The PGA Championship returns to the Quail Hollow Club for the second time. Justin Thomas won the first time in 2017. Global Golf Post’s Ron Green Jr., John Hopkins, Scott Michaux and John Steinbreder gather again for a virtual roundtable to discuss the storylines on tap this week in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In the last month, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas and Bryson DeChambeau have all won tournaments. Defending champion Xander Schauffele finished runner-up the last two years in Quail Hollow’s PGA Tour stop. Might this week be more eagerly anticipated than the Masters was last month?
Green: Let’s not get carried away here. The Masters has a lock on pre-tournament anticipation because, well, it’s the Masters. But this PGA Championship has all of the thematic storylines in place to be something genuinely special, especially considering McIlroy’s history at Quail Hollow, winning four times and losing in a playoff once.
Hopkins: Nothing can be more eagerly anticipated than a Masters (and can anything better the final day at last month’s Masters?), but this is certainly a lip-smackingly good week in prospect – good course, good city, good climate, good contenders and good jazz.
Michaux: The Masters always benefits from the nine-month wait between majors. It’s nice to see another major get a boost from a wave of marquee players showing up in peak form. I can’t ever remember being more excited for a PGA Championship flush with great narrative possibilities.
Steinbreder: I think Rory’s dramatic win at Augusta – and his reaction to finally shedding that massive Masters monkey off his back – makes the anticipation for this year's PGA that much greater. And as is the case with a lot of golf fans, I cannot wait for it to get here. But as far as matching the expectancy of the year's first major, it’s close but no cigar.
Jordan Spieth is working his way back into form and is back in the OWGR top 50 after wrist surgery at the end of his 2024 season. Is he ready enough to follow McIlroy into the career-slam fraternity this week – or ever?
Green: This is Spieth’s ninth try to complete the career slam and while it remains a long shot, he’s in a better head space – and wrist space – than he has been in a while. He may never be the player he was a decade ago, but I’m still a believer that he has another one or two big wins still ahead of him.
Hopkins: Too many good players are playing better than Spieth currently so this is not the year for him to complete the Grand Slam. His future? It’s a heart-over-head decision in which the heart hopes so because the game is better when he is in contention but the head doubts so.
Michaux: While I would love to see it happen, I just don’t believe Spieth has what it takes anymore to compete with the heavyweights, and the next generation of stars will only make it harder on him at major venues not named Augusta.
Steinbreder: Jordan may well secure his career Grand Slam one day. But I just don't see it happening at Quail Hollow. He is still working his way back after his surgery and is still a ways off from exhibiting the sort of form that brought him his first major titles a decade ago.
Quail Hollow’s closing holes of 16, 17 and 18, dubbed “The Green Mile,” annually rank as the toughest finishing stretch on tour. Does that make it a great way to decide a major championship?
Green: Better to end with a bang than a whimper. If they play the par-3 17th from the back tee – somewhere in the neighborhood of 215 yards – no one will back into the title. Since professional golf returned to Quail Hollow in 2003, the first 15 holes have played a collective 1,290-under par while the Green Mile has played 7,683-over par, according to PGA Tour ShotLink data.
Hopkins: I am merciless. I would rather a tough finish than a weak one. As one of the game’s great prizes awaits, so the tension and pressure a player feels should ramp up. And I quite like the modern trend of intimidating and exciting par-3 17th holes, as this one could well be.
Michaux: There are plenty of opportunities at Quail to make birdies. It’s great to see a major test that requires players to prove their mettle under extreme conditions. Carnoustie comes to mind as a similar final exam.
Steinbreder: A major championship should always have a tough finishing stretch, and I look forward to seeing who shines on those holes during this week’s PGA.
With its new spring spot in the batting order now firmly established, are there any traditional/potential PGA Championship venues that will be missed because they can't be ready to play in May?
Green: If they can play at Oak Hill, which was spectacular in 2023, they can go up north. It would be great to see the PGA Championship at the new Medinah near Chicago one of these years.
Hopkins: Sahalee and Whistling Straits anyone?
Michaux: Wisconsin (Whistling Straits) and Minnesota (Hazeltine) might be too risky to try, but they survived upstate New York (Oak Hill) a couple years ago and I suspect they’ll roll the dice as often as not. Hopefully it’s not all Friscos from here on.
Steinbreder: I hate to think that we will not see the PGA at Whistling Straits again. But the weather in May on Lake Michigan can be pretty dicey. I would also love to see Oak Hill get another, as it is such a good major championship venue, but the Rochester club and the PGA got lucky with the conditions a couple of years ago. It might be asking too much to think that would happen again. (Case in point, as I write this entry, it is 55 degrees and rainy outside my Connecticut home, which is located in generally more temperate climes some 350 miles to the southeast of Oak Hill.) The good news is there are a slew of good Sun Belt sites that became much more feasible options with that move to May, and those include Southern Hills, Kiawah Island, Congressional and, of course, Quail Hollow.
PGA of America leadership has spoken out against the USGA/R&A ball rollback scheduled to be implemented in January 2028. Could the PGA Championship be the only major to not adhere to the new ball specs?
Green: It sounds like the Masters will go along with the USGA and R&A so it seems possible the rules could be different for the PGA Championship when it is played at the Olympic Club in 2028. Would that make the PGA Championship the outlier or would it be the three other majors playing by their own rules?
Hopkins: Hard to imagine the PGA of America holding out against the two governing bodies of the game. Get round the table and talk please, ladies and gentlemen.
Michaux: For decades American players had to adjust to using a smaller golf ball when they played in the British Open. The Masters periodically threatened to create its own rolled-back golf ball exclusively for its annual invitational. The PGA Championship and PGA Tour might be willing to fight the governing bodies. I hope the USGA, R&A and Augusta National don’t back down.
Steinbreder: The last thing that professional golf needs is another split. So, for the good of the game, I would ask the governing bodies to find a solution that works for all the majors.
Who wins the Wanamaker Trophy in 2025?
Green: The obvious answer is McIlroy. The contrarian answer is Xander Schauffle.
Hopkins: McIlroy edges out Scheffler with a brilliantly shaped iron to the 71st hole and secures par – just – on the 72nd.
Michaux: I got it right at Augusta and I’m rolling with Rory again at his favorite course in America. Get ready for some serious Grand Slam chatter heading to Oakmont.
Steinbreder: It is hard to argue with Rory’s chances on a course he obviously loves – and with the confidence he no doubt possesses coming off his Masters triumph. But he will have a formidable challenge in Scheffler, who seems to once again be at the top of his game.