CHARLOTTE, N.C.—The second major golf championship starts Thursday at Quail Hollow. The Charlotte venue is well known to tour players as the annual site for the Wells Fargo event on the PGA Tour.
The club also served as the venue for the 2022 Presidents Cup matches won by Team USA and the 2017 PGA Championship claimed by Justin Thomas.
Rory’s Story—Is Back-to-Back Majors Likely?
Quail Hollow can simply be called Rory McIlroy’s home away from home. The current Masters champion has won four times at the venue, beginning with a 2010 victory that set the then-course record with a final round score of 62. In 2015, he beat that mark, winning his second title there with an 11-under-par round of 61.He followed up with victories in 2021 and 2024.
The win at Augusta ended 10-plus years of major-less victories. Supporters of McIlroy have long believed that, should the 35-year-old break that slump, it will be the springboard for future major wins to happen. How fitting would it be for McIlroy that Quail Hollow is the first test in that premise?
The pressure point for McIlroy was in constantly addressing questions on when a fifth major would happen. That situation is now in his rear-view mirror. McIlroy’s past record at Quail Hollow clearly places him in the favorite’s role this week. The last golfer to have won the first two majors in a calendar year came in 2015 when Jordan Spieth won at Augusta and the U.S. Open. McIlroy aims to add his name to that storied accomplishment.
Can Scottie Scheffler Reassert Himself?
After a sensational 2024 season in which the Texan won nine times globally and cemented his position as the top-ranked player on the planet, the fanfare for a follow-up in 2025 was clearly in place.Unfortunately for the 28-year-old, he suffered a minor mishap when preparing Christmas dinner for his family and needed surgery to remove glass fragments from his hand.
The start of his PGA Tour season was delayed due to his needing to reacclimate himself to the rigors of competition.
Scheffler had off-and-on moments at this year’s Masters, ultimately finishing fourth.
But matters changed noticeably when Scheffler played in THE CJ CUP Bryon Nelson in his hometown of Dallas just two weeks ago. Scheffler started with a first-round 61 and then proceeded to coast to an eight-shot victory margin—his first win since last year’s Tour Championship and his 14th triumph on the PGA Tour.
At last year’s PGA Championship at Valhalla, Scheffler was arrested for disobeying the instructions of police officer when attempting to enter the club. All charges were subsequently dropped, but the resulting publicity caused unneeded distraction.
None exists for Scheffler as he comes to Quail Hollow, and the mission is a simple one—reassert his dominance as the sport’s premier player. A third major championship in Charlotte would certainly do that.
Can Spieth Capture a Career Grand Slam at Quail Hollow?
Only six golfers have won the career Grand Slam, and McIlroy became the most recent member of the sport’s most elite club when winning at Augusta this past April.Another golfer is on the cusp in joining in adding his name to that group of distinguished golfers—Jordan Spieth. The 31-year-old got going early in his professional career when he won at Augusta and became the second youngest winner to don the famous green jacket.
Spieth’s 72-hole total tied the then-tournament record, and he followed up with a win at the U.S. Open just two months later. Spieth would narrowly miss a playoff for The Open Championship and was runner-up in the PGA Championship. The sum total of the 2015 season was a golfer ready to assert his dominance in the sport.
The Texan would later claim the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, but in the years that followed, he has won just twice on the PGA Tour.
Will Joaquin Niemann Finally Achieve Stardom?
The 26-year-old has been cited as the next star player of note. The Chilean golfer has certainly displayed such eye-catching form with three wins on the LIV Golf circuit in 2025.But those wins have come in a 54-hole format with none providing any world ranking points.
Major championships are where golfers place their fingerprints in the legacy column. In 23 previous appearances, Niemann has only placed in the top 20 once—a T16 at the 2023 Masters.
Yes, the talent is present, but with each passing year of futility, the questions will only mount.
Quail Hollow could be the launch pad for Niemann to finally show that all the expectations are now justified. On the flipside, a poor showing will only raise questions leading into the U.S. Open in June.
Has Anyone Seen Brooks Koepka Lately?
The pro golf career of Brooks Koepka has been one to watch on multiple levels. The 35-year-old catapulted into the spotlight with four major wins over a span of less than two years between June 2017 and May 2019.Koepka added a 5th major and became a three-time winner of the Wannamaker Trophy when claiming the PGA Championship title in 2023 at Oak Hill.
Since 2022, he has played in 13 majors, and only at the Masters and PGA Championship in 2023 did he play up to his high-level form with a runner-up and win respectively. In the other 11 appearances, he has had three missed cuts and no other finishes in the top 15.
Koepka is a key player on the LIV Golf circuit. He was runner-up to Niemann in Singapore this past March. His last pro win came at the LIV Golf event at the Greenbrier in 2024 when he outlasted Jon Rahm in a playoff.
Is Rahm Ready?
After winning the 2023 Masters for his second major championship triumph, the world of pro golf was expecting the talented Spaniard to continue on the pathway of past fellow countryman Seve Ballesteros—a golfer revered by Rahm.Rahm left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf on Dec. 7, 2023—after making various statements dating back to June 2022 and afterward that he would remain a member of the PGA Tour. The vast sum of money offered—upwards of $400 million—was too much to pass up.
There has been much speculation that Rahm has had second thoughts on his decision to go with LIV Golf.
The 30-year-old is in the prime of his golf career, and since winning at Augusta, he has played in seven majors with three top finishes, including a tie for the runner-up slot at the 2023 Open Championship.
Rahm relishes the biggest of golf moments, and while he no longer has a continued presence on the PGA Tour, he is fully aware a return to the winner’s podium at Quail Hollow will demonstrate he remains a force in professional golf.
Will ‘X’ Mark the Spot Again?
No tagline is more debilitating to a pro golfer than the one that states—“best golfer never to have a major.” Xander Schauffele knows full well the meaning of that as he heard it on a recurring basis when the 2024 golf season started.In some ways, the phase is a compliment as it speaks to the talent of the player. But in other ways, it is a clear slap in a player’s face as being unable to showcase that talent on the stage of golf’s ultimate events.
Schauffele forever ended that connection with not just a win at one major but claiming two in 2025 with triumphs at the PGA Championship at Valhalla and then later in July at The Open Championship at Royal Troon.
The 31-year-old ranks as the third-best golfer on the planet—only behind the likes of Scheffler and McIlroy. Schauffele suffered a rib injury in December 2024, and while he did make a start in the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii and was in the opener of the TGL League in Florida, he opted for much-needed recuperation.
In his last three starts—Masters, RBC Heritage, and Truist—Schauffele has finished T8, T18, and T11. While not securing the main headlines that have been the domain of McIlroy and Scheffler, Schauffele is eager to defend his PGA Championship title. One other interesting note—in the last two PGA Tour events played at Quail Hollow, Schauffele has finished in the runner-up position both times. A move to the top spot and a reclaiming of the Wannamaker Trophy is entirely doable.
