Brooks Koepka finished at nine under for the tournament to win his third career PGA Championship and fifth major championship by two shots over Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler.[2] Koepka joined Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win three PGA titles in the stroke-play era and became the 20th player to win five majors.[3] With the victory, Koepka became the first golfer to win a major golf championship as a member of LIV Golf.[4]
Oak Hill Country Club previously hosted six major championships, the last being the 2013 PGA Championship. The course underwent a significant renovation beginning in 2019, including the removal of several trees and rebuild of the greens with bentgrass. The old par-3 sixth hole was removed and the fifth, sixth, and 15th holes were completely redesigned.[5][6]
This list details the qualification criteria for the 2023 PGA Championship and the players who qualified under them; any additional criteria under which players qualified are indicated in parentheses.[8]
A frost delay caused tee times to be delayed on Thursday by almost 2 hours, ultimately resulting in play being suspended at 8:50 pm EDT due to darkness. 10 groups did not finish their rounds due to the suspension of play. Play resumed at 7:00 am EST on Friday.[16]
Bryson DeChambeau made three birdies over his final nine holes to shoot 66 (−4) and move atop the leaderboard at the end of the first round.[17]
Eric Cole, making his PGA Championship debut after getting into the field as an alternate, made three straight birdies on holes 2–4 and was alone in first place at five under when play was halted. He double-bogeyed the sixth hole (his 15th) on Friday morning to drop back to three under and a shot behind DeChambeau. Scottie Scheffler did not make a bogey in a round of 67 to join Cole in a tie for second place, along with Dustin Johnson who was tied with DeChambeau until a bogey on the 18th. Adam Scott also got to four under until a double bogey on the 18th dropped back to two under and a four-way tie for sixth place that included 2011 champion Keegan Bradley.[18][19]
Defending champion Justin Thomas made a double bogey on the sixth hole and shot two-over 72 in his opening round. World No. 1 Jon Rahm made six bogeys, including on his final three holes, and a double bogey as he began the tournament with a six-over 76.[20]
Corey Conners, Viktor Hovland, and Scottie Scheffler tied for the lead through 36 holes at five under. Scheffler, one back at the start of the round, birdied the first hole after hitting his approach to within two feet. He bogeyed the seventh hole, his first bogey of the tournament, before hitting his tee shot on the par-three 15th hole to a foot for a birdie and a share of the lead with Conners. A closing bogey dropped Scheffler back to five under after a two-under round of 68.[21]
Conners was three under on his round and alone in first place at six under before a bogey at the seventh hole (his 16th) to match Scheffler's 68. Hovland birdied his first two holes, including holing a 20-foot putt on the second, then made another 18-footer for birdie at the 10th. At the 18th, Hovland hit his approach to five feet and made the putt for a closing birdie and a 67 (−3). It was Hovland's 10th consecutive major championship round inside the top 10 on the leaderboard.[22]
First-round leader Bryson DeChambeau double-bogeyed the sixth hole after hitting his approach shot into a greenside bunker and fell as many as five shots off the lead before making three birdies on the back nine to get back to four under. He found another bunker on the 18th and made bogey to fall to three under, two shots back of the lead. Justin Suh joined him in a tie for fourth place after making a 33-foot birdie putt on the eighth hole, his 17th.[23]
Two-time champion Brooks Koepka made five birdies on his closing nine holes, including both the 17th and 18th, to shoot a four-under 66 and climb into a tie for sixth place at two under. Michael Block, a club pro in California, was three under on his round before a bogey at the par-5 fourth hole and double bogey on the par-3 fifth after his tee shot struck a tree. He finished at even par and tied for 10th place, the first PGA professional to be inside the top 10 after the second round since 1988.[24]
The cut came at 145 (+5), with 76 players making it to the weekend. Defending champion Justin Thomas needed a seven-foot putt to save bogey on the 18th hole and make the cut on the number, as did two-time champion Phil Mickelson. Notables to miss the cut included 2015 champion Jason Day and reigning U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick.[25]
Two-time champion Brooks Koepka shot a second consecutive round of 66 (−4) to take the 54-hole lead. Koepka made three birdies on the back nine, including a 46-foot putt on the 17th to reach six under for the tournament and a shot ahead of Corey Conners and Viktor Hovland.[26]
Conners, part of a three-way tie for the lead at the start of the round, reached seven under after a birdie at the par-3 15th hole. At the 16th, he drove into a bunker off the tee then had his second shot embed in the bank, leading to a double bogey that dropped him back to five under and an even-par round of 70. Hovland was two-over on his round before making three birdies in a five-hole span from 8–12. He holed an 18-footer for birdie at the 11th, then hit his approach on the 12th to four feet and made the putt to tie Conners for the lead at six under. He failed to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker on the 18th for a closing bogey, matching Conners' 70.[27]
Bryson DeChambeau double-bogeyed the sixth hole after finding water off the tee and also bogeyed the par-5 13th to fall to two-over on his round. He rebounded with birdie on the short par-4 14th after driving near the green, then hit his approach on the 15th to seven feet for another birdie to shoot 70 and finish alone in fourth place at three under, three shots off the lead. Scottie Scheffler, tied with Conners and Hovland for the lead at the start of the round, made four bogeys on his front nine and did not make his first birdie until the 14th as he fell back with a three-over 73, ending up in a tie for fifth place at two under.[28]
Club pro Michael Block shot even-par 70 for the third consecutive round and was tied for eighth place, becoming the first PGA professional to be inside the top 10 after the third round since Jay Overton in 1988.[29]
Beginning the round with a one-stroke lead, Koepka made three straight birdies to increase the gap to three shots after four holes. He hit his tee shot on the sixth hole into the hazard and made his first bogey of the round, then made another bogey on the seventh when his approach shot hung in the rough around a greenside bunker. Koepka rebounded with birdies on the 10th and 12th, holing a 10-foot putt from just off the green, to offset another bogey on the par-3 11th after his tee shot plugged in a bunker.[31]
Hovland, meanwhile, made two birdies on the front nine including a 17-foot putt on the par-3 fifth hole as he stayed within one shot of Koepka's lead making the turn. He also birdied the 13th and 14th to go three under on his round and was still a shot behind Koepka heading to the 16th. He hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker, then had his second shot embed in the bank forcing him to take a drop and settle for a double bogey. Koepka birdied the hole after hitting his approach inside five feet as he opened up a four-shot lead with just two holes to play. Despite a bogey on the 17th, Koepka was able to two-putt for par on the 18th to finish at nine under.[32]
Scottie Scheffler made four birdies on the back nine and got within two shots of Koepka's lead as he shot a five-under 65, tying the lowest round of any player in the tournament, to tie Hovland for second place. Scheffler's finish coupled with Jon Rahm's T50 finish returned Scheffler to world number one. Corey Conners, who began the round a shot off the lead, made seven bogeys in a five-over 75 to fall into a tie for 12th place. Club pro Michael Block made a hole-in-one on the 15th hole and shot 71 (+1); his tie for 15th place was the best finish by a PGA professional since 1986 and qualified him for the following year's PGA Championship.[33]
^The PGA of America usually invites all players ranked inside the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking. Eleven players with a world ranking of over 100 on May 7, 2023, were given invitations; eight of these had rankings between 101 and 150, while Johnson was ranked 253, Micheluzzi 361 and Donald 457.
