The second main of the 2025 season, the PGA Championship, will get underway Thursday at Quail Hole Membership in Charlotte, North Carolina. Can Rory McIlroy make it two majors in a row? Will Scottie Scheffler add one other main to his résumé? What can we anticipate from Bryson DeChambeau and different LIV golfers?
From the favorites to under-the-radar gamers to observe and extra, listed below are six storylines to comply with this week on the PGA Championship.
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Who’s the favourite: world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler or Masters champion Rory McIlroy?
Mark Schlabach: Whereas Scottie Scheffler is the slight betting favourite and is coming off his first victory of the 2025 season, I feel you might argue that Rory McIlroy is one of the best golfer on the planet proper now. He has already received 3 times on tour this yr, and every of them was towards a loaded subject on the AT&T Pebble Seaside Professional-Am, Gamers Championship and the Masters, the place he turned the sixth golfer to finish the profession Grand Slam.
McIlroy’s latest type and historical past at Quail Hole Membership, the place he has received 4 instances and completed runner-up as soon as, makes him the golfer to beat this week. Scheffler hasn’t performed in a single stroke-play occasion there, and his lone look at Quail Hole within the 2022 Presidents Cup was hardly memorable. He went 0-3-1 and gained only a half-point within the U.S. group’s 17½-12½ victory over the Worldwide squad.
Paolo Uggetti: I agree with Mark — Rory needs to be favored this week and nobody is coming into this event in higher type than him. It’s outstanding, nonetheless, how shortly the highest of the sport can shift. Scheffler has been remarkably constant to date this season, however as a result of he has received solely as soon as and never saved up his torrid tempo from final yr, he has, in essence, opened the door for McIlroy to as soon as once more step into the sneakers of being regarded as one of the best participant on the earth. It will not shock me if, come Sunday, each are preventing so as to add to their main whole and discover themselves in one another’s approach.
Aside from Scottie and Rory, who would you decide this week?
Schlabach: Justin Thomas is enjoying a few of the finest golf of his profession and captured the final PGA Championship performed at Quail Hole in 2017. JT ended a virtually three-year drought and not using a victory on tour when he received the RBC Heritage in a playoff over Andrew Novak on April 20. He was runner-up on the Valspar Championship (and possibly ought to have received that one, however closed with bogeys on two of the final three holes and misplaced to Viktor Hovland by one stroke) and tied for second ultimately week’s Truist Championship, two strokes behind winner Sepp Straka.
Thomas has a strong historical past at Quail Hole, ending within the prime 26 in 5 of his six begins. He is fifth in strokes gained: tee to inexperienced (1.227) and method (.896) and twentieth in placing (.432).
Uggetti: You are telling me this is likely one of the longest programs the skilled sport has ever confronted, there may be wholesome tough and loads of pre-tournament rain to make driving size a requisite, and you are not selecting Bryson DeChambeau? Quail Hole can be a bombers’ paradise this yr, and nobody is bombing it higher than DeChambeau. In response to Knowledge Golf, DeChambeau is gaining over two strokes along with his driver, a quantity that’s a whole stroke forward of the second-place participant in that class. It is not simply the motive force, although. DeChambeau has sharpened the remainder of his sport over the previous few years — he has 5 top-10 finishes within the final 9 majors — and if he can replicate his efficiency at Valhalla final yr, he’ll little question be within the combine.
What do you anticipate from Xander Schauffele (defending champ) this week?
Schlabach: After lacking greater than two months with a painful rib harm, Xander Schauffele’s sport is trending in the precise course once more. He has 4 straight finishes, together with a tie for eighth on the Masters and for eleventh on the Truist Championship.
Whereas he ranks seventh in strokes gained: method (.821), he is 157th off the tee (-.320), one hundred and thirty fifth across the inexperienced (-.155) and a hundred and fortieth in placing (-.244). I might attribute that to an absence of reps greater than the rest. The underside line: Schauffele has received two of the previous 4 majors and completed within the prime 10 in seven of the previous 9. Oh, and he was additionally runner-up the previous two instances he teed it up at Quail Hole.
