The season’s second major golf championship gets underway this week with the 107th edition of the PGA Championship.
Contested at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, the always-underrated major promises to be a table setter for the final four months of the season, culminating with the Ryder Cup matches at Bethpage Black.
The 156-player field features most of the world’s top players including the world’s top three needle movers in world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, the reigning Masters champion, and LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau.
Storylines include: Can anyone stop McIlroy at Quail Hollow, a venue where he’s won four times; Scheffler seeks to win a major outside of the Masters; DeChambeau enters off a LIV win in Mexico — can he win a third major and first PGA; Justin Thomas enters on a heater too — can he win a third PGA and second at Quail Hollow?
Other storylines include: Jordan Spieth‘s attempt to complete the career grand slam for the ninth straight year. The now 31-year-old Texan enters in decent form. Or can former world No.1 Jon Rahm end his two-year struggle in majors and claim his third career major and third leg of slam?
Or what about Brooks Koepka — can he bust out of a major slump since winning the PGA in 2023? Can Patrick Cantlay or Tommy Fleetwood finally close the deal and win a major?
Additional storylines are many and overflowing. Will the winner be one who’s historic or a one-time supernova like who was part of history?
Since 2000, the list of players to hoist golf’s biggest trophy include longshots and journeymen such as Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel, Y.E. Yang, Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner and Jimmy Walker. But it’s also included top-ranked stars like Tiger Woods and Koepka three times; McIlroy, Thomas and Mickelson twice; as well as Jason Day, and Collin Morikawa once each.
Here’s more on what to expect this week in North Carolina for the 107th PGA Championship.
PGA Championship At-a-Glance
2025 PGA Championship
Dates: May 15-18, 2025
Where: Charlotte, NC
Course: Quail Hollow Club
Distance: Par 71, 7626 yards
Architect: George Cobb (1961)
Renovation: Tom Fazio (1997, 2016)
Field: 156 players
Format: 72/36 stroke-play
Purse: $20,000,000
Winning Share: $3,600,000
Trophy: Wanamaker Trophy
2024 Champion: Xander Schauffele
How to Follow the PGA Championship
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PGA Championship History
Today’s PGA Championship can be credited to the work of business mogul Rodman Wanamaker 109 years ago in New York City, who gathered a collection of golf professionals, which led to the formation of the PGA.
The first winner of the iconic tournament was Englishman Jim Barnes, who beat the great Scotsman Jock Hutchison, 1 up, in 1916 at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, New York. Barnes walked away with the Wanamaker trophy, a check for $500 and a diamond-studded gold medal donated by Wanamaker.
The next two editions were canceled due to the first world war, but Barnes returned n 1919 to successfully defend his PGA title.
Barnes, who has been called the ‘Great Forgotten Champion,’ would go on to win the 1921 U.S. Open and 1925 British Open. (The Masters was not founded until 1934.)
The PGA Championship was a match play event for its first 39 editions, but by the late 50s due to the advent of TV and many of the big names (Snead, Hogan) no longer dominating, the PGA was pressured by network television broadcasters to switch to stroke play.
For most of the modern stroke-play era, the championship was played in mid-August on the third weekend before Labor Day, serving as the fourth and final major of the golf season, using a tagline of “Glory’s Last Shot.”
In 2013, the tagline had been dropped in favor of “The Season’s Final Major”, as suggested by PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem who felt the slogan weakened the stature of its season-ending money grab: the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Beginning in 2019, the tournament was moved to May to provide a better flow to the golf season – with the PGA Tour’s two flagship events: The Players Championship (Mar.) and The Tour Championship (Aug.) bookending four consecutive months of majors (April: Masters, May: PGA, June: U.S. Open, July: British Open).
The Wanamaker Trophy stands nearly 2.5 feet tall and weighs 27 pounds. The trophy was lost, briefly, for a few years until it showed up in 1930 in the cellar of L.A. Young and Company. Ironically, this cellar was in the factory which made the clubs for the man responsible for losing it, Walter Hagen.
Hagen claimed to have trusted a taxi driver with the precious cargo, but it never returned to his hotel. There is a smaller replica trophy that the champion gets to keep permanently, but the original must be returned for the following years tournament.
