It’s a truly worldly weekend leaderboard at the 2024 PGA Championship with countries like Ireland, Northern Ireland, Belgium, Norway, England and South Africa being represented in additional to a slew of Americans. But one flag you won’t see anywhere is that of Spain. And that’s a rarity.
No golfers from Spain made the cut at Valhalla, including Jon Rahm. The two-time major champ shot a second-round 72 to fall short of the weekend by one shot, marking his first missed cut at a major since the 2019 PGA—and snapping a 26-year streak for Spanish golfers.
Two of Rahm’s countrymen, Adrian Otaegui and David Puig, also have the weekend off. And as Twitter’s Official World Golf Ranking guru, Nosferatu, pointed out, this is the first time in more than a quarter century that no Spanish players made the cut in a major.
As you can see, the last time this happened was at the 1998 PGA Championship. It should be noted that Sergio Garcia turned pro the following year and finished second to Tiger Woods in his PGA Championship debut at Medinah in 1999.
Nosferatu added that no Spanish players finished the 2007 PGA Championship because Garcia was DQ’d after the third round after signing an incorrect scorecard. Garcia, the 2017 Masters champ whose world ranking has taken a huge hit since joining LIV Golf, hasn’t qualified for the past two PGAs. Although the 44-year-old hadn’t been helping the Spanish cause much by missing seven cuts in a row at the event before that.
Rahm, the clear top Spanish player, is second in LIV’s season-long standings in 2024. But has only produced a T-45 at the Masters in addition to this missed cut in his two major starts this year.
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