THE 2025 major championship season was launched in wonderful style at Augusta National, and we have no reason not to expect more fireworks this week at the Quail Hollow Club for the PGA Championship.
As noted in the column’s ante-post preview of the year, and also ahead of the Masters, if Rory McIlroy could win a Green Jacket, his potential for a legacy-defining year was – and now is – massive. There is, of course, some risk that freeing himself of the burden of completing the career Grand Slam and ending his 11-year major championship win drought will lead to a dulling of the competitive senses. On the other hand, the summer – and this week in particular – is a red-hot opportunity for him to ride the wave in spectacular fashion.
In July he will rock up to an Open on home soil in Northern Ireland, and the brand-new addition to his wardrobe alone will generate feverish excitement, not to mention the belief that he can contend at Royal Portrush. But were he to add further major triumph, the atmosphere would be off the charts, and there are few courses in the world he would rather play this week than Quail Hollow because his record there is little short of sensational.
It was there that he introduced himself to America in 2010, firing a final round of 62 to win a first PGA Tour title. “I flushed it,” he said and two days later celebrated his 21st birthday in style. Five years after that, he gushed, “I love it here,” prior to carding a Saturday 61 and winning for a second time. He’s also been victorious in two of his last three visits (2021 and last year), even noting that he can arrive out of form and still feel confident of a good score.
We don’t want him to have it all his own way, of course. That would be boring. It would be much better if there was a battle royal, and ideally it would feature Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau, who have both enjoyed success since the Masters.
Scheffler, a nine-time winner in 2024, had to wait until May before chalking up win number one for 2025, and while he defeated a less-than-stellar field in the CJ Cup, he also blew them aside by the small matter of eight shots. Meanwhile, when DeChambeau had finished fifth, fifth, and second in April, he’d led each tournament at some stage during the week (including the Masters), but he just couldn’t get over the line. He fixed that when winning LIV Korea last time out to set up a potentially sensational three-way battle for the Wanamaker Trophy.
Quail Hollow is a parkland par-71 that plays to 7,626 yards. The final three holes – the 529-yard par-4 16th, the 223-yard par-3 17th, and the 494-yard par-4 18th – are known as the Green Mile and represent one of the toughest closing stretches in the history of major championship golf. In 2017 they ranked third, fifth, and first most difficult holes for the week, respectively. In last year’s final round of the Truist Championship, the field made just seven birdies on the Green Mile against 75 scores of bogey or worse. That said, the front nine played tougher than the back in 2017, so the scoring holes comes after the turn, ahead of that brutal finish.
Who, though, to back this week? Let’s find out.
Bryson DeChambeau
Whether you look at current form, course form, major championship form, or event form, DeChambeau has it. We addressed that excellent current form above, and at Quail Hollow, he has finished fourth and ninth in his last two visits. In the championship he has two fourths and a second in his last four starts, and in the last four American majors he has finished sixth, second, winner, and fifth. It’s a powerful resume, and as he continues to produce elite-level driving, he perhaps ought to be closer to McIlroy and Scheffler in price. Take him in the first round too: he’s been top five at the end of every round in his last four starts and top six at the end of every round in 15 of his last 16 rounds at the American majors.
Patrick Reed
Reed was not happy on Sunday night at Augusta despite finishing third. “The putter killed me,” he griped. “I really had a chance.” That knowledge could power another strong showing for a player who has an excellent record on the course. He’s never missed a cut in eight visits, was second at the 2017 PGA Championship, eighth a year later, top 10 through 54 holes in 2019, and sixth in 2021.
Corey Conners
Two other golfers were ruing their performances at the Masters, and it’s an angle that could work in their favour, too. But we’ll favour Conners over Russell Henley because the Canadian has the better course record. His irritation at Augusta stemmed from a poor final round, but he insisted he could build off it. He’s finished eighth and T13th in his last two course visits and has been both a first round and halfway leader in the PGA Championship.
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