Notable winners of the Wanamaker Trophy in the match-play era include Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, and Ben Hogan. Legends who won the PGA in the stroke-play era include Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, who won his second in 2021 at the age of 50, becoming the oldest major winner in history.
Hagen and Nicklaus share the record for most PGA Championships with five apiece. Two surprising names missing from the winner’s list are Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson, who had close calls, but were never able to claim victory and close the door on the career grand slam.
History: Recent Winners
2024: Xander Schauffele (-21)
2023: Brooks Koepka (-9)
2022: Justin Thomas (-5)*
2021: Phil Mickelson (-6)
2020: Collin Morikawa (-13)
2019: Brooks Koepka (-8)
2018: Brooks Koepka (-16)
2017: Justin Thomas (-8)
2016: Jimmy Walker (-14)
2015: Jason Day (-20)
2014: Rory McIlroy (-16)
2013: Jason Dufner (-10)
2012: Rory McIlroy (-13)
* Won in playoff
History: Records
Scoring
263 – Xander Schauffele (2024)
264 – Brooks Koepka (2018)
To-Par
-21 – Xander Schauffele (2024)
-20 – Jason Day (2015)
Winning Margin
8 – Rory McIlroy (2012)
Youngest
20 – Gene Sarazen (1922)
Oldest
50 – Phil Mickelson (2021)
Wins
5 – Walter Hagen (1921, 1924-27)
5 – Jack Nicklaus (1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980)
4 – Tiger Woods (1999-00, 2006-07)
3 – Brooks Koepka (2018-19, 2023)
3 – Sam Snead (1942, 1949, 1951)
Runner-Ups
4 – Jack Nicklaus (1964, 1965, 1974, 1983)
The Course: Quail Hollow Club
Quail Hollow Club, the formidable host of the 2025 PGA Championship, is set to challenge the world’s best golfers with its demanding layout and storied history. This par-71, 7,600-yard masterpiece, designed by George Cobb in 1961 and refined by Arnold Palmer and Tom Fazio, has long been a PGA Tour staple, hosting the annual Wells Fargo Championship and the 2017 PGA Championship, won by Justin Thomas.
Known for its punishing “Green Mile” — the final three holes (16-18) — Quail Hollow ranks among the toughest closing stretches in golf. The par-4 16th, with its narrow fairway and elevated green, demands precision, while the par-3 17th, guarded by water, tests nerve. The par-4 18th, a 494-yard beast, often decides outcomes, as seen in past championships. In 2024, Rory McIlroy won at 17-under, but PGA Championship scoring is expected to be tougher due to firmer greens and thicker rough.
The course’s Bermuda grass fairways and greens, averaging 6,500 square feet, favor long hitters like McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Bryson DeChambeau, who will thrive on the three par-5s (Nos. 7, 10, and 15) particularly the reachable 10th and 15th. However, accuracy is critical, with 61 bunkers and water hazards on seven holes.
Recent renovations, including rebuilt greens in 2022, ensure Quail Hollow remains a modern challenge.
Weather forecasts for May 2025 predict warm temperatures in the mid-80s with a chance of thunderstorms, potentially softening the course but adding strategic complexity. With a $20 million purse and the Wanamaker Trophy at stake, Quail Hollow’s blend of length, strategy, and drama promises a thrilling major championship battle.
Course Data
Name: Quail Hollow Club
Locale: Charlotte, NC, USA
Type: Private
Owners: Membership-owned
Stats: 18 Holes, Par 71, 7626 yards
Elevation: 600 ft
Architect: George Cobb (1961)
Reno: Arnold Palmer, Tom Fazio
Established: 1961
Course Record: 61 – Rory McIlroy, 2015
Website: QuailHollowClub.com
Vault: 2024 PGA Championship
On Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club, Xander Schauffele made a six-foot birdie on the par-5 18th hole to claim a one-shot victory over Bryson DeChambeau at the 2024 PGA Championship.
Playing in the final group alongside Collin Morikawa (70), Schauffele arrived at the 18th tee on 20 under and tied with DeChambeau. The then 30-year-old San Diego native needed a birdie to win, while a par would force a playoff. A bogey would be disastrous.
