CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Only the weather could seemingly mar what has the makings of a great PGA Championship this week at Quail Hollow Golf Club.
The longtime home of an annual PGA Tour stop that also hosted the PGA and the Presidents Cup in recent years was inundated by rain Monday and the forecast calls more Tuesday. Spectators were not allowed on site and practice was very limited.
That is likely to take some of the fire out of a formidable layout that might see even more players in the mix. The PGA has the strongest field of the four majors and with a soft ballpark those vying for the Wanamaker Trophy could form a long list.
Still, there are some obvious, juicy story lines to ponder as we wait for the rain to subside.
Rory McIlroy, Grand Slam
After finally completing the career Grand Slam with his stunning playoff victory over Justin Rose at the Masters, McIlroy can set his sights on winning all four majors in the same year.
While the idea of doing so is obviously remote, McIlroy is the only one who can do it and the major venues set up beautifully for him.
He’s won four times at Quail Hollow; a tough, stern test such as Oakmont for the U.S. Open suits one of the best drivers of the ball; and Royal Portrush is near his boyhood home and where he set the course record at age 16.
Perhaps more importantly, McIlroy has shed the burden of his major quest of the past decade. He can play free. There’s no pressure now.
The storyteller
Jim Nantz will be working his 35th consecutive PGA Championship for CBS Sports after coming off a 40th in a row at the Masters. Asked on a media call last week to put the McIlroy victory on a list of his favorites, the longtime broadcaster wouldn’t pick a favorite but had the 2025 Masters near the top of his list.
“I’m mindful of recency bias here being perhaps a factor, but Rory’s and Jack’s in ’86, and Tiger’s in 2019 are all in this special stratosphere where you kind of walk away for a long time with the feeling of “I can’t believe what I just saw,’’’ he said.
Nicklaus’s sixth Masters and 18th major in 1986 was Nantz's first time working the Masters. He was 26 years old and worked the 16th tower among other duties.
Scottie Scheffler is back
Let’s be clear, he never really left. But his victory two weeks ago at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson was his first of 2025 and eliminated that nagging question as to when he was going to win again. That’s the inevitability of coming off a seven-victory season on the PGA Tour. Now he goes after a third major title—but at a place where he’s never played a stroke-play event. Scheffler never played what was known as the Wells Fargo Championship but competed in the 2022 Presidents Cup.
Jordan Spieth, career Grand Slam
It’s been completely overshadowed by McIlroy’s quest but Spieth has been trying nearly as long to complete the Slam. This will be his ninth attempt to win the fourth major he needs since winning the British Open in 2017. He’s not had great success, his best chance a tie for third in 2019 where he finishes six strokes back of Brooks Koepka.
“I think it would have been more difficult, like, back in the day,” said Spieth, who has already played the PGA Championship eight times with a chance to complete the Slam. “I don't feel like it would be as difficult now for some reason. I think, just having played so many of them and then you just play so many tournaments, it’s like, ‘oh, it’s another tournament.’ It’s easier to win that way versus putting any extra emphasis anywhere.
“Sure, you do want it. I want it—like I’m trying to think about three years ago when I had a chance on the last few holes. It’s like I don’t remember that feeling different from many other events other than off the course. Off the course it means more, but when you’re there, it’s just like you’ve got to play this shot to this spot and try to make birdie.”
Bryson and the majors
Bryson DeChambeau, at least in his own case, has punched holes in the theory that LIV Golf impacts play in the majors. Although he had a poor final round at the Masters, he was in the final group with McIlroy and tied for fifth a year after tying for sixth. He finished second at the PGA a year ago and won the U.S. Open by a stroke over McIlroy. That’s four times out of the last five majors that DeChambeau has been in contention. The puzzling fact is he wasn’t winning LIV events until he broke through two weeks ago for a victory in Korea, his third overall on the league and first win anywhere since the U.S. Open.
DeChambeau last played at Quail Hollow in 2021 when he tied for ninth—after leaving following the second round thinking he had missed the cut and then returning early the next morning for the third round.
Justin Thomas’s resurgence
After going nearly three years without a victory—with some agonizing close calls in between—Justin Thomas won the RBC Heritage a few weeks ago and followed up with a tie for second at the Truist Championship. After hovering outside of the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking for much of last year he is now fifth. And he returns to Quail, where he won his first major in 2017.
Quiet Xander
It’s tough to come off a two-major year and be in the background but that’s been the case for Xander Schauffele, who endured a two-month injury absence that took him into March. He’s slowly but surely but trying to find his game. He shot a final-round 66 at the Truist to tie for 11th and has had solid tournaments in his last three tries. He’s also finished second twice at Quail Hollow, including last year to McIlroy.
What about Max?
It’s been a trying year for Max Homa, who more or less lost his game and has been working hard to find it. He has said several times he’s hitting it great on the range but can’t bring it to the course. After a promising start at the Truist, he fell off to a tie for 30th in the 72-player event. But he showed plenty of grit in tying for 12th at the Masters and is fighting to get back into the top 60 OWGR in order to qualify for the U.S. Open. Homa has two wins at Quail Hollow.
Don’t sleep on ...
Sepp Straka, who won for the second time this year at the Truist Championship and held off Shane Lowry, is ranked among the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time. So is Lowry. ... Tommy Fleetwood. The Englishman now has more top 10s and more money earned than any player in PGA Tour history without a victory. But he has seven wins on the DP World Tour and eight top-10 finishes in majors. He was tied for 21st at the Masters.
How to gauge Viktor
In a year in which he missed the cut in three major championships amid all kinds of swing and coaching issues, Viktor Hovland finished third at the PGA Championship last year and was right there with a chance to win. This year, he endured more issues, changed coaches again, then won the Valspar Championship for his first victory since the 2013 Tour Championship. The Valspar win came after three consecutive missed cuts. He tied for 21st at the Masters and tied for 13th at the RBC Heritage but was tied for 54th at the Truist. A tough man to figure.
Hurting
Both Jason Day and Justin Rose would have figured to be strong contenders this week at Quail Hollow. But both come to the event after withdrawing from the Truist due to injury. Rose has finished second in consecutive majors. Day has won at Quail Hollow. And he is also the last non-American to win the PGA Championship, in 2015.
Field strength
The PGA Championship has the strongest field of the year to date which is not unusual. It will have at least 95 of the top 100 players in the Official World Golf Ranking for the 16th time in the last 17 years. The only time it didn’t during that period was in 2020 during COVID when the tournament had 91 of the top 100.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as From Rory to Jordan to Bryson and Beyond, Stories Are Stacked at the PGA Championship.