Valhalla PGA trophy

A view of the Wanamaker trophy on the 18th hole at Valhalla Golf Club on June 7, 2022, in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Gary Kellner/PGA of America)

 Gary Kellner / PGA of America

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- We're 125 days away from the start of PGA Championship week at Valhalla, but it's never too early for some predictions.

A good number of golf publications were out with way-too-early picks for the 2024 majors just after the first of the year, and taking a look at the those picks reveals some wide-open expectations with a few names in the early running for favorite of the May 16-19 PGA Championship.

The PGA returns with its first major spectator event at Valhalla since 2014. The course has undergone significant changes and so has the PGA Tour. It's also the first major championship at Valhalla since the course came under local ownership in June 2022.

Action Network golf writer Jason Sobel says in Valhalla, to expect, "a no-nonsense golf course which requires all aspects of a player's game firing on all cylinders. If you're hoping for a longshot major champion again this year, this might not be the place for it."

A look at who the national pundits think might lift the Wanamaker Trophy, with comments.

BBC (Iain Carter): Viktor Hovland ("if parting with coach Joe Mayo is not too damaging").

Sports Illustrated (Bob Harig): Rory McIlroy. "It's impossible not to know that the four-time major champion last won one 10 years ago. He's entered every Masters start since 2015 with a chance to complete the career Grand Slam. He's shown up on leaderboards across all the majors, with 20 top-10 finishes including seven of the last eight. But no trophies. That ends at Valhalla in Louisville, where 10 years ago McIlroy won the last of his four majors and second PGA Championship."

Golf.com (Sean Zak): Bryson DeChambeau. "There's been something brewing in Bryson DeChambeau's world. I'm not exactly sure what, but something. Sure, the 30-year-old might seem more committed to growing his YouTube following than winning golf tournaments, but he quietly rose back into elite form in 2023, maintaining an all-world driving ability and above average ball-striking. DataGolf ranks him 25th in the world right now, based on a really good second half of the year. His weakness, at the moment, is his putting. But during four warm spring days in Louisville, DeChambeau is going to bomb his way around Valhalla and summit the mountaintop once again."

Fried Egg Golf: Justin Thomas. "Michael Block [who tied a course record in a Valhalla practice round last August] will make the weekend at the PGA Championship ... for the many sponsor obligations and appearances to fulfill. ... Blockie will battle and easily defeat Bob May for camera time at the PGA but meet his match in Justin and Mike Thomas."

Outkick (Mark Harris): Hovland. "This year's PGA Championship will be played at Valhalla in Louisville and there may not be a better player-course fit here than Viktor Hovland. He's taken ginormous leaps in every facet of his game, has been forged in fire with Ryder Cup success and close calls in multiple majors last year, and very much oozes in confidence."

CBS Sports (Kyle Porter): Hovland. "Hovland changed my mind about his game more than any other golfer in 2023. He figured out the major championships, could have won two of them and now has the fifth-shortest odds to do so at this PGA Championship. We saw a different big-hitting, high-ball flight European Ryder Cup hero take the trophy last time Valhalla hosted the PGA. There are no sure things in professional golf (or sports), but I would be quite surprised if Hovland -- improved in the areas of short game, mental fortitude and course management -- did not win a major championship over the next few years. Valhalla is as good a place as any for that to happen."

CBS Sports (Patrick McDonald): DeChambeau. "The 2020 U.S. Open champion enjoyed a resurgent 2023 with a top-five finish at the PGA Championship, a top 20 at the U.S. Open and a pair of victories on the LIV Golf circuit. Looking much healthier after slimming down from the height of his bulk, DeChambeau is well on his way to returning to his previous form. A championship which caters to longer hitters, strong drivers of the golf ball and typically has a winning score anywhere from 5 under to 10 under, the PGA Championship sets up perfectly for DeChambeau. Combine the historical setup with a beefy golf course like Valhalla, and DeChambeau should once again find himself with a chance to raise the Wanamaker Trophy."

National Club Golfer (Steve Carroll): McIlroy. "The drought goes on, so what better place to end it than Valhalla – the site of Rory McIlroy's last major win? It'll be nigh on 10 years since the Northern Irishman lifted the Wanamaker Trophy in the Kentucky darkness, and he's just too good not to bag another of golf's big four trophies soon. His major form has been strong, without getting over the line, in recent years and he's something of a horses for courses guy – performing well on the same sorts of layouts year after year. I reckon he'll break his major duck in 2024, but it will be here and not at the Masters." Others: Matt Chivers picks McIlroy; Dan Murphy picks Brooks Koepka ("This is a classic venue for the bullying power play of brooks – Valhalla isn't exactly subtle"). Matthew Beedle picks Patrick Cantlay ("It's time for Cantlay to finally deliver a Major) and Matt Coles likes Rickie Fowler ("Fowler finished in the top three when the PGA Championship was last held at Valhalla. Following a return to form in 2023, where he won for the first time in four years and returned to the Ryder Cup fold, Fowler is in line to reach the very top of the game in 2024.")

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