PGA Championship returning to Kentucky — in May instead of August this time

Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville will be the site of the 2024 PGA Championship, the PGA of America announced Thursday.

The 106th PGA Championship, to be played in May of 2024, will mark the fourth time Valhalla has hosted the event, matching Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y., and Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., for the most PGA Championships contested at a single venue.

The PGA Championship has traditionally been the fourth golf major held each season, following the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open on the calendar. However, the PGA of America announced in August that beginning in 2019 the PGA Championship would move to May, becoming the second scheduled major each year.

In the PGA Championship’s most-recent visit to Valhalla, in 2014, Rory McIlroy battled soggy conditions and impending darkness to emerge from a pack of four to beat Phil Mickelson by a single shot, and Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson by two.

During the PGA Championship’s visit in 2000, Tiger Woods defeated Bob May by a stroke in a three-hole cumulative score playoff, which occurred after both players birdied the 72nd hole. Valhalla made its major-championship debut in 1996, when Mark Brooks edged Kentuckian Kenny Perry in a one-hole playoff.

Valhalla, designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus and opened in 1986, has also hosted the Ryder Cup in 2008 (16½-11½ triumph for the United States) and the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in 2004 (Hale Irwin) and 2011 (Tom Watson).

“We’re always proud to return the PGA Championship to Valhalla and the city of Louisville,” PGA of America President Paul Levy said in a news release. “In the last 30 or so years, Valhalla has hosted an abundance of historical moments penned by some of the game’s greatest champions. It’s been a remarkable run and we’re anxious to experience just what Valhalla’s next chapter has in store.”

The PGA of America also announced Thursday that Valhalla would host the 43rd Boys Junior PGA Championship in 2018, from July 31-Aug. 3.

The previously announced Girls Junior PGA Championship will be played July 9-12, 2018, at Kearney Hill Golf Links in nearby Lexington.

This story was originally published November 16, 2017 at 5:42 PM with the headline "PGA Championship returning to Kentucky — in May instead of August this time."