McIlroy still the man in who dares wins PGA test
Rory McIlroy on the 12th green during the PGA Championship Practice Round at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/PGA of America)
Who dares often wins at risk-reward Quail Hollow, but after receiving close to six inches of rainfall over the past 10 days, it's more likely that the Bomber Command will have too much firepower for the SAS (short-and-straight) brigade in the 107th PGA Championship.
A par-71 course measuring 7,626 yards from the tips would not usually frighten the best players in the world, but so soft are the pristine fairways in this well-heeled corner of Charlotte that it's hard to see players that don't blast the ball 300 yards through the air having much chance of being a factor on Sunday evening.
Everything about this week — a liking for the venue, an ability to fly the ball high and far and red-hot form — points to a Rory McIlroy victory.
"It would seem to play into his hands," Pádraig Harrington said on his arrival on Monday morning, when 1.15 inches of rain fell on the course, adding to the 3.81 inches that had fallen the previous week.
More rainstorms followed on Tuesday and again yesterday, which means that it would be a massive surprise if preferred lies were not employed for only the second time in a PGA Championship since Baltusrol in 2016.
The PGA of America opted against placing at Valhalla last year, but the weeping and gnashing of teeth from the big stars was so great that it would be a surprise if they didn't relent this year.
"We're pro golfers, we're not professional mud readers," eventual champion Xander Schauffele said after Friday's second round.
Schauffele will join McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler on the 592-yard 10th at 8:22 am today in a grouping that will likely reveal much about who might win.
It appears that little worries betting favourite Rory McIlroy, who has won four times at Quail Hollow but finished tied for 22nd on one-over par in that 2017 PGA Championship won by Justin Thomas.
But he's since become a far better player, and while there was a time when we could only contend when conditions were soft, he's now comfortable on terrain of all sorts.
"I think early in my career that these conditions favoured me more," McIlroy said yesterday. "I believe that they favoured me more. But I believe that Pinehurst last year favoured me. I believe that firm conditions favour me. I believe that any conditions that we play in, I have the abilities and I have the skill set to excel."
McIlroy would not be drawn on what his goals are now that he's completed the career Grand Slam, but winning back-to-back majors to match Nick Faldo with six would tee up a scenario where the calendar Grand Slam would become a realistic prospect.
"As I said at the start of this press conference, if I can just try to get the best out of myself each and every week, I know what my abilities are," said McIlroy, who has the best scoring average of anyone to play at least 10 rounds in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow: 69.33.
"I know the golf that I can play. And if I keep turning up and just trying to do that each and every week, especially in these four big ones a year, I know that I'll have my chances."
With the mental burden of trying to complete the career Grand Slam now lifted, it's tempting to believe that McIlroy will start to rack up the Major wins with monotonous regularity.
Having achieved his lifelong dream, he’s reluctant to set concrete goals in terms of Major wins. But he won't stop dreaming now.
"Look, everyone needs to have goals and dreams, and I've been able to do something that I dreamed of for a long time," McIlroy said of the Masters. "I'm still going to set myself goals. I'm still going to try to achieve certain things. But I sit here knowing that that very well could be the highlight of my career.
"That's a very cool thing. I want to still create a lot of other highlights and high points, but I'm not sure if any other win will live up to what happened a few weeks ago."
Those hoping that a major championship set-up might lessen McIlroy's chances of winning again at his favourite venue were disappointed by his assessment yesterday.
"I thought it was going to feel different just because it was a major championship, and I got out on the golf course yesterday, and it felt no different than last year at the Wells Fargo," he said.
"The rough is maybe a little juicier. But fairways are still the same cut lines and same visuals. It doesn't feel that much different... I think you have to be super aggressive off the tee, and then you have to pick your spots going into the greens."
For the record, McIlroy destroyed Schauffele in the final pairing last year, shooting 65 to the Californian's 71 to win by five strokes on a course where his 61 in 2015 is the course record.
There will be much talk of the Green Mile finishing stretch - the long par-four (529-yard) 16th, the tough par-three 17th (223 yards) and the tight and demanding 494-yard 18th, where a stream runs all the way down the left side of the fairway and along that side of the green.
They are risk-reward holes for those willing to take on danger, but so too are the reachable par-five seventh, the 344-yard 14th and the reachable par-five 15th.
The biggest threats to McIlroy are the in-form Thomas, big-hitting Bryson DeChambeau and world number one Scheffler, who is coming off a win at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson two weeks ago, where he matched the lowest 72-hole aggregate in PGA Tour history on 31-under par 253.
While he's not as long as McIlroy, Scheffler's chances may depend on his exploit his iron play to greens that remain reasonably firm thanks to their SubAir systems.
"Most of the other holes (bar the 14th) off the tee you're just trying to get the ball in the fairway really, and get the ball in the fairway probably as far as you can down there, just so you can have a shorter club into the firm greens," Scheffler said.
"I think going into the greens will be a lot of strategy, especially as they firm up, just based on what pins you're able to attack and where your misses are supposed to be. I think there will be a lot of strategy going into the greens, just not as much off the tee."
The risk-reward element will be important.
"There are several holes where if you hit a good shot, you can make an eagle, but where you can also find a lot of trouble," said Harrington, who goes off the first at 7 am. "Traditionally, that wouldn't suit me. But you've got to do the best in whatever golf course you play on."
The course does not suit Lowry, but he's straight and hitting his irons beautifully, which means his fate could well depend on his luck with the blade.
Seamus Power loves the course and plays it well but he’s still striving to get his ballspeed back to where it was before he injured his hip two years ago.
As for Tom McKibbin, recent form suggests it might be a bridge too far for a Championship debutant, who has length but lacks experience.
"Greens are tricky," DeChambeau said. "Got to have great irons. You've got to come in with a full, complete set of clubs that you feel comfortable with attacking flags at and just strategising your way around the golf course.
"It's a full test of golf this week, and I'm certainly excited for the challenge."
The tournament will be won or lost over those last five holes and may come down to who drives it best.
"I do believe you have to have a lot of distance out here," DeChambeau. said. "Rory is a great driver of the golf ball and his iron play is great, too.
"I think it's a golf course that sets up for his shot shapes pretty well, and I think it sets up well for mine, too. We'll see. Maybe I do well, maybe I don't. But I'm certainly going to give it my all, and I know Rory is. Hopefully we can have another go at it again like the Masters."
The closing stretch makes for great theatre and demands superlative ball-striking, as Viktor Hovland explained yesterday.
"It just forces you to hit good shots," the Norwegian said. "This course doesn't allow you to hide."
