Ahead of the 2024 PGA Championship, driving distance was frequently touted as an important attribute in the year’s second Major. Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky measures 7,609 yards, with many of the players in the lead-up labelling it a ‘big boy golf course’.
Xander Schauffele, who was blown away by Rory McIlroy in the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship last week, sits atop the leaderboard after a sublime, record-breaking 62 in the first round. But who sits at the top of the driving distance leaderboard?
According to the official stats on the PGA Championship website, two of the top three players in driving distance ply their trade on the LIV Golf Tour.
Spaniard David Puig leads the way, averaging 333 yards off the tee with a longest drive of 350 yards – impressive given the inclement weather that peppered Valhalla in advance of the tournament. Impressively, he’s also hitting more than 70% of the fairways.
PGA Tour player Jake Knapp, who won the 2024 Mexican Open, sits in second place on the driving distance leaderboard. He’s averaging 331.6 yards off the tee with a longest drive of 356 yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau rounds out the top three. The American – who dedicated himself to adding speed during the coronavirus pandemic – is averaging 328.3 yards and currently boasts the longest drive of the tournament at 360 yards.
The rest of the top ten is comprised of a mixture of PGA Tour and DP World Tour professionals, with some familiar names and slightly less-known golfers jostling for position.
The likes of Gary Woodland, Luke List and Min Woo Lee are joined by Europeans Vincent Normann, Jesper Svensson and Thorbjorn Olesen, while American Chris Gotterup – winner of last week’s Myrtle Beach Classic – is fourth on the list.
Tiger Woods, who opened with a one-over-par 72 after three-putting his last two holes, is down in a tie for 85th at 294.3 yards. Interestingly, Rory McIlroy, who wowed Schauffele with his imperious driving at Quail Hollow, isn’t inside the top 30 for driving distance this week.
At the bottom of the driving distance leaderboard is a very surprising name, despite his age: John Daly. The Wild Thing was golf’s pre-eminent power hitter, but at the PGA Championship, he’s only averaging 244 yards off the tee (the lowest in the field by 20 yards), with a longest drive of 274 yards.
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