PGA Tour and LIV take feud to PGA Championship

ROCHESTER, New York : The PGA Tour and LIV Golf take their feud to Oak Hill Country Club for the PGA Championship this week with the Saudi-bankrolled rebel circuit again seeking major validation.

Last month at Augusta National, LIV Golf had looked poised to pull off what would have been a marketing coup with one of their members walking off with a Masters Green Jacket.

That was until world number one Spaniard Jon Rahm came to the PGA Tour's rescue, finishing top of the leaderboard to leave Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson runners-up.

Like the Masters there will be 18 LIV members in the field led by twice PGA Championship winners Koepka and 52-year-old Mickelson and Australian Cameron Smith, who signed on with LIV after winning last year's British Open.

Rahm, who has four wins this season, might be called on again to hold the line against a LIV contingent but will have plenty of backup in a quality 156-player field that features 99 of the top 100 in the world golf rankings but does not include Tiger Woods.

Four-times champion Woods will sit out the year's second major as he continues his recovery from the ankle surgery he had in April to address post-traumatic arthritis related to the injuries he suffered in a February 2021 car crash.

Rahm and world number two Scottie Scheffler both are in top form coming into Rochester.

Scheffler, twice a winner this year, warmed up for Oak Hill with a tie for fifth at the Byron Nelson on Sunday while Rahm had a runner-up finish in his last start the Mexico Open.

"The things that I wanted to improve on over the last three weeks, I feel like I did a good job," said Scheffler. "I didn't swing it my best this weekend, but I'm sure that'll be an easy fix going into next week."

Not to be overlooked