Clock Ticking Towards PGA Championship Tee-Off

Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States: Rolex will be present as the Official Timekeeper and Official Partner as the 104th PGA Championship returns to Southern Hills Country Club this week.

Renowned for its strong field and a fan-friendly atmosphere, the PGA Championship promotes innovation, leadership, and aspiration.

Organised by the PGA of America, the second men’s Major of the season is contested by professionals only although it is unique among the four Majors with its inclusion of the ‘Team of 20’ – a contingent of PGA professionals who have achieved entry through local qualifiers.

The PGA Championship has been a rich source of success for Rolex’s family of Testimonees, with eight members having won a cumulative 18 championships. The names of the winners are inscribed on the Wanamaker Trophy awarded to the winner of the event since the inaugural edition in 1916.

The Southern Hills course, which features pristine greens, strategic hazards and slender, meandering fairways, has undergone an extensive renovation under the supervision of leading golf architect and Rolex Testimonee, Gil Hanse.

His team has looked to maintain the brilliance of Perry Maxwell’s 1936 design, restoring as much of the original course while ensuring the new layout challenges the best golfers of today and the future.

This year’s event marks a record fifth PGA Championship to be played at the historic venue, which has also hosted the US Open on three occasions. It places a premium on long drives off the tee, coupled with accurate iron play to slick greens, an exacting test that always produces exceptional golf.

In their quest to be crowned champion, players will need to demonstrate high levels of precision, performance and reliability, qualities that resonate with Swiss watch manufacturer Rolex, an indelible part of golf for more than 50 years.

The partnership was established in 1967 following a pioneering agreement with Arnold Palmer, who was joined by his on-course rivals and great friends Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player – The Big Three – as the brand’s first Testimonees.

The relationship continues to flourish and develop globally. Rolex has formed alliances at all levels of the game, including with the USGA and The R&A, who together govern it worldwide, as well as with champions of the game past and present, all the Major championships and important amateur tournaments, including the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific.

Several Rolex Testimonees are among a group of players to have won the PGA Championship more than once, including Nicklaus, Player, Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka.

Woods returns to Southern Hills for the first time since his triumph there in 2007, when he claimed back-to-back PGA Championship titles for the second time in his career, a feat no other player has accomplished. The most successful golfer of his generation and an inspiration to millions around the world, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame this year.

World number one Scottie Scheffler has arrived in Oklahoma on the back of capturing his first Major at the 86th Masters Tournament. The Rolex Testimonee secured his fourth win in six starts with a three-shot victory at Augusta National Golf Club and will now look to claim two consecutive Majors, a feat achieved by only 20 golfers.

Former champions competing at Southern Hills this year include several other Rolex Testimonees, among them Koepka and Justin Thomas. In 2018, Koepka shot rounds of 69, 63, 66 and 66 to equal the record lowest score in a Major. The following year he became the first player since Woods to win back-to-back PGA Championship titles.

Thomas, the tournament winner in 2017 and like Koepka, a former world number one, will be aiming to maintain the stellar form that has earned six top-10 finishes this year, including at the Masters.

Seeking to have their name inscribed on the trophy for the first time will be fellow Major winners Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth. Should Spieth win, he would complete golf’s career Grand Slam of winning all four men’s Majors, a feat that has been achieved by an exclusive group that includes Nicklaus, Player and Woods.

These established champions will be joined by the Rolex New Guard. This supremely talented band of young players includes world number 17 Joaquín Niemann, who in 2019 became the first Chilean player to win a PGA Tour event and added a second victory at this year’s The Genesis Invitational.

Other members eager to make their mark are Cameron Champ of the United States and Korean Im Sung-jae, both top-10 finishers at last month’s Masters Tournament, as well as Garrick Higgo (South Africa) and Matthew Wolff (US).