The Winners and Losers of the 2024 PGA Championship

Well, we told you things happen at the PGA Championship! This year’s edition of golf’s workingman’s major had more story lines than a George R.R. Martin novel, and it ended in an old-fashioned Kentucky photo finish. Fresh off of one of the more weird and exhilarating golf weeks in recent memory (and that’s saying something because men’s golf has been extremely weird the past few years), we’re here to sort out the winners and losers from four wild days at Valhalla Golf Club. Take a moment to catch your breath, and then let’s dive into the full-fledged barn burner that just took place in Kentucky.

Winner: Xander Schauffele

Coming into this PGA Championship—and seemingly into every major championship—Schauffele was a nervous contender to win. He was in some ways an obvious choice: He had 11 professional triumphs on tour, 12 top-10 finishes in majors since 2017, and the established profile of a future major champion. He was seeking an end to his frustration.

On Thursday, he shot an opening-round 62, and still, I doubted. He’d come so close so many times that I had churlishly begun to wonder whether the gifted but often befuddled Schauffele had what it took to close the show on the big stage. Never have I been happier to be proved wrong. Schauffele followed up that 62 with back-to-back 68s on Friday and Saturday, and on the 72nd hole, he rolled in a tricky 6-foot birdie to take down the resurgent but still strange Bryson DeChambeau to win his first career major. The scene was a beatific one—even Bryson congratulated him.

That’s the stuff of lore. Now that Xander has crossed the threshold and navigated around the “best player to never win a major” nightmare, I can see him doing more of this kind of thing. He’s set free.

Winner: A Roulette Wheel of a Leaderboard

All kinds of names showed up near the top of the leaderboard throughout the weekend. Collin Morikawa kept it close in the final group until a day of errant putting finally did him in. Shane Lowry carded the tournament’s second 62 on Saturday before fading away early on Sunday. Viktor Hovland kept the dream of Norwegian Valhalla alive until a costly two-putt at no. 18. And Brooks Koepka lurked around menacingly.

But it was Bryson DeChambeau who finally made things tense in the last round. A consummate outsider who won the 2020 U.S. Open with brute force and promptly exiled himself to LIV, DeChambeau has been, at times throughout his career, hard to root for. That may have changed this week. Operating with five wedges in his bag and a far more approachable demeanor, he came within a hair’s whisker of a well-earned second major title. Time and again, he neglected to undermine himself with long-drive, trick-shot magic. In a topsy-turvy week, he might have gained the most fans of all.

Winner-Slash-Loser: Scottie Scheffler

Scheffler, the world’s top-ranked men’s golfer and the hottest golfer in the world right now not named Nelly Korda, came into this week as a strong favorite to back up his second Masters victory at Augusta last month. He didn’t do that. But that’s not the same as saying he didn’t keep busy. Scheffler carded a minus-13 for the week, which included a 66 on Friday and a stellar 65 on Sunday. None of that is important. What is absolutely important is that he was the only player in the field to be arrested, fingerprinted, and mug-shotted two hours before he was supposed to tee off in the second round, and he then turned around and shot 7-under par in a shockingly composed performance that stunned the golf world … and Scottie himself a bit.

For those who don’t know: Early Friday morning, a tournament vendor was struck by a shuttle bus and killed outside of Valhalla. As police investigated the accident, normal entry points into the club were closed off. Scheffler was driving in to begin his early-morning prep routine when he encountered the commotion, and, basically, chaos ensued. Police have said they told Scheffler, who was reportedly driving in a median lane to try to avoid traffic, to stop. Scheffler says there was a misunderstanding, as it was dark and raining out. There’s a lot of confusion over what happened next.

Some witnesses say Scheffler drove on the median for a while. The police report says he inadvertently dragged a Louisville police officer a few paces, ruining the officer’s pants. Folks: I wasn’t there, and I don’t know. The point is, Scheffler was processed, he returned to the course, and then he made a rash of birdies. It was a truly shocking day.

Now the no. 1 golfer in the world is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday morning at the Jefferson County Judicial Center. Though the charges against him—including second-degree assault of a police officer and third-degree criminal mischief—may soon be dropped.

Winner: Valhalla Golf Club

Valhalla has its enemies in the subterranean world of nerd-golf gossip, but for the fourth time in four attempts at hosting the PGA Championship, the tournament’s ending was a thrill ride. Golf Digest does a good job here of laying out the case against the course’s major championship worthiness, from the garish layout to the overall Phoenix Waste Management vibe.

And yet.

There is a unique, choose-your-own-adventure characteristic to the Jack Nicklaus setup that suggests the Golden Bear’s intuitive sense of drama. Four par 3s and a reachable par-5 18th ended up engineering yet another unforgettable ending. The winning score of minus-21 might be considered gauche at the U.S. Open, but at Valhalla, it felt just right. If this is the last major we see there in a while, thanks for the memories.

Loser: Rory McIlroy’s Decade of Disappointment

Rinse, wash, repeat. Ten years ago, McIlroy won his last major championship, in this same tournament, at this same golf course. Since then, he has been a magnificent and frequently dominating player who just can’t seem to catch the break that will finally secure him his fifth big one. A promising first-round 66 this week was followed up by stellar but never sensational play, and two rinsed balls on his Sunday back nine ensured that he’d settle for a tie for 12th. That led to the question: If it didn’t come here—the venue of his last major triumph—would it happen at all?

We all know the strengths of McIlroy’s game—his incredible ball striking, his high-IQ course management, and his deep imagination—and this was in evidence over the past week. But for the 38th major in a row, it wasn’t enough. So much has happened to McIlroy over the past few years—from the anti-LIV passion plays to the clutch PGA Tour wins and close finishes to the personal losses. It was announced this week that he and his wife, Erica Stoll, are divorcing. Now this, too. There’s always the next major. But will there be a next major win?

Losers: Tiger and Tiger Fans

Look: I’m a stand-me-up-at-the-gates-of-hell Tiger fan. I brook no dissent. So it gives me no pleasure to state the obvious: This is the last, best golf—finishing 6-over par and missing a cut—that we’re likely to see out of the man. He will continue to fortify his broken body four or five times a year to prove he can still do this, proceed to play some amazing holes, and then retreat from our eyes when the real golf begins.

This is what Tiger Woods is now. Having sacrificed his youth for our endless thrills, he now sacrifices his middle age for the more modest ideas we have to accept about ourselves. In some ways, it represents the most mercenary of characters at his most giving. Maybe that isn’t losing after all.