PGA Championship Will Feature Year’s Deepest Field

The PGA Championship at Oakland Hills next week will feature 97 of the top 100 players, making it the deepest field of the year.

Who needs that guy with the bum leg?

From a PGA Championship press release:

The 90th PGA Championship has received commitments from 97 of the world’s top 100 ranked players, the most for any major this year, continuing a tradition since 1994 of featuring golf’s strongest field in the Season’s Final Major.

The PGA Championship marks its third return to Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, Mich., Aug. 4-10, with 69 international players representing 19 countries, the most of any U.S. major.

The Championship field features 10 past PGA Champions: Bob Tway (1986), John Daly (1991), Paul Azinger (1993), Steve Elkington (1995), Mark Brooks (1996), Davis Love III (1997), Vijay Singh (1998, 2004), David Toms (2001), Rich Beem (2002) and Phil Mickelson (2005).

Overall, 27 major Champions who have combined to win 36 majors will be part of the 156-player field: Azinger, Beem, Brooks, Angel Cabrera, Mark Calcavecchia, Michael Campbell, Fred Couples, Ben Curtis, Daly, Elkington, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen, Todd Hamilton, Padraig Harrington, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard, Love, Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, Corey Pavin, Singh, Toms, Tway and Mike Weir.

The international contingent is headed by Ireland’s Harrington, winner of the past two British Open Championships, and also features 10 of the 12 members of the 2004 European Ryder Cup Team that was triumphant at Oakland Hills Country Club. Eight members of the 2004 U.S. Ryder Cup Team return, as well.