World No 4, Rory McIlroy, is the Quail Hollow specialist as the PGA Tour site turns into a Major venue for the 99th PGA Championship.
Quail Hollow is a familiar setting, hosting the Wachovia Championship and then the Wells Fargo Championship between 2003 and 2016, with a year-long hiatus before Thursday’s opening tee shot at the PGA Championship.
Following a year-long break due to course redesign, the world’s best descend on Quail Hollow in North Carolina with the year’s final Major up for grabs. The ‘Green Mile’ – the brutal three-hole closing stretch – remains unchanged, with most of the changes coming on the front nine.
McIlroy arrives in Charlotte without JP Fitzgerald, but after a solid week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational he returns to a course that has treated him well – the Northern Irishman has two victories – 2010 and 2015 – and has a total of six top-10 finishes in seven starts, with his lone missed cut coming in 2011.
Seven Major champions have won in the 14 times the PGA Tour visited the course, including Jim Furyk, Tiger Woods, Lucas Glover and McIlroy himself.
McIlroy’s game is turning around, and just in time too, as he bids for a fifth Major – a win which would have the added bonus of preventing Jordan Spieth achieving the career grand slam before he has a go at the same feat at next year’s Masters.
His driving numbers were sublime at Firestone Country Club – he was number one in strokes gained off the tee, hit a staggering 50 drives over 300 yards, and hit 38 of 42 fairways to set a 54-hole record – but it was on the greens where he found his feet as he missed just four putts in 59 attempts from inside 10 feet this week.
McIlroy continued to make some questionable decisions on course, and ‘unforced errors’ with his wedge play, but after shrugging off the caddie controversy that threatened to derail his on-course progress, and sealing his second top-five finish in an elite event, his recent form is enough to make him a serious contender this week.
Another player that could prevent McIlroy from claiming the win, could be Rickie Fowler, who shot 66 on Sunday and crept into the top 10. Fowler made strong runs at the Masters and the US Open before faltering in the final rounds. He too, has happy memories of Quail Hollow, something that he alluded to in his post-round interview on Sunday as he smiled wryly, recalling beating McIlroy in a playoff to claim his first PGA Tour win in 2012 – like McIlroy did at the same venue in 2010.
Whether Rory caught that interview remains to be seen, but the pair share a tee-off time alongside another player bound to win a Major soon, Jon Rahm, for the first 36 holes.
Spieth’s quest to complete the slam will no doubt be a talking point, he has only played the course once (2013), and tied for 32nd place and endured a tough day on the greens on Sunday, meaning the pendulum has once again swung in favour of McIlroy – who is Major-less since he won this event in 2014 at Valhalla.
