The year's second major golf championship often strives harder to live up to the more illustrious sounding titles of the other three on the roster.
This year, that’s the case probably more than ever before with the USPGA moving back, after a decade, to Valhalla in Kentucky.
It’s like the PGA of America looked at the fractured nature of men’s professional golf and found a way to paper over the cracks for one week in the calendar by including no fewer than 16 LIV Golf Series players to augment the best of the PGA Tour and align the strongest forces in the game in the deepest field of the entire year.
So, what the USPGA title might lack a little in terms of absolute grandeur, it makes up for in substance.
This is going to be the hardest won men's title of 2024 at a venue which, a bit like the championship, is relatively unloved and yet churns out quality and exciting tournament conclusions.
As 18 hole layouts go in the staging of the golf majors there are rarely too many gushing adjectives attached to descriptions of Valhalla, which was opened almost 40 years ago over a vast 485 acres of Kentucky Hills.
If a piece of golf course land could be described as 'brawny’, then this is it.
If those kind of words extend the conversation down the road of what type of player will thrive on this particular Jack Nicklaus design, then there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that muscular ball striking will really matter.
The previous two USPGA winners at Valhalla, Tiger Woods in 2000 and Rory McIlroy in 2014, were both inside the top three in driving distance when they triumphed.
With 151 yards added in length to the layout since the last championship was staged in Kentucky and with softened terrain after four inches of rain in the last two weeks, it’s going to be a long 7609 yard Par 71 that faces the players over the weekend.
As 18 hole layouts go in the staging of the golf majors there are rarely too many gushing adjectives attached to descriptions of Valhalla, which was opened almost 40 years ago over a vast 485 acres of Kentucky Hills
"It’s long, very long and it’s going to suit the bigger hitters," said Shane Lowry after his practice round on Tuesday.
"But it’s pretty much the same as my whole career. If I come into majors I know that if I can hole a few putts I can do alright," he added.
Valhalla has built quite a reputation for producing compelling championships and has been a stage for some of the most memorable moments in the majors in the 21st century.
The Woods triumph in 2000 featured an epic play-off duel with Bob May and one of the most iconic Tiger moments when he ‘pointed’ at the ball on the first play-off hole as it dropped for the birdie which would eventually be the key to securing his third leg of the Tiger Slam.
Then there was the back-nine charge of McIlroy in 2014 which ended in near darkness and in a bizarre manner as the match in front, including title rivals Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson, stood aside so that Rory could hit his drive down the par five 18th, where he would eventually secure his second major victory in three weeks, illuminated by the clubhouse lights
Few could have predicted that the next time a major championship was staged at Valhalla, there would be no more of the game's most coveted titles in his trophy cabinet after 35 further attempts to augment the four he had achieved by the end of that balmy August evening.
And yet, in what could be one of the most curious pieces of symmetry in any sporting career, McIlroy arrived in Louisville on Tuesday on the back of winning his previous two events just as he had arrived at Valhalla in 2014 having won the Open at Hoylake and the WGC at Firestone in his previous two starts.
The scenario set out by his victory in Charlotte last Sunday led him to comment after winning the Wells Fargo:
"Going to a venue next week where I have won, it feels like the stars are aligning a little bit but I have a lot of golf to play and a lot of great players to try and beat."
Events this week in his life have thrown into sharper focus something else he said last Sunday:
"I seem to, for whatever reason, play very good golf whenever I have a lot of stuff going on. I’ve always been able to compartmentalise pretty well."
At his press conference this week, McIlroy expanded on the confidence he has in his game right now:
"I would say from a technical standpoint, some of the shots that I hit last week, some of the three-quarter shots, some of the wedge shots, some of the iron shots, combined with, you know, how good I feel with the driver at the minute, that obviously gives me a lot of confidence."
As strong as McIlroy’s game seems to be, he still is not even close to being the favourite for a clear and compelling reason.
The form in 2024 of World No 1 Scottie Scheffler has taken the 27 year-old Texan to a size of lead in the world rankings not seen since Tiger Woods in his prime.
Already this season he has won four times and in doing so claimed the two biggest pots of the season in winning the Players and the Masters.
Last week, the pressure in his home life was lifted as his wife Meredith gave birth to a baby boy and he arrived in Louisville on Monday beaming from ear to ear and accepting the congratulations of his peers and others on the addition to his family.
Looking the picture of contentment he said in his press conference: "(Last week) was a nice time to reflect a little bit on my career so far and where my life has gone. I married my high school sweetheart and I always wanted to play professional golf and now I'm here. I was sitting there with a newborn in my arms and the green jacket in the closet".
"But at the same time, I think the competitiveness in me doesn't let me reflect too much and I was trying to do my best to get ready to play this week."
In the list of favourites for this champioonship, LIV series star Jon Rahm will want to show that his form is somewhat better than was apparent in his tie for 45th place at the Masters which was his first major since his defection to the Saudi backed series.
"I don't think my game is in any sort of issues. I didn't play good at Augusta, but so far I haven't missed a top 10 (in the LIV Series). I do feel the last few weeks, I’ve made a couple tweaks - just very minor things."
Brooks Koepka the defending USPGA champion and a winner of five majors in the last seven years was, like Rahm, unhappy with his Masters performance back in a tie for 45th place – a performance he acknowledged was an embarrassment but one he has since put behind him with a LIV Series victory in Singapore less than two weeks ago:
"We just kind of put our nose down and kept grinding - long hours on the range. Just worked with everybody and really tried to go back to the fundamentals, and I think that was the important thing."
Of course there are many other potential challengers and not all of them will feel that length off the tee will be a pre-requisite for victory.
The aforementioned runner-up in 2000, Bob May and 1996 PGA winner at Valhalla, Mark Brooks, were not among the realm of long hitters so it remains to be seen if the course set-up by Kerry Haigh this week will be nuanced enough to produce a broad spectrum of talent on the leaderboard on Sunday, worthy of past championships at Valhalla.
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