The second major championship of the year is upon us as golfers flock to Charlotte, North Carolina to compete in the 2025 PGA Championship. This year should be just a bit less dramatic than last year’s PGA Championship where Scottie Scheffler was arrested and jailed at Valhalla in Kentucky.
Rory McIlroy will have plenty of eyes on him coming off his Masters win that allowed him to complete the career grand slam and enter golf history. Quail Hollow is the site of the iconic event and PGA golfer Hunter Mahan had a quote so out-of-pocket, that I couldn’t resist but include it here for you.
“I guess I would say Quail Hollow is like a Kardashian,” six-time PGA Tour winner Hunter Mahan said. “It’s very modern, beautiful and well-kept. But it lacks a soul or character.”
Well…OKAY THEN. It was held here in 2017 when Justin Thomas won by two strokes over Francesco Molinari, Louis Oosthuizen and Patrick Reed.
Quail Hollow has been lauded as a boring, cookie-cutter course that is far too modern for a major championship. While it might be true, I believe that what makes a great major championship is the race on the final day. This tournament has featured five different winners in the last five years, which makes it extremely fun to watch. Let’s look at the front-runners to win this weekend in North Carolina.
Rory McIlroy
He is the obvious front-runner this weekend coming off the Masters win. Oh, and he loves playing this golf course, as well. Look at this stat: McIlroy is 102 under par in 13 PGA Tour starts at Quail Hollow. That’s 55 strokes better than the next nearest career total.
That bodes well for a guy trying to go on a hot-streak and add to his major championship total to separate him from guys like Brooks Koepka. McIlroy should be playing freely and without stress now that the monkey is off his back. I think he is right in the hunt come Sunday.
Bryson DeChambeau
Bryson had a Sunday collapse at Augusta just when we thought he was going to challenge Rory for the green jacket. That must be sitting on him as he enters another major championship. He has two U.S. Open wins but has never won a PGA and he’d like to add it to his artillery. In his last four PGA starts, DeChambeau has three top-four finishes.
Scottie Scheffler
I mean, we aren’t making a list of potential winners and not including the number one golfer in the world. Scottie picked up his first win of the season a few weeks ago and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Scottie did play on this course for the 2022 President’s Cup and he went 0-3-1 which is a bit concerning. While he has two green jackets, Scheffler hasn’t won any other major event.
Ludvig Åberg
I love what I see in his game, and I really think his time is coming for a major. Åberg has one of the best drivers on the tour and that’s important at Quail Hollow. He hasn’t fared all that well at majors outside of Augusta, but maybe this is the one that gets him over the top.