Uggetti: Schauffele is the game’s thriller man proper now. His flooring, as at all times, is so excessive that despite the fact that he is clearly not in midseason type but, he’s nonetheless stumbling into top-20 finishes. Over his final 4 tournaments, Schauffele’s worst end is a tie for 18th on the RBC Heritage, and final week at Philly Cricket, he completed in a tie for eleventh. To be trustworthy, I don’t know what to anticipate from Schauffele at Quail Hole this week, however the truth that the defending champion (and two-time main winner) is barely flying beneath the radar proper now’s telling.
Which LIV golfers are you going to be watching the closest this week?
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Who’s the favourite at this yr’s PGA Championship?
Check out who’s favored to take house the PGA Championship crown at Quail Hole in Charlotte.
Schlabach: Distance off the tee goes to be paramount at Quail Hole Membership, so how will you not anticipate Bryson DeChambeau to be within the combine? He was runner-up ultimately yr’s PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Membership in Louisville, Kentucky, dropping to Schauffele by one shot. He had the lead early within the ultimate spherical of the Masters earlier than carding a 3-over 75 and fading to a tie for fifth. Nobody hits it so far as DeChambeau off the tee, and if his iron play is best than it was at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership, I would not be stunned to see him lifting the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday.
Patrick Reed completed solo third on the Masters, and he has a pleasant observe document at Quail Hole, too.
Uggetti: Till he finishes inside the highest 10 at a significant, this reply will stay Joaquín Niemann. It is beginning to change into a tell-tale signal that the participant who continues to rack up wins on the LIV Tour can not seem to emerge when he arrives at a significant venue towards one of the best gamers on the earth. Niemann has the sport to win a number of majors, and Knowledge Golf considers him a top-10 participant on the earth proper now. So why cannot it translate to the 4 largest weeks of the yr? It is the query that continues to loom over Niemann’s profession, and this week can be one other likelihood for him to buck that pattern.
An under-the-radar participant or two to observe this week?
Schlabach: With Sepp Straka successful for a second time this season on the Truist Championship, former College of Georgia golfers have already received 5 instances in 22 PGA Tour occasions this season.
One other former Bulldog, Keith Mitchell, has been trending in the precise course after struggling mightily on the finish of 2024. Mitchell has 5 straight top-25 finishes, together with a tie for second within the Corales Puntacana and for seventh on the Truist Championship. Mitchell ranks eleventh on tour in driving distance (313.3 yards) and twenty first in strokes gained: tee to inexperienced (.868). He has two profession top-10s at Quail Hole.
Canada’s Taylor Pendrith hasn’t performed nice the previous few weeks, however he had three top-10s earlier this season. He is one other golfer who hits it far off the tee (307.9 yards) and hits plenty of greens in regulation (70.6%). He hasn’t been nice round or on the greens, but when his putter will get scorching this week, he might be within the combine.
Uggetti: A two-for-one particular: be careful for the Højgaard twins (Nicolai and Rasmus). Each have the size to maintain up with this course and will sneakily make some noise this week. So far as different younger gamers to regulate, I might additionally throw Michael Thorbjornsen into the combo; he has two top-5 finishes this season and has been enjoying some actually strong golf of late.
Lastly, after watching Akshay Bhatia on the Gamers, it is clear he has the sport to win a significant, and possibly, at this stage of his profession the place his sport is nice however not fairly excellent, a venue like Quail Hole might be the right place for a breakthrough.
How is Quail Hole going to play this week?
Schlabach: Quail Hole is likely one of the longest programs on tour at 7,626 yards, which is fourth longest in PGA Championship historical past and the longest for a par-71 course. It figures to play even longer after the course was soaked by rain Monday. Extra precipitation is forecast by means of Wednesday. If that is the case, there does not determine to be a lot roll on the fairways, placing a fair greater premium on distance off the tee and lengthy iron play.
Contenders are going to need to play properly across the greens as properly as a result of they’re in all probability going to overlook fairly a couple of. In response to ESPN Analysis, eight greens had been hit lower than 50% of the time in the course of the 2017 PGA Championship; the opening gap was hit solely 33% of the time.
Golfers are going to need to survive the par 3s (three of the 4 are longer than 200 yards), rating properly on the par 5s and survive the three-hole closing stretch generally known as the “Inexperienced Mile.” There have been extra double-bogeys or worse (99) than birdies or higher (88) in 2017, in line with ESPN Analysis.
