Five storylines to follow at this week's PGA Championship in Kentucky

Red-hot Scheffler

With four wins over his last five starts, reigning Masters champion Scottie Scheffler is the man to beat this week having managed to elevate his ball-striking prowess to levels not seen since Tiger Woods was at his peak.

World number one Scheffler has recorded 40 consecutive PGA Tour rounds at par or better, is averaging a leading 5.38 birdies per round this season while leading all players in strokes gained per round from tee to green.

Scheffler sat out last week's $20 million signature event in Charlotte, North Carolina, as he and his wife were awaiting the birth of their first child, and will have had 24 days off from competition by the time he tees off on Thursday.

Koepka seeks repeat

Brooks Koepka became the first active LIV Golf player to win a major with a two-shot victory at the 2023 PGA Championship and returns this year looking to become the event's first repeat winner since he successfully defended in 2019.

Koepka, who has established a reputation as one of golf's most dominant major performers, arrives at Valhalla fresh off a LIV Golf event in Singapore where he won his fourth title on the Saudi-backed circuit. He is one of 16 LIV Golf players in the field this week.

The five-time major winner fell well short of expectations at last month's Masters, where he finished in a share of 45th place, but should be comfortable at Valhalla as he bids to defend the major he has won three times before.

McIlroy's major drought

Rory McIlroy has not celebrated a major triumph since the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla when the event was held in August, but the Northern Irishman is fresh off a commanding win and heading to the site of his last major championship.

McIlroy has posted seven top-10s in his last nine majors but walked away from the 2024 Masters admitting there is plenty of room for improvement in his game after finishing in a share of 22nd place at Augusta National.

The four-times major winner has since collected a pair of PGA Tour wins, first at a team event at TPC Louisiana and again on Sunday when he fired a final-round 65 to secure a five-stroke victory for his 26th triumph on the U.S.-based circuit.

Spieth's Grand Slam bid

Jordan Spieth makes his eighth attempt at securing the one victory standing between him and becoming only the sixth player to complete the coveted career Grand Slam of golf's four majors but arrives at Valhalla struggling for form.

Spieth has missed the cut in four of his last seven starts on the PGA Tour, including at the Masters where a seven-over-par 79 in the second round marked his worst score -- by three shots -- in 40 career rounds at Augusta National.

If Spieth can triumph at the PGA Championship, where his best result is a runner-up showing in 2015, he would join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in golf's elite club of those who have completed the Grand Slam.

Woods back in action

Tiger Woods returns to competition for the first time since the Masters where the injury-ravaged golfer earned a tournament-record 24th consecutive made cut at Augusta National and then finished last among those who played the weekend.

For the 15-times major winner, this week will mark only his third PGA Tour event of the year after undergoing ankle fusion surgery last April and the latest test to see how his body holds up to the stress multiple rounds of competitive golf over the course of a few days.

Woods has not played the PGA Championship since 2022 when he withdrew after carding a nine-over-par 79 in the third round during which his surgically repaired right leg appeared to be causing him significant discomfort.