Camilo Villegas returns to the PGA Championship, in which Scottie Scheffler is a favorite

The only question will be whether Scheffler lost anything by not playing for three weeks due to the birth of his first child. “I’m perfectly rested. And I don’t feel rusty at all,” Scheffler stressed upon his arrival in Louisville.

“I have been practicing and playing a lot at home, where I can simulate a tournament, especially on the greens,” added the number one in the world rankings.

Should he achieve victory, Scheffler will become the first player to win the first two Majors of the year since 2015, when his compatriot Jordan Spieth did so.

Also arriving in good form is Northern Irishman Rory McIllroy, who won the Wells Fargo Championship last weekend and is seeking his first win in a grand slam tournament since 2014.

However, an extra-sports issue marks McIlroy’s presence: on Monday it was learned that he asked his wife Erica Stoll for divorce, with whom he was married for seven years.

McIlroy won his last Major, the PGA Championship, on this same course in Valhalla, 10 years ago. “Today (Wednesday) was the first time I’ve been to this field in a decade so it was good to reacquaint myself with the place,” he said.

“It’s a little longer, there are a couple of small changes, but it’s pretty much the same thing I can remember from 10 years ago,” he added.

THE dispute between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf will have a new chapter in Valhalla. There are 16 players from the Arab circuit, led by the current champion of the tournament, the American Brooks Koepka, and the Spanish Jon Rahm, who seeks to give his country the first victory in the only Major they have not achieved.

“I don’t think my game is in any kind of trouble. I didn’t play well at Augusta, but so far I haven’t gotten out of the top-10 (…) I feel comfortable with how I’ve been playing this year,” he said.

Also on the list of participants is former world number one Tiger Woods, who hopes to leave his physical problems behind.

“I still think I can win tournaments. I still feel like I can hit the shots and that I have my touch aro
und the greens. I just need to do it for four days, not like at Augusta where I only did it for two,” said Woods, 48. , who is still trying to overcome the consequences of the serious traffic accident he had in 2021.

For his part, Colombian Camilo Villegas will play this Major again after nine years, thanks to his victory in the Bermuda Championship, achieved at the end of last year.

The PGA Championship is, of the big four, in which the Antioquian has had the best results: in 2008 he finished in fourth place and in 2010 he was eighth.