Eddie Pepperell names who he believes could beat Scottie Scheffler by four or five shots and win the PGA Championship

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Eddie Pepperell has named the player he believes that could win the PGA Championship this week by four or five shots, insisting that he does not need to be at his best to win at Valhalla.

While the PGA Championship is usually seen as the least prestigious of the four majors, the timing of this year’s tournament could hardly be any better.

Heading into this week in Kentucky, Brooks Koepka, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are all going in having won their previous event.

Koepka is the defending champion and, remarkably, looking to win his fourth PGA Championship. Scheffler meanwhile, won The Masters fairly comfortably earlier this year.

Eddie Pepperell says Rory McIlroy could win PGA Championship by four or five shots

But McIlroy made a real statement with his performance at the Wells Fargo Championship last week, winning by five from Xander Schauffele.

The Northern Irishman is also returning to the scene of his most recent major championship triumph, so many may be wondering if returning to a happy hunting ground will bring the best out of him.

And speaking on The Chipping Forecast, Eddie Pepperell has tipped McIlroy to win by some margin if he brings anything like his best with him to Kentucky.

“I don’t think he has to be the same Rory McIlroy that showed up last week to contend to win this week, and the reason I say that is I think his game is 20 percent better and I think he’s 20 percent more confident. So if Rory shows up and does what he did last week, he’ll invariably probably win, and possibly by four or five, he’s that good when he’s on the top of his game,” he said.

“But I don’t think he needs to be to be there or thereabouts come Sunday, and I think that’s the beauty of the past two events for Rory, it’s elevated his confidence and his game slightly.”

Northern Irishman may not have better chance to end major wait

McIlroy has looked like his old self in the last two events, particularly at Quail Hollow, but there is a question mark over whether he can take that form into a major championship.

He has registered a number of good finishes in the majors over the last decade, but those have often come when he has already fallen out of contention.

He will be under the spotlight this week as a genuine rival for Koepka and Scheffler, and McIlroy needs to show that he can handle that pressure when so much appears to be going his way.