Just weeks after Rory McIlroy completed the career Grand Slam by slipping on a green jacket at the Masters, the year’s second major tournament has already arrived. The 2025 PGA Championship will begin on May 15 and conclude on May 18, from Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.
This major doesn’t have the prestige of the Masters, the history of the Open Championship, or the money offered by the U.S. Open. Thus, the PGA Championship is often viewed as the least coveted of the four major tournaments. But it’s still a major, and there are several subplots that should excite fans ahead of Thursday’s tee-off, starting with another golfer attempting to win the career Grand Slam.
Jordan Spieth’s Bid for the Grand Slam
When Jordan Spieth won his third major in 2017, and thus completed three-fourths of the career Grand Slam, it seemed a given that he’d become the sixth golfer to win all four major tournaments in a career. But Spieth has gone 0 for 8 in attempts to lock down that last major at the PGA Championship, and McIlroy went ahead and became the sixth Grand Slam champion.Spieth has really only once come close to winning this major since 2017, and that’s when he placed third at the 2019 PGA Championship. Each of his last five starts at this tournament has seen him finish 30th or worse, and he hasn’t won much of anything at any event in recent years. It’s been over three years since Spieth had any PGA Tour victory. As it stands, Spieth is one of three men who have won three legs of the Grand Slam, without winning the PGA Championship, alongside Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson.
Will Anyone Tame The Green Mile?
Quail Hollow is known as one of the most difficult courses in all of golf, with the hardest stretch being the final three holes. Collectively, they are known as The Green Mile. When this course last hosted a major—the 2017 PGA Championship—the +1.06 average score to par over The Green Mile was the highest of any final three holes of any golf course used in the 2016-17 PGA Tour season. Those three holes saw a total of 12 triple-bogeys during that 2017 major, which equaled the number of triple-bogeys seen over the first 15 holes of Quail Hollow combined.Rory McIlroy Aiming for More History
If anyone has come close to conquering The Green Mile and Quail Hollow Club, it’s McIlroy. The newest Masters champion has four wins at Quail Hollow, courtesy of winning the Wells Fargo Championship at the course, including most recently in 2024. He also owns records for the lowest score to par (-21) and largest margin of victory (seven strokes) at Quail Hollow, both of which came at the 2015 Wells Fargo Championship.With that success, McIlroy has a great chance to become the first golfer since Spieth in 2015 to win back-to-back majors. He’s won this tournament twice before (in 2012 and 2014), so the Irishman can also become the seventh player to become a three-time PGA champion. Furthermore, the five-time major winner can make the six-time major-winning club a baker’s dozen, as a victory would make McIlroy the 13th golfer to have at least six major tournament triumphs.
Americans Seek a Decade of Dominance
Not since Australian Jason Day prevailed in 2015 has a foreigner won this major. Each of the last nine PGA Championships has been won by Americans—including multiple wins by Brooks Koepka (three) and Justin Thomas (two). So U.S.-born golfers are going for a 10-year sweep at this year’s tourney, which would be the first 10-year run by any nation since the United States swept the 1980s PGA Championships. While four of the top five ranked players in the world are Americans, the top 25 players lean slightly more towards international golfers (13) than Americans (12).Can Scottie Scheffler Win a Major Outside of Augusta?
The world’s top player, Scottie Scheffler, is coming off a record-breaking victory at the Byron Nelson, as his cumulative score of 253 tied for the lowest for any golfer at any tournament in PGA Tour history. That gives the two-time major champion momentum as he looks for his first major title outside of the Masters. He’s been close at this event, with four top 10 finishes over his last five PGA Championship starts, but that one outlier sticks out like a sore thumb.The lone non-top 10 finish for Scheffler came at the 2022 PGA Championship, when he missed the cut. That remains his only missed cut over his last 19 starts at majors. Scheffler also doesn’t have the best course history at Quail Hollow, having played it as part of Team USA at the 2022 Presidents Cup. Scheffler likely had the feeling of the student who contributes nothing to a group project but still gets an “A” as he went winless across his four matches and had the fewest points (0.5) amongst any Team USA member.
New Name Atop the Leaderboard?
At this major a year ago, Xander Schauffele erased his name from the dubious list of “Best Player to Never Win a Major.” That list still contains several notable names such as Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland, Max Homa, and Ludvig Aberg. Cantlay and Hovland are both recent FedEx Cup champions, Homa is a six-time winner on the PGA Tour who has a Quail Hollow victory to his name, and Aberg is the top-ranked golfer (No. 6) without a major win.History, however, suggests whoever wins the 2025 PGA Championship will be a household name. That’s because each of the last eight winners of this tournament is currently a multi-time major winner in their career.
