Already boasting what’s perennially the PGA Tour’s toughest closing stretch in the “Green Mile,” the Quail Hollow Club also now features an opening brute that might give Augusta National’s first hole a run for its money.
Created from the merger of two holes in Quail Hollow’s original footprint, the newer No.1 was unveiled at the 2017 PGA Championship and soon made itself known. After just 15 birdies were recorded in the first two rounds, not one of the 75 players to make the weekend birdied No.1 in Round 3.
For the Wells Fargo, the No.1 plays some 29 yards shorter than it did at the PGA (524 yards), so that takes away some of the sting. Still, only the longest hitters will be able to cut much corner on a dogleg that doesn’t bend until 250 yards, and a long approach awaits to a small, well-guarded green.
All in all, No.1 was rated the fifth-toughest hole for the 2019 edition. Rory McIlroy, whose 61 in the 2015 Wells Fargo stood as the old course record, summed it up by suggesting whereas the old 418-yard opener greeted golfers with a gentle handshake, the new version is like a punch in the face.
2019 Wells Fargo: 47 birdies, 283 pars, 114 bogeys, 12 double bogeys, 1 higher
