Now that he has the career Grand Slam out of the way, will Rory McIlroy keep the dream of the single-season Slam alive? Can Jordan Spieth match Rory and finally secure a career Slam of his own? Will it ever stop raining in Charlotte?! The 2025 PGA Championship kicks off this week at Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina, where you’re normally used to seeing it host the Truist (formerly Wells Fargo) Championship. But not this year. Here are our burning questions for the second major of 2025.
You’re up, Jordan. McIlroy finally snatched his career Grand Slam with his Masters victory last month, meaning Spieth and Phil Mickelson are the only active players still one major away from joining that exclusive group. While Mickelson needs the U.S. Open, Spieth needs this one, the PGA Championship. He hasn’t finished better than 29th in any of his last five PGAs and his best finish was his runner-up to Jason Day at Whistling Straits a decade ago. He hasn’t won since the 2022 RBC Heritage and has bounced between average and good this season — six top 25s and two top 5s — although he’s never finished better than T28 in his four starts at Quail Hollow. Before Rory won the Masters, the career Grand Slam spotlight was always on him. Now it’s shifted Jordan’s direction.
Speaking of Spieth, he’s the last player to win the first two legs of the season-long Grand Slam, back when he won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015 (before the PGA Championship was moved to May). While it’s no easy task, McIlroy plays Quail Hollow extremely well and, with the Masters monkey off his back, a win here is more than possible and would provide another juicy storyline to continue into the U.S. Open.
These 16 LIV players are in 2025 PGA Championship field
If you are studying up for your golf pools, don’t scroll too far down for this one. The cream seems to always rise to the top at the PGA. Look at the names of the winners of the last eight PGA Championships: Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka (3), Justin Thomas (2), Mickelson and Collin Morikawa.
Unlikely.
Yes! I mean, someday. Right? The World No. 1 has two Masters titles but has yet to win one of the other three majors, although he does have nine top 10s in them. Scheffler — quite embarrassingly, we might add — did not win in his first eight starts of the season, although he ended that interminable streak with a record-breaking win at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson two weeks ago. Just the momentum he needed heading into the second major of year? It might be.
He sure seems to be! There’s a lot to like about Thomas’ game heading into this week. He’s won two majors in his career and both have been PGA Championships, and he recently ended a winless drought — dating back to the 2022 PGA — with a victory at the RBC Heritage last month. In his only start since then, at last week’s Truist Championship, Thomas tied for second and finished two off the lead. In 11 starts this season he hasn’t missed a cut, has three runner-up finishes and six top 10s. In his last four starts at Quail Hollow he’s finished between 14th and 26th and, oh yeah, won the last PGA hosted there, back in 2017. Conditions might also be soft, which is good news for his game. His head has to be in a good spot right now.
Morikawa tied for 17th last week in his first event with new caddie Joe Greiner, but it’s the majors that matter here, people, so we’ll see how the new duo handles Quail Hollow. Greiner caddied for Max Homa when they won the Wells Fargo in 2019, and Morikawa was T16 at the Wells Fargo last year. He’s still looking for his first win since October 2023 and is still stuck on two majors after securing two in a six-start span back in 2020-21.
It’s been an odd year for Max. New caddie (goodbye Greiner; enter Bill Harke). He missed five straight cuts but saw positive signs in a T12 at the Masters. While a 70th-place finish the following week at Harbour Town wasn’t ideal, he was T30 last week and is now returning to the site of his first career PGA Tour win back in 2019, a place where he’s also tied for 8th the last two years during the Wells Fargo. The vibes are good here for Homa. That’s a promising start.
While it might be a factoid that’s only interesting to me, Jon Rahm has never finished outside of the top 10 in his 19 LIV starts. He also hasn’t won a major since joining LIV. (Yes, he’s well aware of this, too.) The PGA, for whatever reason, has been particularity frustrating for him. He missed the cut last year and was T50 and T48 the two years prior. For Rory, winning the Masters seemed like it was just a matter of time. Could the same be said for Rahm’s next major? He’s been in the top 14 in each of the last two.
The two players with multiple PGA Tour wins this year? McIlroy… and Sepp Straka. The latter won the Truist Championship at Philly Cricket Club on Sunday, so he heads to Charlotte with spirits high and game sharp. Will last week’s success carry over? Or are we destined for a burnout? The guy has played great this year, with 10 top 25s to go with his two victories. He only has two major top 10s in his career and none in his last five starts, but he’s also never been playing better (and tied for 8th at the Wells Fargo at Quail last year).
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