The battle for supremacy at the PGA Championship is set to go down to the wire, with Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa heading a whole host of worthy challengers who could still realistically hold the Wanamaker Trophy aloft at Valhalla Golf Club on Sunday evening.
The American duo begin the final day on 15-under but face the threat of several household names right behind them who hold the ability to snatch their dreams away. At the start of the fourth round, there were 15 players within five shots of the co-leaders.
Among them is Bryson DeChambeau, who starts T4 and just a couple of strokes behind his American rivals.
Whether the monster-driving American wins the PGA Championship or not, he is highly likely to lead the field in terms of driving distance when all is said and done. Before Sunday’s action began, the LIV golfer was averaging 332.4 yards off the tee and recorded a longest single drive of 360 yards.
That power appears to have come at the cost of accuracy, however, with DeChambeau managing to find the fairway less than 60% of the time (59.52%). Not that he will mind, with his position on the leaderboard proving that missing your target further down the hole is the second-best place to be.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
DeChambeau is also streaks ahead of his closest driving rival this week, who just happens to be Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy topped the PGA Tour driving-distance stats once again in 2023 with an average of 326.3 yards off the tee – the longest in PGA Tour history and eclipsing DeChambeau’s previous best by almost three yards.
Yet, the Northern Irishman hasn’t been able to get anywhere close to DeChambeau at Valhalla this week, averaging *only* 322.8 yards with an accuracy reading of 66.67%. The four-time Major winner’s longest drive of the week was measured at 343 yards.
That has left him outside of the top-10 on the leaderboard ahead of the big finale and needing to unequivocally light it up if he has any chance of ending that famous Major drought.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Further down the driving distance table at the 2024 PGA Championship, a couple of other big-hitting LIV golfers complete the top-five. The in-form Dean Burmester is third on 322.1 yards while Joaquin Niemann is fifth with exactly 314 yards. Byeong Hun An is fourth on 315.3 yards.
In…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly…