5 surprising players you won’t see at 2024 PGA Championship

It’s PGA Championship week, where Brooks Koepka is defending his title, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is looking for his second straight major, and Rory McIlroy is hoping his rout at Quail Hollow will bring some good vibes to a place where he won his last major 10 years ago.

The field is set for the second major of the year, and unlike the first major, the Masters, the PGA Championship has a much larger field. With 156 golfers, there aren’t many snubs who were left out, but there are still a few household names not in Kentucky.

These days, due to issues with receiving OWGR points, it’s usually some of the top LIV players who might not be at the majors, but there’s actually several LIV golfers in the PGA Championship (16, to be exact).

Last week, the PGA of America handed out invites to LIV players Adrian Meronk, Patrick Reed, Lucas Herbert, David Puig, Dean Burmester and Talor Gooch. But who won’t we see at the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla this week? Here are a few notable names.

5 surprising players you won’t see at the 2024 PGA

Abraham Ancer

He won LIV Hong Kong in March and his two major top 10s were both at PGA Championships. Ancer also missed last month’s Masters.

Zach Johnson

It will be the first PGA Championship that Johnson — last year’s Ryder Cup captain — has missed in two decades. That said, his last major appearance, at the Masters, didn’t go so well anyway.

Matt Kuchar

While Kuchar’s form has fallen off a little bit the last couple of years, he has been a mainstay at the PGA Championship, having received an invite in each of the last 15 years. But not this year. He also missed the Masters for the third straight year last month.

Louis Oosthuizen

Oosthuizen’s had two runner-up finishes on LIV this season, so it was surprising he wasn’t on the list of accepted invites when the PGA of America announced them last week. Turns out he was invited but declined due to personal reasons.

Bubba Watson

You might be somewhat surprised to learn that Bubba Watson, the two-time Masters champ, has actually only played in one non-Masters major the past two years. Not surprised? OK, maybe it was just me.

Josh Berhow

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the sport’s most-read news and service websites. He spends most of his days writing, editing, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two kids. You can reach him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.