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Aside from prestige and getting to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy aloft there's also a pretty hefty financial incentive attached to winning the PGA Championship.

The player atop of the leaderboard come Sunday evening will collect $2.7m (around £2.16m) of a total purse of $15m (£12m).

Second place earns $1.635m while the player finishing in third place gets $1m.

Prize money flows all the way down to 50th position.

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Jon Rahm's victory at Augusta National saw him leapfrog Scottie Scheffler at the top of the world rankings.

The Spaniard's four victories in 11 events and a second-placed finish in his most recent start, in the Mexico Open, suggest that he is in the perfect form to move a step closer to winning a career Grand Slam, after his breakthrough victory at the US Open in 2021.

However, five of the past six Masters champions went on to miss the cut in that year's US PGA Championship.

The other standout star this term, has undoubtedly been Scheffler, the player who placed the Green Jacket on Rahm's shoulders for the first time in April.

The American has repeatedly underlined his credentials at the top of the game, finishing in the top 12 in each of his past 13 events, including victories at the prestigious Players Championship and WM Phoenix Open.

Could this end up as a straight shootout between the best two players in the world come Sunday?

Scottie Scheffler is strolling around the practice green in a yellow three-quarter-type number while Rory McIlroy has opted for a hoodie.

In total contrast Cameron Smith looks like he's off for an expedition in the Arctic as he arrives on the property. Meanwhile, Jon Rahm is rocking up in his shorts.

Wouldn't expect anything less from Rahmbo, after all it's a balmy 8°C now!

Shaun Micheel, ticks off the first hole with a regulation par after drilling his iron shot into the heart of the green and then taking two puts from 36 feet.

The 54-year-old has only ever won once on the PGA Tour and it was at this Championship, on this course, 20 years ago.

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Now in case you missed it, BBC golf correspondent Iain Carter has been chewing the fat with Greg Allen from RTE about the US PGA Championship.

Iain has been chatting to the likes of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald plus there's a feature length interview with the 2003 US PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel, 20 years on from his unlikely victory at Oak Hill.

Have a listen here.

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Having previously hosted the US Open three times and the 1995 Ryder Cup, the PGA Championship returns to Oak Hill for a fourth time, a decade since Jason Dufner triumphed in 2013.

However, it will be almost unrecognisable in places, with course architect Andrew Green's restoration - which was completed in 2019 - aiming to bring Donald Ross' classic creation from almost a century ago back to life.

Along with extensive work to all of the greens - which have been rebuilt to modern specifications - hundreds of trees have been removed and some 231 yards added to the course.

Striking changes on the front nine see the mammoth 615-yard par-five fourth lengthened by 45 yards and the former par-three sixth replaced by a shorter hole that slots in as the fifth - effectively one of three new holes.

The sixth, now some 503 yards, has a slight dogleg to the right with fairway bunkers to the left and Allen's Creek running down the right, cutting across the fairway and then down the left.

Fans who remember the closing stretch will also notice the pond on the par-three 15th hole has been filled in.

Now then, Oak Hill is ready, we're ready and so is Shaun Micheel, who is teeing up on the first.

After being announced on the tee, the 2003 champion at this course, takes a couple of deep breaths and clatters his ball down the right side of the fairway. Strong start.

Fellow American Braden Shattuck, travels a tad too far right into the trees. Far from ideal. New Zealander Steven Alker, drifts into the second, possibly third cut down the left, which apparently is around three inches thick in places.

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Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Now we should have been under way some time ago but the start of the 105th US PGA Championship was delayed for one hour and 50 minutes due to frost covering the Oak Hill course.

Temperatures in western New York dipped below -1°C overnight meaning the practice facilities and the golf course were closed first thing on Thursday morning to protect the playing surfaces.

Shaun Micheel, winner of the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, will hit the opening tee shot when play begins very shortly.

Micheel will compete off the first tee alongside fellow American Braden Shattuck and New Zealander Steven Alker.

Rahm's roar. The Scheffler show. A rampant Rory in Rochester?

Or perhaps none of the above with 29 major champions and 82 PGA Tour winners on site looking to be top dog come Sunday.

With 99 of the world's top 100 players competing this is arguably the strongest men's major field of the year.

Welcome to our coverage of the US PGA Championship at the iconic Oak Hill Country Club in upstate New York.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images