US PGA Championship 2024: Everything you missed on Wednesday at Valhalla

Jimmy Dunne resigns from PGA Tour policy board

The second major week of the year is here. We pick out the key talking points as players prepare for the 106th PGA Championship at Valhalla.

Things you missed at the PGA Championship: Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

As we gear up for what looks to be a fun tournament at Valhalla for the 2024 US PGA Championship, Here’s what you might have missed on Wednesday before the tournament…

Lucas Glover lashes out at PGA Tour player directors

Former US Open champion, Lucas Glover took to the air on his own SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio show to vent his concerns about the player power on the PGA Tour policy board. The idea of a board is that the business-minded people who sit atop the tree understand what they’re doing and do not allow the wrong people to make the wrong decisions. This is what Glover has suggested and the players who sit as part of a majority on the board are making the wrong decisions for the future of golf.

“Tour players play golf. Businessmen run business. They don’t tell us how to hit 7 irons. We shouldn’t be telling them how to run a business.

“We’re about to launch a huge, huge, huge enterprise and a for-profit company that all the players are going to own a part of, and we don’t have the smartest possible people there to help us guide us in the right direction. That’s scary.”

All this came following the news that Jimmy Dunne was resigning from the PGA Tour policy board. And now that Dunne is out, the Policy Board features six current PGA Tour players – Patrick Cantlay, Peter Malnati, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth, and Tiger Woods – and just four independent directors. Even after a replacement is found for Dunne’s vacant position the board will still only return to five independent directors.

Jimmy Dunne resigns from PGA Tour policy board

Having been one of the main chess pieces in what is still an ongoing merger between the PGA Tour and the Saudi sovereign wealth, Dunnes’ resignation comes nearly a year on from the PIF merger announcement which shook the world of golf.

After the announcement of his resignation on Monday, an email was sent to the rest of the PGA Tour policy board in which Dunne had to say “no meaningful progress has been made towards a transaction with PIF, and I feel my vote and my role is utterly superfluous.” These words from Dunne prove potentially scary for the future of the PGA Tour with six of the ten current policy board members represented by six golfers – Woods, Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson, Adam Scott, and Patrick Malnati

With Rory McIlroy’s recently failed attempt to get back onto the PGA Tour policy board it was all but expected he’d be asked about the subject in his presser on Wednesday.

“Honestly I think it’s a huge loss for the PGA TOUR if they are trying to get this deal done with the PIF and trying to unify the game.

Jimmy was basically “the” relationship, the sort of conduit between the PGA TOUR and PIF. It’s been really unfortunate that he has not been involved for the last few months, and I think part of the reason that everything is stalling at the minute is because of that.”

Phil Mickelson was using ProAim putting glasses in practice that help read putts.

Is this not the most Phil Mickelson thing ever? I’m sure the idea is to keep it simple, but dialing in your game the day before the 2024 PGA Championship on the putting green with supersized putting goggles is only something one of the most decorated golfers in the game could pull off.

It’s not the putter we’re used to seeing in the hands of Phil, that’s for sure, but after the poor season he’s had on LIV I think we can clearly see that the man is in an experimental phase of his career. Mickelson swapped putters back in February 2024 to a L.A.B Golf DF3, ahead of the LIV Golf Jeddah event. Since then, he has stuck with the mallet. LAB putters have helped with the games of Lucas Glover and Adam Scott, so maybe Phil is hoping they can do the same for him!

‘The game isn’t big enough for two tours’

Speaking ahead of the US PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky at Valhalla Golf Club. Seth Waugh the CEO of the PGA of America extended his plea to the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to iron out their differences and bring unity back to the game of golf.

Seth Waugh, who also sits on the board of the Official World Golf Ranking, is a rather successful business executive worth roughly $80 million. He raised his concern as he spoke on the eve of the 106th PGA Championship about the topic continuing to dominate discussion in the game. Ahead of his interview, Waugh jokingly said that he hoped that Jimmy Dunne had delivered the news he was resigning another week.

“It’s messy and it seems to get messier every week,” he said. “I’m a very optimistic type and I’m hoping it’s darkest before dawn, if you will, but I think the best thing for the game is a deal, and we’ve been very consistent on that front.

“What has been an unsustainable business model has put pressure on other places like the PGA Tour that creates some financial dynamics as well as other dynamics that are very hard, and quite frankly it puts some financial pressure on us, as well.

“I don’t think the game is big enough for two tours like that, and I think we are diluting the game in a way that is not healthy. We’ve said that from the beginning.

“I hope there’s a deal. I think both sides are not only committed to trying to find a deal but really need a deal, and in my history of deal-making, when both sides kind of need something to happen, it generally does.

“I don’t know the timing. I don’t have any insider information. But I’m hopeful that there will be a deal over time. And what I would say, I hope there’s urgency because I think it’s doing damage to the Tour, to the game.

Talor Gooch praised the PGA of America for his invite to Valhalla

Talor Gooch was full of praise for the PGA of America when they extended him an invite into the 2024 US PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. Gooch described it as “a step in the right direction” amongst the continued division in the professional game. With the PGA Tour board seemingly in turmoil and talks between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf still ongoing, a deal to unify the game seems to be a way off right now.

The Saudi-funded breakaway tour is still unable to offer OWGR points, meaning Gooch and his fellow LIV players continue to tumble down the rankings, putting their place in the Majors in jeopardy. Before making his way across to LIV, Gooch had comfortably made his way inside the top 40 of the OWGR and was a consistent name on the PGA Tour leaderboard. However, after joining LIV back in May 2022 the American has tumbled to a pitiful World No. 668, so he will certainly be relishing in his chance to shine on the world stage at Valhalla alongside 16 other of his LIV compatriates.

“I had no idea, no clue that it was happening,” Gooch told LIV. “It was a bit of a surprise, for sure. This was the first time that one of the majors has recognized just the play of golf within the confines of LIV.

“And so, it’s a first of its kind, which is a step in the right direction, I think. And I’m very honored and very grateful for it.”

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About the author

Will Shreeve-Peacock – Golf Equipment Writer

Will is an expert in golf shoes, GPS watches, rangefinders, and training aids.

He has a degree in journalism from Sheffield Hallam University and four years’ experience working in golf retail with American Golf where he was trained by a host of the big-name manufacturers.

A six-handicapper, Will has played golf for more than a decade and is a member at Burghley Park Golf Club in Stamford, Lincolnshire.