The Czech-German secured his first Senior Major Championship in just his third over-50s start at the Regions Tradition at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Hoover, Alabama earlier this month as beat defending champion Steve Stricker with a birdie on the first play-off hole.
Southern Hills Country Club has a rich history which includes hosting the US PGA Championship on four separate occasions and Čejka is looking forward to taking on the respected but challenging course.
“It has history, a lot of great events have been played here,” he said. “I’ve never been here, I played yesterday for the first time and I was like, wow, this is incredible. It’s a big challenge, it’s a tough track.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how the scores are, especially if it’s a little bit wet and windy. But it’s a great golf course, it plays beautifully and I think we all are excited to be here this week.”
Čejka was ecstatic following his win at Regions Tradition earlier this month and admits his first Senior Major victory has not yet sunk in.
“I think it’s going to sink in, who knows, maybe in a couple week, a couple months, it’s a great feeling though,” he said.
“That win, it was a great week. I played great, I beat an incredible player who was hot not only on this tour, but even on the PGA TOUR. It’s a great feeling. We battled all the way to the end and we had to go to the play-off.”
This week’s event will welcome a limited number of spectators and Čejka is enthused by the prospect of playing in front of fans once more.
“I think we have all been missing this for a year now where a lot of tournaments were with no fans or limited fans,” he said.
“When I drove up here yesterday and I already saw a lot of cars parked over there on the other fairways and all the banners and everything, it’s going to be nice for all of us to have support.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re in the leading group or playing in the first, second group out in the morning, there’s always fans and cheering and it’s I think we need it. We want it and it’s time for the fans to come back and have fun too and see incredible tournaments.”
The KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship will begin at 7:10am local time on Thursday May 27, with Čejka playing alongside an American pairing of Shaun Micheel and Mark O’Meara at 8:16am.
