The 2023 PGA Championship had it all: bunker blades out of bounds, pros pelting each other and tempers flaring. We recap the most memorable.
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Let’s face it, this PGA Championship was…bizarre. No, Brooks Koepka winning wasn’t, but so much of what happened over the past seven days was just plain weird.
But it was also extremely relatable to us, the common golfers. Need proof? Read on and we’ll explain. Here are the 19 most relatable — and some that are straight up goofy — moments from the PGA Championship.
19. Blading a bunker shot O.B.
Quick, when’s the last time you’ve seen a pro golfer do it? I honestly can’t recall another instance. Blading a bunker shot is a common occurrence among weekend golfers, but blading one O.B. is humiliating. I should know, I did this the last time I played. It was late in my round so I sulked and took a handicap max on the hole instead of taking the walk of shame back to the cart to reload. Spieth? He didn’t have that luxury, yet he still made bogey.
Spieth on 14 today — drives it into the bunker, terrible lie, smashes second shot over the green and O.B., drops in bunker, gets up and down. Easy bogey. pic.twitter.com/EjhWmz2MRc
Jon Rahm did not like this chip during Saturday’s third round. A greenside mic paid the price.
3. Tomahawk time
Taylor Moore did not like this tee shot during Saturday’s third round. His driver paid the price.
4. The high-handicap in your group cleans up
This of course isn’t fair to call Michael Block a high-handicap — far from it — but no one ever expects club pros to make much noise at the PGA Championship, just like no one ever expects your 17-handicap pal to clean up on your buddies trip. But those net birdies can add up in a hurry, people. And what a week for Michael Block, right?
5. Alert the FCC
Jordan Spieth missed a green on Saturday. He was, ah, not pleased.
Speaking of venting after missing some greens, Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton did exactly that, although their ire was directed toward the course and/or setup. Fair? Who is to say. But they both missed greens on Saturday and had their commentary caught on microphones. Hatton on the 3rd: “F—ing s— hole,” and Rahm on the 11th: “Ahhh, great hole, PGA. Great f—ing hole.”
The classic hit-a-bad-shot-and-blame-it-on-the-golf-course defense. We’ve been there.
7. Putting with a wedge because you are over it
Like Justin Thomas.
High school golfers tapping in for 47 while playing a match at the nicest country club in town pic.twitter.com/NeOYZJw47U
Sure, that Scottsdale trip sounded great when you booked it three months ago, but now you’re playing in a downpour in what happens to be the city’s first significant rainfall in weeks. The worst part? That $220 tee time is non-refundable. Grab the rain gear, boys. Saturday at Oak Hill was a soggy one.
Saturday at the PGA? It was wet.Getty Images
9. Backwards hat cause you just went triple-double and don’t care
Everything was great until it wasn’t. Now the score that was bound to lower your index won’t even count for your top eight. The mood changes, the energy level fades, the hat gets turned backwards and drinks are ordered at the turn. One of those days.
“Fore!” bombs are dropped often at your local muni, but they are less frequent at major championships. But it’s even more rare someone gets hit, and it’s extremely unusual a shot actually strikes another golfer, but that’s what happened when Bryson DeChambeau hit his approach on 17 on Thursday and it tracked toward the 18th tee box, zeroing in on club pro Kenny Pigman. As one of the mover guys on “Happy Gilmore” would say, “You hit that guy!”
Dustin Johnson had a great one — and we mean great here as in bad — and even Block, the darling of the PGA, absolutely hosel-rocketed one. It happens to the best players in the world, too.
13. Rest up? Nah, let’s go out the night before a crucial round
There were lots of reasons to like PGA pro Michael Block. Here’s another.
Michael Block is T8 at the PGA Championship and paired with Rory McIlroy tomorrow.
Corey Conners was leading the PGA until he caught an approach from the fairway bunker thin on the 16th on Saturday, and the ball — which he lost off the club — embedded in the lip of the bunker. It was bizarre, yes. But what’s even crazier is the exact same thing happened to Viktor Hovland on Sunday, and on the same hole and in the same bunker and embedding in almost exactly the same spot. Hovland’s double essentially ended his hopes at a title.
15. Cold top
Don’t worry, Thomas Pieters, we’ve been there too. This one traveled six feet, five inches. “That didn’t go very far,” he said. (He still made bogey.)
“I haven’t played the course,” Jason Day said on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, I haven’t seen the course. I most likely probably won’t see the course today. I’m just not fighting anything, I just want to make sure that I’m mentally prepared and mentally ready for tomorrow. No matter how well I prepare, even if I go out and play a practice round, if I come in tomorrow tired and exhausted, it won’t do me any favors, so I’m just going to try and take it easy. It’s not the first time I’ve come into the major championship not playing a practice round.”
Day shot 76-72 and missed the cut.
17. The putter derailing your round
Join the club, Lucas Herbert. Although he did finish a respectable 33rd in Strokes Gained: Putting last week.
Cameron Young was penalized when he forgot to move his mark back on the green. Maybe a goof like that slides in your Saturday fourball, but not in a major championship.
19. Not knowing all the rules
You don’t know the Rules of Golf from front to back? Apparently one recent change slipped by Phil Mickelson, too.
As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the sport’s most-read news and service websites. He spends most of his days writing, editing, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two kids. You can reach him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.
