Recent history has been against Rory McIlroy as he tried to put personal turmoil to one side and secure an overdue fifth major title at the 106th US PGA Championship.
McIlroy claimed the last of his four majors to date when Valhalla hosted the event in 2014, with Australia's Jason Day succeeding the Northern Irishman as champion at Whistling Straits. Since then, however, only American players have lifted the Wanamaker Trophy, with Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas winning five times between them and Jimmy Walker, Phil Mickelson and Collin Morikawa also enjoying success.
McIlroy understandably refused to talk about his private life at his pre-tournament press conference, which came a day after it was revealed he had filed for divorce from his wife of seven years, Erica, on Monday.
The timing couldn't have been worse given that the world number two had won the Wells Fargo Championship for the fourth time just hours earlier, a second in a row after winning alongside Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic.
Coincidentally this mirrors the form McIlroy enjoyed in 2014, when he followed up his Open win at Royal Liverpool with another at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational before traveling to Valhalla.
The former world number one was scheduled to start his first round from the 10th tee at 0815 local time (1315 BST) alongside Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose, with Tiger Woods in the previous group with Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley.
Defending champion Brooks Koepka was also among the first to start along with Max Homa and Jordan Spieth, while Masters champion Scottie Scheffler had to wait until midnight to begin his quest for back-to-back major titles and a fifth win in the last six his starts. .
Is there anything new for 2024?
Valhalla played to 7,458 yards in 2014 and has been lengthened by 151 yards for this year thanks to the addition of several new tees. The opening par-four hole has been stretched almost 50 yards and the par-three 14th could prove unpopular as it has been extended to a maximum of 254 yards from a new back tee. The opening 18th, which saw McIlroy par in the dark to win by one from Mickelson a decade ago, is also nearly 30 yards longer.
Uniform players?
Several of golf's biggest names have been in excellent form recently, none more so than world number one Scheffler, who has won four of his last five starts and finished second in the other. McIlroy also reeled off back-to-back wins, while Koepka was down on his game until winning the most recent LIV Golf event in Singapore.
Basic Tee Times (all BST)
1215 – Michael Block, Luke Donald, Sean Michel. 1304 – Tiger Woods, Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley. 1315 – Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose. 1337 – Brooks Koepka, Max Homa, Jordan Spieth. 1913 – Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Scottie Scheffler.
Weather forecast
Drier weather returns Thursday with partly cloudy skies and light winds gusting to 12 mph. An isolated shower or thunderstorm could develop in the evening, and showers and thunderstorms will be possible after midnight as another low pressure system moves across the region into Friday, with periods of heavy rain possible.
