SOUTHWEST PGA'S JESSE MUELLER SET FOR 104TH PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - May 18, 2022 - Southwest PGA Professional Jesse Mueller will be competing in the PGA Championship, the second of golf’s four major championships. The 104th PGA Championship takes place May 19-22 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mueller qualified for the PGA after winning the 2022 PGA Professional Championship (PPC) held in mid-April at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas, becoming only the second Southwest PGA member to win the PPC (Larry Webb in 1983).

"(Winning the PPC) is definitely my number-one accomplishment," said Mueller following the victory. "Playing in a major (the 2012 U.S. Open) was awesome, but to win this one, I cannot think of anything better in my golfing career."

Mueller, 39, PGA General Manager at Grand Canyon University Golf Course in Phoenix, will be making his first PGA Championship appearance and second major start after competing in the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, California, where he finished tied for 51st.

"I feel blessed that God has given me the opportunity to play in the PGA Championship," Mueller said. "It is an honor to represent the Southwest PGA and to play in front of friends and family.  I look forward to competing against the best players in the world."

Mueller, who earned 2020 and 2021 Southwest PGA Player of the Year honors, began his year on a high note playing in the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. He followed that up with a runner-up finish in the first major of the season – the Spring Masters Championship. In the other three majors, he finished T6 in the Match Play Championship, T9 finish in the 78th Arizona Open Championship and T2 in the 64th Southwest PGA Championship/PPC. In the six PING Player Series events, he captured one and finished T2 in the final three. He finished off the year as his year began, playing in a PGA Tour event – the Shriners Children's Open. He is a two-time winner of the Southwest PGA Championship (2017, 2020).

For winning the PPC, Mueller earned $60,000, a spot in the 2022 PGA Championship, six PGA TOUR exemptions in the next cycle which begins in September and a spot on the USA’s 30th PGA Cup team against the squad from Great Britain & Ireland, September 12-18 at Foxhills Club & Resort in Surrey, England.

In the first round Mueller will begin at 12:47 p.m. (CDT) off the 10th tee, and is paired with 2002 PGA champion Rich Beem and Alex Cejka. For the second round, Mueller's group will start at 7:22 a.m. (CDT) off the 1st tee.