The field
Fifty-six European Tour Members will tee up this week at Baltusrol Golf Club, with nine of them making their debuts in the US PGA Championship: Kristoffer Broberg, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Scott Hend, Andrew Johnston, Rikard Karlberg, Soomin Lee, Thomas Pieters, Brandon Stone and Jeunghun Wang. Of the leading lights, perhaps most attention will be focused on Henrik Stenson after the Swede’s sensational performance in The Open Championship. The man he beat in the final day duel at Royal Troon, Phil Mickelson, won the US PGA Championship the last time it was held at Baltusrol, in 2005. Other contenders include Rory McIlroy, who has lifted the Wannamaker Trophy on two occasions – most recently in 2014 at Valhalla Golf Club, where he pipped Mickelson to the prize by a single stroke; and at Kiawah Island Golf Resort two years previously, when he blitzed the field by eight shots. Martin Kaymer is another former US PGA Champion, the German having overcome Bubba Watson in a play-off at Whistling Straits in 2010 to claim his first Major Championship.
The field
Fifty-six European Tour Members will tee up this week at Baltusrol Golf Club, with nine of them making their debuts in the US PGA Championship: Kristoffer Broberg, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Scott Hend, Andrew Johnston, Rikard Karlberg, Soomin Lee, Thomas Pieters, Brandon Stone and Jeunghun Wang. Of the leading lights, perhaps most attention will be focused on Henrik Stenson after the Swede’s sensational performance in The Open Championship. The man he beat in the final day duel at Royal Troon, Phil Mickelson, won the US PGA Championship the last time it was held at Baltusrol, in 2005. Other contenders include Rory McIlroy, who has lifted the Wannamaker Trophy on two occasions – most recently in 2014 at Valhalla Golf Club, where he pipped Mickelson to the prize by a single stroke; and at Kiawah Island Golf Resort two years previously, when he blitzed the field by eight shots. Martin Kaymer is another former US PGA Champion, the German having overcome Bubba Watson in a play-off at Whistling Straits in 2010 to claim his first Major Championship.
The course
Founded in 1895 by Louis Keller, Baltusrol Golf Club boasts two courses designed in 1918 by A W Tillinghast. In 1985, the club – which is located approximately 20 miles west of New York City in Springfield, New Jersey – earned the distinction of becoming the first venue to have hosted the men’s and women’s U.S. Open on two different courses. The last time Baltusrol staged the US PGA Championship in 2005, Phil Mickelson took the title by one shot from Thomas Bjørn and Steve Elkington. Later that same year, the club was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2014 it was further designated a National Historic Landmark in recognition of its importance to Tillinghast’s career as a golf course designer.
