The PGA of America has released its preliminary field for the 2023 PGA Championship to be held next week at Oak Hill Country Club.
And make no mistake, this is the best all-tournament ground you will see anywhere in the world. It includes 99 of the top 100 players from the official World Rankings led by Masters champion Jon Rahm and defending PGA champion Justin Thomas. The only absentee is Will Zalatoris who was sidelined by back surgery.
A few notable absences are Tiger Woods who underwent ankle surgery after the Masters and could be out for the rest of the PGA Tour season. And Jeff Sluman, from Greece, who could have played due to his lifetime exemption for winning the 1988 PGA, chose not to play at the age of 66.
One name that’s on the list, Jordan Spieth, might not come next week. Spieth, who must win the PGA to become the sixth player in history to complete a career Grand Slam, injured his wrist and had to withdraw from the Byron Nelson tournament this weekend.
“I’m focused on healing as quickly as possible and I’ll have to assess my recovery week by week,” Spieth wrote on Twitter. “Sincere thanks to the medical professionals who supported me over the weekend.”
Of the 155 players, 18 migrated to LIV Golf, a group led by Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Cameron Smith.
The field is not finalized as players could still drop out for various reasons and substitutes would be added. On Wednesday morning, here are the players who have officially committed to play:
2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill: Full List of Golfers
Sal Maiorana can be contacted at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. To subscribe to the Sal, Bills Blast newsletter, which will appear every Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: PGA Championship 2023: List of 155 golfers competing at Oak Hill
