PGA Championship 2025: Rory McIlroy eyeing major run, Justin Thomas resurgence top storylines at Quail Hollow

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CHARLOTTE -- Given how much runway as there was ahead of the Masters, it feels as if the PGA Championship has arrived in a flurry. Only one month removed from the first major of the season, this week's gathering of the world's best golfers at Quail Hollow Club will represent another opportunity for questions to be answered.

This after plenty of those answers already arrived last month at Augusta National. Rory McIlroy willed his way to the career grand slam in a playoff victory over Justin Rose, but with one of his three remaining career goals now crossed off the list -- a European Ryder Cup win in the United States and an Olympic medal remaining -- another question formed: Is the five-time major champion officially free?

Predictions and projections of reaching more than eight major championships have been bread crumbed since, and McIlroy may have no better chance to trek towards that total than this week at a venue where he has won not once … not twice … not three times … but four times including just last year -- the week before the PGA Championship.

The weight has been lifted, and more major trophies may be ascending above McIlroy's shoulders next.

However, unlike the Masters where McIlroy entered as the clear-cut player in top form, his peers have caught up. Scottie Scheffler is still the world No. 1 and remains a model of consistency. Finding the winner's circle in his last start at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, the Texan won his backyard and now looks to win a major championship away from Augusta National. (Perhaps this year he'll have a personal chauffeur as well. It can only help the cause.)

McIlroy's playing mate in the final round at the Masters, Bryson DeChambeau, has danced his way to the top of the podium on LIV Golf. Commanding the solo lead at one stage in the final round of the Masters, DeChambeau's hopes were dashed due to poor iron play. He came up short at Augusta National and in last year's PGA Championship at Valhalla, but he looks eager to make amends for both and win his second major in three tries.

These three players are likely to find their way into contention at various stages of the championship, but there are plenty others who will as well. They are household names, they are those who are inexplicably flying under the radar, and they are those who were born to be on this stage.

Will Rory go on a run?

It took McIlroy three years to win four major championships, and then it took him more than a decade to win his next. With the 11-year drought and career grand slam clouds no longer hanging over him, he has room to roam. How will he fare in uncharted territory? Will he run wild and frolic through the wildflowers, or will there be a dip now that the dream has been realized?

"The one thing I try to do after the end of every round is look myself in the mirror and say, 'That's how I want to feel when I play golf,'" McIlroy explained at the Zurich Classic. "If that's my goal for the rest of my career and I can go after every round and I can look in the mirror and I can say that to myself, then the results will take care of themselves."

Now 36 years old, McIlroy is playing the best golf of his career. He is as mentally sharp as ever. While he operates in the process -- and will continue to do so -- we do not, so let's look at the possibilities.

With five major championships, he is tied with Brooks Koepka for the most among players in this generation. His name is next to Seve Ballesteros as well and just one behind Nick Faldo for most major wins by a European. He may not say it out loud, but those are names he would love to pass. And who knows, maybe he'll put some space between his and theirs when all is said and done.

Scheffler continues major search outside Augusta

Since 1940, there are 12 golfers who have won exactly two major championships with both coming in the same event. Scheffler is among three players in this field on the list -- Justin Thomas (PGA Championship) and DeChambeau (U.S. Open) being the others -- but the only to do so at the Masters, which takes place annually at Augusta National Golf Club.

The 14-time PGA Tour winner has come close away from the Georgia gem, especially in this tournament where he has acquitted (pun intended, yes) himself nicely. Making his sixth start at the PGA Championship, Scheffler has four top-10 finishes to his name, including last year when he was arrested for a traffic violation before the second round and in his debut at TPC Harding Park where he was among the many to be in the mix late in the final round.

However, unlike those venues, where most of his peers had not played the golf course in a meaningful amount of time, this year's tournament takes place at an annual PGA Tour stop. Not just any location, mind you, but one Scheffler does not regularly visit.

