Without spectators at the previous edition in August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PGA of America announced in February 2021 that 10,000 fans would be admitted daily.[1]
Phil Mickelson won his second PGA Championship and sixth major, two strokes ahead of runners-up Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen. Aged fifty years and eleven months, he became the oldest to win a major, a distinction previously held by Julius Boros, the winner of the PGA Championship in 1968 at age 48.
The field for the PGA Championship is sometimes regarded as the strongest in professional golf, routinely having the highest "strength of field rating" of the year according to the Official World Golf Ranking. A number of qualification criteria are used to determine the field, which includes past PGA champions, recent major winners, top finishers in the 2020 PGA Championship, Ryder Cup players, tournament and leading money winners on the PGA Tour, and twenty PGA club or teaching professionals. The PGA of America also issue invitations to players outside of these criteria,[6] which is generally seen to include the top one hundred in the world rankings.[7]
Criteria
This list details the qualification criteria for the 2021 PGA Championship and the players who qualified under them; any additional criteria under which players qualified is indicated in parentheses.[6][7]
Corey Conners made six birdies and only one bogey in a round of 67 (−5) to take a two-shot lead after the first round. Two-time champion Brooks Koepka, despite making a double-bogey on his opening hole of the tournament, was part of a six-way tie for second at three-under that also included 2011 champion Keegan Bradley.[13][14]
Defending champion Collin Morikawa opened with a two-under round of 70 and was tied for eighth with seven other players, including 2005 champion Phil Mickelson.[15] Mickelson made four bogeys over his first six holes before rebounding with four birdies on the back nine.[16]Rory McIlroy, who won by eight shots the last time the tournament was held at Kiawah Island in 2012, shot a three-over 75 and was tied for 77th after the first 18 holes.[17][18]
Phil Mickelson made five birdies over his last nine holes, including a 23-foot putt on the ninth (his 18th), to share the 36-hole lead with Louis Oosthuizen at five-under. At the age of 50, Mickelson became the oldest player to lead the PGA Championship after the second round since Sam Snead in 1966. He also became the sixth player to hold the lead in a major championship in four different decades.[20][21]
Oosthuizen was five-under on his round before making his only bogey at the 18th to fall into a tie with Mickelson. Two-time champion Brooks Koepka made two eagles and got into a share of the lead at six-under before bogeys at the 15th and 17th; he shot 71 (−1) to finish a shot off the lead.[22]
Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama was also five-under for the round and one back before making bogey on 18. His four-under 68 tied Oosthuizen for lowest round of the day.[23] First-round leader Corey Conners bogeyed five of his first six holes and shot 75 (+3) to fall into a tie for seventh place, three shots back.[24]
The 36-hole cut came at 149 (+5). Notables to miss the cut included Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, the two top players on the World Golf Rankings, as well as Cameron Tringale, who began the round inside the top 10 but shot 10-over 82 after suffering through a 12-over-par 48 on the back nine Friday (his front nine). Tringale rebounded with a 2-under 34 on the front, but the cut was 5-over and he missed by three.[25]
Phil Mickelson, tied for the lead at the start of the round, went four-under on the front nine and added another birdie on the 10th to open up a five-shot lead at 10-under. At the 12th, he hit his tee shot into a sandy area and had to chip out into the fairway, making his first bogey in 20 holes. His drive on the 13th went into the water hazard to the right of the fairway, leading to a double-bogey that dropped his lead to just one shot. He made par on his last five holes to finish with a two-under round of 70 and seven-under for the tournament.[26][27]
Brooks Koepka, meanwhile, holed birdie putts from 11 feet on the 10th and 20 feet on the 12th and was three-under on the back nine to tie Mickelson at seven-under. At the 18th, however, he failed to get up-and-down from behind the green and made bogey to fall to six-under, one behind Mickelson.[28]
Louis Oosthuizen, playing in the final group with Mickelson, also drove into the water on 13 and made bogey, then three-putted from 25 feet on the 17th for another bogey. He shot even-par 72 and finished two back of the lead at five-under.[29]
At 50, Mickelson became the oldest 54-hole leader in PGA Championship history, and the oldest in any major since Tom Watson at the 2009 Open Championship.[30]
Mickelson began the round with a one-shot lead over Koepka, but fell from atop the leaderboard after making bogey on the first while Koepka made birdie to grab the lead.[32]
Mickelson regained the lead with a birdie on the par-five second hole as Koepka suffered a double-bogey. At the par-three fifth, Mickelson found a sandy area off the tee but holed his shot for a birdie. Even-par making the turn, he led Koepka and Oosthuizen by two.[33]
Mickelson extended his lead on the 10th, holing a 12-foot putt for birdie. When Koepka made bogey on both 10 and 11, Mickelson opened up a four-shot lead. Oosthuizen, meanwhile, fell from contention after hitting his third shot on the 13th into the water and making double-bogey. He came back with a birdie at the par-five 16th and shot 73, finishing at four-under for the tournament.
Koepka was four-over between holes 7-13 before making birdies on the 15th and 16th, joining Oosthuizen at four-under after a two-over 74. Mickelson saw his lead cut in half after also finding the water with his approach on 13, settling for a bogey before dropping another shot on the 14th. At the 16th, he hit a 366-yard drive, the longest of any player on that hole all tournament, and got up-and-down from over the green for a birdie to get to seven-under.[34] Despite making a bogey on the par-three 17th after having to chop out of thick rough, he tapped in for par on the 18th to win his second PGA Championship and sixth major championship.[35][36]
ESPN and CBS have the media rights to the 2021 PGA Championship. This marks the second year of the media rights deal signed in October 2018, replacing the old deal with TNT and CBS. In the UK and Ireland, Sky Sports broadcast the event. This is the 31st consecutive PGA Championship on CBS Sports.
^PGA Championship Points are based on official PGA Tour money earned.
^The PGA of America usually invite all players ranked inside the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking. Twelve players with a world ranking of over 100 on May 9, 2021 were given invitations; ten of these had rankings between 101 and 122, while Schwartzel had a ranking of 157 and Stricker was ranked 233.[7]
Phil Mickelson
