The 105th PGA Championship begins Thursday from the East Course at the prestigious Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York.
The second major of 2023 will feature nine different former Bulldogs all looking for their first Wanamaker Trophy. Here is a look at those nine Georgia greats as they make ready to hit the course.
First, here is a look at the best finishes by a Bulldog at the PGA Championship.
Chip Beck was mentioned on that list above for his PGA Championship, but Beck also finished tied for second at Oak Hill when it was for the U.S. Open in 1989. He was one of four golfers to finish under par. He won $67,823 for his efforts. The prize money is a little higher these days.
Another golfer to play well here, but not for the PGA Championship was Tim Simpson. Simpson finished tied for 16th at the 2008 Senior PGA Championship. The crazy thing is Beck finished in the money in that event, too. He finished tied for 49th.
Here are the nine former Dawgs:
Harris English - Official World Golf Ranking (37th)
English has played 20 PGA Tour events this season and has made the cut in 14 of them. He has three top tens including a runner-up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March and a third place finish earlier this month at the Wells Fargo. He has shot under par in 11 of his last 16 rounds. Last month, he finished tied for 43rd at the Masters, but shot one under in both rounds. This is seventh PGA Championship with his first being here at Oak Hill.
Brian Harman - Official World Golf Ranking (34th)
Harman has played 16 PGA Tour events this season and made the cut ten times. He has two runner-up finishes this season. The first was back in November at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Two weeks later, he did again The RSM Classic. He missed the cut in his last start at the Wells Fargo, but finshed tied for seventh in the one before that at the RBC Heritage. He missed the cut at the Masters back in April. This is his ninth PGA Championship and has made the cut in five of his first eight.
Russell Henley - Official World Golf Ranking (27th)
Henley has played 13 PGA Tour events this season and has made the cut in nine of them. He has finished in the top 25 in more than half of his made cuts with five. One highlight this season was winning the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. He finished four strokes ahead of the runner-up and former Bulldog teammate Brian Harman. This was Henley's fourth career PGA Tour victory and first since 2017. Another highlight this season was his fourth place finish in Augusta. That Masters' finish was his best ever in any golf major. He has played at the PGA Championship nine times with the first coming here at Oak Hill. He did not make the cut, but shot a 70 in the second round after shooting a 76 in the first.
Chris Kirk - Official World Golf Ranking (35th)
Kirk has played 17 PGA Tour events this season and made the cut in 13 of them. He has the same number of top ten finishes this season and he has missed cuts with four. He won the Honda Classic in a playoff in February. It was his fifth career PGA Tour win and his first since 2015. A month earlier he had back-to-back third place finishes at the Sony Open in Hawaii and the American Express. He finished tied for 23rd at the Masters this April for his first Augusta National appearance since 2016. He has eight career PGA Championship appearances including one at Oak Hill. He had his first career top ten at a major last year at this tournament.
Kevin Kisner - Official World Golf Ranking (61st)
Kisner has struggled this season. He has made the cut five times, missed five times and withdrew once. His best finish at an official PGA Tour event this season was 29th at the RSM Classic compared to last season in which he finished in the top ten a total of five times. He missed the cut at the Masters last month. He was even par after the first round, but shot a 77 in the second. Overall, he has had mixed results at the PGA Championship. He has played in this major eight previous times and made the cut in half of them. However, all four times he has made the cut, he has finished in the top 20.
Keith Mitchell - Official World Golf Ranking (51st)
Mitchell has done very well this season as he has made the cut in 14 of 17 PGA Tour events. Four times he has finished in the top ten and six times in the top 25. He has shot under par in all four rounds four times this season. He finished 53rd at the Masters last month. This is his fourth career PGA Championship and he has made the cut in the last two appearances after missing it the first time around.
Sepp Straka - Official World Golf Ranking (40th)
Straka has played 16 PGA Tour events this season and has made the cut in ten of them. He has a pair of top ten finishes including a runner-up finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship. It was his second career runner-up finish to go with his one career win. He has missed the cut in his last two starts, but made the cut in seven of his previous eight. He finished 46th at the Masters in April. This will be his third career PGA Championship and he has made the cut in the first two.
Davis Thompson - Official World Golf Ranking (83rd)
Thompson has played in 17 PGA Tour events this season and has made the cut 12 times. That's not bad after only playing in nine PGA Tour events as a professional prior to this season. He has a pair of top tens including a runner-up at the American Expess in January. This will be just his second-ever major appearance and his first PGA Championship. He played as an amateur at the 2020 U.S. Open. He did shoot one under par in the first round before going eight over in the second. His seven over missed the cut by one stroke.
Brendon Todd - Official World Golf Ranking (69th)
Todd is the ninth and final Bulldog (at least alphabetically) on this list. He has played 17 PGA Tour events this season and has made the cut 12 times. He has four top tens including a runner-up finish at the AT&T at Pebble Beach in February. Earlier this month, he finished tied for eighth at the Wells Fargo. He did play at the Masters the month prior and did not play in the PGA Championship last year. He has played in four PGA Championships though and made the cut in half of them.
Here are the tee times for the first round on Thursday. Be aware the temperatures are low and the start of the first round may be delayed due to frost. One of the groups has a pair of Dawgs.