Schauffele got a bad break when his tee ball landed on the edge of the bunker, leaving him with a challenging stance. With both feet planted in the sand and the ball on the grass, Schauffele flushed a 3 iron some 240 yards, leaving his ball 35 yards short of the green and 55 yards to the pin. On his third shot, Schauffele chipped it to six feet below the hole.
Trying to take away any break, Schauffele hit the putt firmly, and when the ball finally fell into the cup after rolling along the left lip, he threw his arms in the air to celebrate.
“I was actually kind of emotional after the putt lipped in,” said Schauffele, who became the first player since Phil Mickelson in 2005 at Baltusrol to win the PGA Championship by one shot with a birdie on the final hole.
“It’s been a while since I’ve won. I kept saying it all week, I just need to stay in my lane.
“Man, was it hard to stay in my lane today, but I tried all day to just keep focus on what I’m trying to do and keep every hole ahead of me. Had some weird kind of breaks coming into the house, but it’s all good now.”
Schauffele finished his final day in Louisville, Kentucky with one bogey against seven birdies, highlighted by the final-hole gain to post 65 and reach 21-under par.
For his first major, Schauffele earned $3,330,000 and 700 FedExCup points.
Top-10 Finishers
Pos-Player-To Par (Rd 4 Score)
1. Xander Schauffele -21 (-6)
2. Bryson DeChambeau -20 (-7)
2. Viktor Hovland -18 (-5)
4. Thomas Detry -15 (-5)
4. Collin Morikawa -15 (-1)
6. Justin Rose -14 (-2)
6. Shane Lowry -14 (-1)
8. Billy Horschel -13 (-7)
8. Scottie Scheffler -13 (-6)
8. Justin Thomas -13 (-3)
8. Robert MacIntyre -13 (-1)
The PGA Championship Field
The field this week in North Carolina will include most of the world’s marquee players, headlined by world No.1 Scottie Scheffler, who enters in tip-top form and off a win at the Byron Nelson, and Rory McIlroy, fresh off completing the career grand slam at the Masters.
Joining Scheffler and McIlroy will be joined a bevy of superstars, including Bryson DeChambeau, the reigning U.S. Open champion; five-time major winner Brooks Koepka; Jordan Spieth, who needs only the PGA to complete the career grand slam; two-time major winners Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa, among others.
The three clear betting favorites this week are Scheffler (+400), McIlroy (+500) and DeChambeau (+900).
Justin Thomas, the PGA winner at Quail Hollow in 2017, was next at +1800. A trio of two-time major winners rounded out the top-5 leaders at +2200: Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa and defending champion Xander Schauffele.
Ludvig Aberg (+2500) and Joaquin Niemanna (+3000) round out the top tier of players with odds +3000 or below. Next was a marquee foursome at +4000: Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Cantlay, and Tommy Fleetwood.
The oddsmakers have Jordan Spieth at +4500 to complete the grand slam. LIV Golf’s Tyrrell Hatton rounded out the top-15 favs — also +4500.
A trio of locks for the 2025 European Ryder Cup squad were next at +5000: Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry, and Viktor Hovland.
Corey Conners (+6000), Patrick Reed (+6500) and Russell Henley (+7000) rounded out the top-20 betting favorites.
Top-20 Betting Favorites
Odds Rank-Player (Odds)
1. Scottie Scheffler (4-1)
2. Rory McIlroy (5-1)
3. Bryson DeChambeau (9-1)
4. Justin Thomas (18-1)
5. Collin Morikawa (22-1)
5. Jon Rahm (22-1)
5. Xander Schauffele (22-1)
8. Ludvig Aberg (25-1)
9. Joaquin Niemann (30-1)
10. Brooks Koepka (40-1)
10. Hideki Matsuyama (40-1)
10. Patrick Cantlay (40-1)
10. Tommy Fleetwood (40-1)
14. Jordan Spieth (45-1)
14. Tyrrell Hatton (45-1)
16. Sepp Straka (50-1)
16. Shane Lowry (50-1)
16. Viktor Hovland (50-1)
19. Corey Conners (60-1)
20. Patrick Reed (65-1)
Full Field & Odds
Joel Cook contributed to this report. Credits: PGA Tour Media, Getty Images, PGA of America Communications, Wikipedia