Outside a dreadful experience at the 2022 Presidents Cup, Scheffler has never teed it up competitively at Quail Hollow, which hosts the Truist Championship annually. As that is one week before the PGA Championship, Scottie choses to skip the signature event and focus on the major. That does put him behind the ball ever so slightly, but as seen throughout his career, Scheffler is a quick study and has proven that once he learns a golf course, it is as good as his. It's why he's 9/2 to win this PGA Championship, per BetMGM.

The Spieth Slam

Spieth returns to the golf course where he had his first chance at completing the career grand slam still searching for his slice of immortality ... nearly a decade later. The three-time major champion is looking to become the seventh player ever to win all four major championships (of course, the second this year behind McIlroy). How nuts would that be?! Only Spieth.

Spieth's PGA Championship results are odd as he hasn't missed cut in his pursuit of the career grand slam, but he has never given himself a real chance. The T3 at Bethpage Black in 2019 looks good on paper -- it also doubles as his last top 25 -- but he never sniffed the lead and was leaning on a red-hot putter the entire week as he found every nook and cranny on Long Island.

So, what about this year at Quail Hollow? Does he have any hope? Will he pull a rabbit out of his hat and become the first to complete the slam at the PGA Championship? Does he have any hope as a 55-1 underdog, per BetMGM?

I lean in the affirmative, but it won't depend on any specific area of his game. Rather, it will be his mettle that stands as the most important trait to overcoming this hump. Too often Spieth screams at himself, the air or whatever wandering thought that runs through his brain at any given moment. It makes for good entertainment, but it doesn't make for good golf. That needs to go away. And once it does, not only will he be better for it, he'll find himself back in major contention.

Career grand slam winners

Name	Completed grand slam	Years to complete grand slam
Gene Sarazen	Masters (1935)	1922-35 (14)
Ben Hogan	The Open (1953)	1946-53 (8)
Gary Player	U.S. Open (1965)	1959-65 (7)
Jack Nicklaus	The Open (1966)	1962-66 (5)
Tiger Woods	The Open (2000)	1997-2000 (4)
Rory McIlroy	Masters (2025)	2011-25 (15)

Big, Bad Bryson

Take away The Open, and there may not be a better major competitor than DeChambeau over the last two years. He has factored on Sunday in five of the last six U.S. based major championships including the last two PGA Championships. And although he did not make Quail Hollow a regular stop of his during his tenure on the PGA Tour, when he did, he made the most of it with finishes of solo 4th in 2018 and T9 in 2021.

The win in South Korea a couple weeks ago was the byproduct of his consistency finally paying off. He has entered the final round of his last three LIV Golf starts with the lead and even held the solo lead after the second hole of the final round at the Masters before squandering his chances around the turn.

Only two players have won the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur. Their names are Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus; DeChambeau would be the third.

Sneaking into a title defense?

Has there ever been a top-five player in the world who served as a reigning champion yet taken up less oxygen in the room? It's baffling. It makes no sense. It is almost infuriating. Give him his flowers, please!

... At the same time, it is perfectly Xander Schauffele.

The 2024 PGA Championship winner hasn't cooled since claiming his first major title at Valhalla. In fact, he has only heated up. A Claret Jug was picked off along the way, and a continuation of his consistency -- despite dealing with a rib injury that sidelined him for a significant amount of time -- has bled into 2025.

Schauffele is currently in the midst of a run that includes:

No missed cuts (anywhere!) since the 2022 Masters
12 straight top-20 finishes in major championships
5 straight top-10 finishes in major championships

Oh yeah, Schauffele finished runner-up at Quail Hollow in 2023 and again in 2024. That's easy to forget, though, until it's staring you right in the face.

Which player do you think will be the first to win his third major championship?

Scheffler
Bryson
Xander
Rahm
Collin
JT
— Patrick McDonald (@pmcdonaldCBS) May 4, 2025

Take two for Thomas

The 2025 major championship venues are three that can produce successful reigning champions when discussing specifically the golf course -- Dustin Johnson at Oakmont and Shane Lowry at Royal Portrush being the other two. It begins with Thomas this week as he notched his first PGA Championship title at Quail Hollow in 2017 and arrives this year in stellar form.

