hisatsune +29000
Michael Kim +29000
Max Homa +29000
Denny McCarthy +29000
Tom McKibbin +30000
Rico Hoey +32000
Matt Wallace +32500
Ricky Castillo +33000
Haotong Li +33000
Michael Brennan +34000
Max Greyserman +36000
Stephan Jaeger +37500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
Aldrich Potgieter +40000
Andrew Novak +42000
Patrick Rodgers +42500
Daniel Hillier +42500
Max McGreevy +46000
Billy Horschel +48000
Chris Kirk +48000
Ian Holt +49000
Casey Jarvis +49000
William Mouw +50000
Steven Fisk +50000
John Parry +50000
Nico Echavarria +52500
Garrick Higgo +52500
John Keefer+55000
Matthias Schmid +57500
Austin Smotherman +57500
Sami Valimaki +60000
Andrew Putnam +60000
Lucas Glover +62500
Daniel Brown +62500
Jhonattan Vegas +75000
Emiliano Grillo +80000
Mikael Lindberg +85000
Adrien Saddier +100000
Bernd Wiesberger +100000
Elvis Smylie +110000
Stewart Cink +130000
Kota Kaneko +130000
David Lipsky +150000
Chandler Blanchet +150000
Andy Sullivan +150000
Joe Highsmith +180000
Adam Schenk +200000
Travis Smyth +200000
Davis Riley +225000
Martin Kaymer +400000
Brian Campbell +400000
Padraig Harrington +450000
Kazuki Higa +450000
Jordan Gumberg +450000
Ryan Vermeer +500000
Austin Hurt +500000
Tyler Collet +500000
Timothy Wiseman +500000
Shaun Micheel +500000
Y.E. Yang +500000
Michael Block+500000
Mark Geddes+500000
Luke Donald+500000
Bryce Fisher+500000
Jimmy Walker +500000
Jason Dufner +500000
Jesse Droemer +500000
Jared Jones +500000
Garrett Sapp +500000
Francisco Bide +500000
Zach Haynes +500000
Paul McClure+500000
Derek Berg +500000
Chris Gabriele +500000
Braden Shattuck +500000
Ben Polland +500000
Ben Kern +50000

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.