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Number two on our early looks at the majors is a familiar face. Not only a stop in the normal rota, we’ve also seen a PGA Championship here in 2017 as well as the Presidents Cup in 2022. (last week’s Masters’ newsletter)

As much as I love this venue, I’ll be a little more excited to get to the final two, as they were the sites for two of my favorite golfers getting their first major wins. Dustin Johnson won the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, and my man Sugar Shane Lowry won the Open at Royal Portrush in 2019.

Schedule

• Today: The PGA Championship, Quail Hollow, May 15-18th

• Dec 10th: The U.S. Open, Oakmont Country Club, June 12-15th

• Dec 17th: The Open, Royal Portrush, July 17-20th

• Dec 24th: Tackling the TGL

• Dec 31st: The Sentry and New Years Resolutions

Once again, our guy Ron Klos has written a nice preview of Quail Hollow to take a peek at where we’ll be setting up shop in mid-May:

Quail Hollow

It is a classical parkland course that is a favorite among players. Along with immaculate conditions played on scenic rolling terrain, it’s known as one of the most pleasant walks in golf. The course has a natural flow as players step off one green and the next tee box is just yards away.

Every facet of a golfer’s game will be tested at Quail Hollow. As recent past winners demonstrate, including Wyndham Clark, Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, and Jason Day, distance off the tee and positive long iron play are especially advantageous. Another important skill that matters is scrambling for pars on some of the toughest green complexes that players will face all year.

Measuring 7,558 yards, Quail Hollow is a tree-lined parkland par-71 layout. Similar to courses like Torrey Pines and Bay Hill, it presents a challenging combination of length and difficult scoring conditions. It is both the third longest and fifth toughest scoring course in the annual Tour rotation. It also has the sixth longest combined par 4s and par 5s on Tour.

There are five scoring holes at Quail Hollow – the three par 5s and the two semi-driveable sub-350 yard par 4s. To have success on this course, players will need to birdie as many of those as possible and then hold on for dear life on the other 13 holes which all average over par.

The course features tree-lined fairways, rolling terrain, strategically-placed water hazards, and firm undulating greens on approach. Though there are only 61 bunkers (12th fewest), they are well-utilized, being laid out near landing zones along the fairways and often in the direct line of approach shots around the greens.

With a SubAir system below the greens, tournament officials gradually firm up the greens throughout the week so that by Sunday, it becomes very tough to hold the green surface. This is another reason why long drivers of the ball have an advantage at Quail Hollow. More distance off the tee equates to higher-lofted and softer landing approach shots into firm tricky pin positions.

From an agronomic standpoint, the base turf at Quail Hollow is 100% bermudagrass. In the fall of each year, groundskeepers seed the course with bermuda, a warm-weather grass, and with rye, a grass meant for colder seasons. Right after the conclusion of the Wells Fargo Championship, a herbicide is used to kill the ryegrass and let the bermuda grow for the summer.

Read the whole thing. It’s free to all:

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What Happens to the Wells Fargo?

That’s a great question from you, and I’m glad you asked. Like other years where a bigger event was held, we’ll move the annual event to a new host.

2017 saw the event head to Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington, MD. In 2022, we played at a very tough TPC Potomac. This upcoming year, not only will we be on the move again, but the sponsorship has changed. The 2025 Truist Championship will be May 5-11 at The Philadelphia Cricket Club's Wissahickon Course in Philadelphia.

Designed by A.W. Tillinghast (Winged Foot, Bethpage Black) over 100 years ago, the Wissahickon course was restored in 2013 to bring it back to its original vision. Heavily bunkered and varying in style as you go, the wide fairways should make it easy to be aggressive, but not all the approach shots look to be that straightforward. Most reports say the greens were fairly easy, but we’ll see what things look like when it’s set up for a tour event.

My favorite part is this absolute mess of bunkers that (as best I can tell) should play about 300 yards out on the par-5 seventh hole. It doesn’t seem to be as tough of a test as other substitute stops for this one, but, again, I’m sure the powers that be will find some ways to challenge the field in May.

The 2013 restoration was done by Keith Foster, who also worked on Colonial and Southern Hills. Finding info on the resto job led me down a rabbit hole on his arrest and subsequent jail sentence for smuggling “items derived from endangered species” like sawfish blades and alligator skins into the country.

News and Notes

The big rumor this week (it’s that time of year) is of course Tony Finau leaving the tour for LIV. I’ve heard rumblings of another big name being floated as well. For prosperity, I will go on record that my guess is Hideki Matsuyama.

I do love how this stuff turns us all into amateur sleuths

Nothing firm, but if Tony Finau WERE to leave for greener pastures, the FedEx Cup point standings would be affected…

and in case you’re not up to date on some of the possible reasons to jump ship for a big payday, Joel has a nice article for you here:

As always, bet responsibly, have fun, and we’ll talk next week.

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