A recent winner at Harbour Town Golf Links, Thomas broke his three-year winless drought and now eyes another raise of the Wanamaker Trophy. So, what will he have to do in order to do that?

Simply put, he needs to drive the golf ball better. Harbour Town was the perfect golf course for him as it took driver out of players' hands and turned the tournament into a contest from the fairway in where few are better than Thomas. He won't have that luxury this week as Quail Hollow requires a heavy dosage of drivers, and it is one of the reasons why he has struggled in major championships since his win at Southern Hills.

If he drives the ball well, Thomas can win and join a short list of players who have won the same major championship (non-Masters division) at the same golf course over the last century.

Winning same major at same venue (since 1925)

Name	Major	Course	Years
Jack Nicklaus	U.S. Open	Baltusrol Golf Club	1967, 1980
Tom Watson	The Open	Turnberry	1977, 1986
Tiger Woods	The Open	The Old Course at St. Andrews	2000, 2005

Move … do something … anything

Jon Rahm's run of finishing inside the top 10 in every single LIV Golf event is impressive, but it's almost sad at the same time. These are not mutually exclusive. The two-time major champion can still play high-quality golf, but that has not translated onto the major stage where a player of his caliber is ultimately judged (fair or not).

Rahm finished T14 at the Masters as he battled back from an opening 75, while league mate Joaquin Niemann narrowly finished inside the top 30 after holding an early lead in Round 1. Niemann enters the PGA Championship with three wins on LIV Golf across his last seven starts but still without a top-15 finish in a major championship.

Quail Hollow should be a great fit for him on paper, but not many golf courses aren't given his talent level. Something has to give eventually.

Top-15 finishes in major championships

Michael Block: 1
Joaquin Niemann: 0

As for the man who is one of two players to win a major championship while with LIV Golf, Brooks Koepka has suddenly become second (maybe third or fourth) fiddle to DeChambeau in these championships. Since his fifth major triumph at the 2023 PGA Championship, Koepka has seven straight finishes outside the top 15 in majors. If there was ever a time (or championship) for him to play himself into the weekend conversation, it is the PGA Championship where he has won three of the last seven editions.

Ludvig Åberg's system reboot

This week represents Åberg's sixth major championship appearance, but it's his first PGA Championship in which he will be 100% healthy. Last season, the Swede was sidelined for the PGA Tour's annual stop at Quail Hollow due to an injury and reappeared the following week at Valhalla with a brace on his knee. Unable to bend down properly to read putts and staggering around the property, Åberg was an early exit.

So consider this PGA Championship his true debut as the robotic right hander has shown his game was programmed for U.S.-based major championships. Fresh off a contention run at the Masters where he had his chances late, the world No. 6 arrives with confidence in tow. With a win, Åberg would become just the second golfer from Sweden to win a major championship and the first to win the PGA Championship.

Hollow-ed grounds

It's not ideal when major championships are held at PGA Tour venues. Personally dislike it! It takes away some mystique and required digging early in the week, and it robs fans of being transported to iconic golf courses they may otherwise never be seen in a given season.

With that out of the way, Quail Hollow Club -- the annual host for the newly-named Truist Championship -- has been on televisions for quite some time. It was the spot where players like McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Max Homa all won their first PGA Tour events and could be the site of where someone wins their first major, like Thomas in 2017.

So, while it may not be a unique venue, the good news (at least when looking for potential contenders) is Quail Hollow does have some history. Here are the top 10 players in the field based on total strokes gained at this golf course throughout their careers.

Total strokes gained: Quail Hollow Club

Player	Total Strokes Gained
Rory McIlroy	+2.87
Jason Day	+2.12
Phil Mickelson	+2.10
Justin Thomas	+2.01
Bryson DeChambeau	+1.92
Rickie Fowler	+1.87
Xander Schauffele	+1.76
Patrick Reed	+1.72
Viktor Hovland	+1.69
Brooks Koepka	+1.62