The PGA Tour heats up, as it contests its second major of the season this week, as it returns to Quail Hollow Club for the 2025 PGA Championship. Designed by George Cobb, Quail Hollow Club will play as a stout, Par 71, 7,626 yard layout this week as it hosts the PGA Championship for the second time.
Quail Hollow is an absolute brute of a course, and it rewards players who excel in certain areas. At over 7,600 yards, the long ball is absolutely vital for finding success. Yes, accuracy matters too, but with a water-logged course on tap early in the week, the players who hit it the farthest will have a distinct edge when the course plays its true length. Ball striking still matters though, as thick rough, trees, bunkers and water hazards await those who stray off line. In major championships, hitting the fairways and hitting the greens, no matter how obvious it seems, really does add up at the end of the day. However, players will still need to capitalize on the greens if they want a chance to find victory. With only three Par 5’s on the course this week, paired with eight Par 4’s stretching to 450+ yards, scoring opportunities will be few and far between. Par can be a great score in situations like this, and bogeys are always a no-go. Capitalizing on those scoring opportunities, while avoiding the big number, will separate the best from the rest coming down the stretch on Sunday. Lastly, the major championship pressure cooker is unlike any other. Many great players have crumbled coming down the stretch late when victory seemed almost seemingly at hand. Just having a great mental game, not getting rattled, taking what the course gives you and not amplifying mistakes will be the final tool, a tool which is something that can’t be taught, necessary if a player hopes to add their name to those in the annals of golf history.
Major championships always produce incredibly strong fields, and this week is no different. The PGA Championship has the best of the best teeing it up this week, including Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler and Justin Thomas, as well as plenty of great young guns looking for a major breakthrough, including Akshay Bhatia, Corey Conners, Tyrrell Hatton, Sungjae Im, Min Woo Lee and Sepp Straka, just to name a few.
Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus share the record for most PGA Championship victories, each hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy five times in their career. Tiger Woods has won this event four times, while Brooks Koepka, Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead have each found victory in this tournament three times. Other multi-time winners of the PGA Championship include Jim Barnes, Leo Diegel, Raymond Floyd, Ben Hogan, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Byron Nelson, Larry Nelson, Gary Player, Nick Price, Paul Runyan, Denny Shute, Vijay Singh, Dave Stockton, Justin Thomas and Lee Trevino.
Last year’s edition was won by Xander Schauffele, who birdied the final hole to beat Bryson DeChambeau by one stroke and winning his first major championship. Viktor Hovland finished in third place, three strokes back, while Thomas Detry and Collin Morikawa finished T-4, six strokes off the pace.
At 45 years old, Sergio Garcia has shown he still has some great golf left in him, posting one win, two top 5’s and three top 10’s in sevens starts while playing for LIV this season. Garcia is still a solid ball striker, averaging 308 yards off the tee and hitting 66% of both his fairways and greens, which is good when entering a major championship. Garcia’s recent results have been lacking though, finishing outside the top 40 in each of his last two LIV starts and missing the cut at The Masters. The PGA Championship always brings up fond memories for Garcia, as he finished runner-up in this event to Tiger Woods in 1999 in just his fourth major start. Despite all of the feels, this event has not proven to be kind to Garcia, as he has had only three top 5’s, four top 20’s and six top 25’s in 24 career starts, to go against 14 missed cuts through the years. Making his first start in this event since 2022, Garcia, incredibly, has not made the cut in the PGA Championship in a decade, last playing the weekend in 2015 at Whistling Straits. Despite Garcia’s solid form, his game just isn’t built for success in the majors anymore, his last top 10 performance being his Masters victory in 2017. It’ll be another early trip home for Garcia this week with another missed cut.
After a three-year stint playing for LIV, Eugenio Chacarra returned to play the DP World Tour, where he is playing arguably the best golf of his young career. In five worldwide starts this season, Chacarra has not finished outside the top 20, earning a trio of top five finishes during this torrid stretch of play, highlighted by a victory at the Hero India Open. Chacarra’s game is right on par (I’ll see myself out.) with those of the game’s best, with his ball striking abilities ranking among the best in the international game. Chacarra ranks 6th in Driving Accuracy Percentage and 3rd in Greens in Regulation Percentage, all the while averaging nearly 308 yards off the tee on the DP World Tour this season. Chacarra may be a streaky putter at times, but frankly, who isn’t? Chacarra hasn’t had many reps under his belt on the PGA Tour (Only five career starts, and missing the cut in his lone major championship appearance at the 2024 U. S. Open), but was one of the top ranked amateurs in the world during his time at Oklahoma State University, facing off against many of the game’s rising stars during his collegiate years. Definitely a long shot in this stacked major field, I predict that Chacarra will turn some heads at Quail Hollow this week on his way to his first top 25 major finish.
One of the most entertaining players in golf, Bryson DeChambeau has been lighting up the leaderboards for LIV this season. In seven starts, DeChambeau has yet to finish outside the top 20, logging five top 10’s and three-straight top five finishes, highlighted by a victory in his most recent start at LIV Korea. DeChambeau drives for show, averaging an astonishing 333 yards off the tee this season, but backs it up with great ball strking, hitting nearly 66% of his fairways and nearly 71% of his greens. I know so many of you bitter trolls enjoy pushing the narrative that LIV players suck since they sold out for money, but DeChambeau is one of the best players in the game today, and his major record speaks volumes. DeChambeau has posted back-to-back top six finishes at the Masters Tournament, back-to-back top four finishes at the PGA Championship (including a runner-up performance last year) and serves as the defending U. S. Open champion (But yeah, okay, he sucks. Whatever you say.). DeChambeau has a great track record at Quail Hollow, finishing in the top 10 in both the 2018 and 2021 Truist Championship, his last two appearances at this course. DeChambeau also finished a respectable T-33 in 2017 in just his 6th major championship appearance at the time, the last time the PGA Championship was held here. The best players always rise to the top in major championships, and like it or not, DeChambeau is one of them. With the course seeping with water right now, Quail Hollow will play to its true, brutish length. Advantage the long bomber, and advantage DeChambeau. Give me Bryson DeChambeau for another top 10 major finish.
I still have not learned my lesson when it comes to picking this man to do anything, but fuck it, here we go again. Rory McIlroy is having himself a career year, much in the same realm that Scottie Scheffler did last season. In eight PGA Tour starts, McIlroy’s worst finish has been T-17, not to mention earning five top 10’s and three victories. With wins at The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, THE PLAYERS Championship and the Masters Tournament, McIlroy has been as cold as ice on some of the biggest stages and most iconic venues in 2025. McIlroy is a dual threat this year, ranking 1st in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, 2nd in Tee-to-Green and 6th in Putting, as well as clocking in 3rd in Driving Distance and 6th in Scrambling. The man is truly firing on all cylinders right now and is having arguably the greatest stretch of play in his career. McIlroy comes back to a course that has given him so many incredible experiences through the years in Quail Hollow. In 13 trips to Quail Hollow (12 times for the Truist Championship and once for the PGA Championship), McIlroy has four wins, nine top 10’s, 11 top 25’s and just one missed cut. McIlroy’s recent major record has been impeccable as well, earning seven top 5’s and 11 top 10’s in his last 17 major appearances, highlighted by his first major championship in over a decade just one month ago at the Masters. McIlroy enters this week on the heels of three straight top 12 finishes at the PGA Championship, and is seemingly untouchable at the moment. The only player beating McIlroy this week is if he beats himself mentally. I’m predicting that Rory McIlroy will continue his dominant stretch of play and cap off the week by hoisting his third career Wanamaker Trophy with a victory at the PGA Championship!
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