Durban - Sunshine and European Tour golfer Ockie Strydom will make his major debut this week and join three other fellow South Africans at the 105th PGA Championship in New York.
Strydom will tee off on Thursday for the first round at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, where the players will be battling it out for around $3million in prize money and bragging rights.
The first time players teed off at the PGA Championship in 1916, the prize money was $500.
It is one of four major golf tournaments held annually.
It has also been reported that the prize money for the tournament will likely increase and these increases will be announced in due course.
The South African will play alongside Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Thriston Lawrence and Dean Burmester, all of whom have played in a major before, although it is Lawrence’s first PGA Championship.
Burmester will be playing in his third PGA Championship.
Strydom spoke to the Sunshine Tour and said he is determined to not let the big occasion change his focus.
“I’m trying not to approach anything differently. It definitely sounds nice to say I’m playing in majors, and it’s a word that changes the mindset. But I’ll try and approach it as just another golf tournament where I have the opportunity to play against the best players in the world,” Strydom said.
Strydom has won twice on the European Tour, but teeing it up on the PGA Tour and in a major is no easy feat, as he will go up against world number one Jon Rahm and defending champion Justin Thomas.
Four-time major champion Rory Mcllroy is also in the field, trying to end his major drought which dates back to the PGA Championship in 2014.
The PGA’s Tours younger stars like Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris and Victor Hovland will also be vying for the title.
The South Africans will be looking to follow in the footsteps of former world number one Zimbabwean Nick Price, who won the title twice in his career, in 1992 and 1994.
SA’s Gary Player, a two-time PGA Championship winner, holds the record for the lowest round at the tournament when he carded 63 during the second round in 1984.
IOL