A month after Rory McIlroy roared to success at Augusta National in one of the greatest final days in major tournament history, the world's best get together again this week, vying for the honour to be the US PGA champion, and to lift the Wanamaker Trophy at Quail Hollow, in North Carolina.
The competition will be under the spotlight after the criticism it received last year, when Valhalla proved no test for the best in the business, becoming the first US PGA course to see a combined under-par score shot by the entire field (214-under), beating the previous lowest, Riviera in 1997, by 254 strokes.
Xander Schauffele is the reigning champion, but in-form Justin Thomas is the only previous winner of the tournament at this venue, taking glory in 2017 when only 12 players finished the week under-par.
McIlroy enters as joint-favourite, given that he has enjoyed great success at this course, winning four times, under the moniker of the Wells Fargo Championship, which has been renamed the Truist Championship, and was played last week at the Wissahickon Course at Philadelphia Country Club instead.
Here, Sports Mole looks at who may be holding the Wanamaker Trophy aloft at Quail Hollow on Sunday evening.
The big two:
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There is only one man to start with and that is Masters and Players champion McIlroy, who could not have asked for a better start to 2025, becoming just the sixth man in history to complete the Career Grand Slam, as well as ending his decade-long wait for a major title.
Even though it looked like he was going to throw it away on more than one occasion, making four double bogeys across the week, including two on Sunday, McIlroy rallied in the face of adversity, and held off a brave challenge from Justin Rose in a sudden-death playoff.
Having got that monkey off his back, many now tip him to go on and potentially reach double figures for majors, with two victories at the US PGA aiding towards his current tally of five majors, and there is excitement surrounding him given his excellent record at this venue.
McIlroy is a four-time winner at Quail Hollow, with all of those successes coming in the Wells Fargo, including last year, when he won by a commanding five strokes, adding to his seven-stroke margin of victory in 2015, as well as the fact he own the course record (61) and the tournament course record (21-under).
The competition moved courses last week and is now known as the Truist Championship, but McIlroy still recorded another top-10, to add to his three wins in his first six solo starts this season, and since joining the PGA Tour in 2010, the Northern Irishman has shot 102-under at this course, 55 strokes better than any other player in that time.
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One man who will not be best pleased at having his thunder stolen is world number one Scottie Scheffler, who responded to McIlroy's early-season dominance by thrashing the field at the CJ Byron Nelson at the start of the month, winning with an astonishing score of 31-under, beating Erik van Rooyen by eight strokes.
That means Scheffler has finished in the top-10 in his last four starts, even finishing fourth at the Masters despite not playing his best golf at any point during the week, which should strike fear into the field here if he does manage to turn it on, and in particular, get the putter working again.
The main American challengers:
American winners are very common at the US PGA, so it would be no surprise to see another winner who hails from the United States this week, just like Schauffele did at Valhalla a year ago.
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Apart from being tied at the top heading into Sunday, Schauffele went wire-to-wire at Valhalla, shooting a competition record 21-under in the easy conditions there, but after also adding the Open Championship to his collection later last year, he has struggled in the opening months of 2025.
Injured hampered his preparation at the beginning of the year, with a T8 finish at Augusta representing his only top-10 of the season so far in eight starts, but he did show signs of being back on form at the RBC Heritage and the Truist, so there is definitely some value in backing Schauffele this week at around 20/1.
Outside of the big two though, nobody is gaining more traction than Bryson DeChambeau, who looked set to spoil the party at Augusta and deny McIlroy the Grand Slam, before collapsing in almost comical circumstances on the Sunday.
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Love him or loathe him, he is a headline-maker, and he has certainly added interest to the last few major tournaments, which are the only opportunity he gets to compete with the best after moving to LIV a few years ago, and after finishing second at the US PGA and winning the US Open last year, another top-10 at the Masters means he is likely to contend.
A very popular winner though would be the only previous champion at this course in Thomas, who is hitting form just at the right time, claiming his first victory on Tour in almost three years when winning the RBC Heritage last month.
Prior to that, JT was without a win since lifting the Wanamaker in 2022, and the two-time US PGA winner's odds are shortening day-by-day, with a T2 finish at the Truist last week making it a fourth top-two finish this season already.
Another man being widely tipped, and who has experience of winning this fine competition, is Collin Morikawa, whose maiden major success came at the US PGA in 2020, but since winning the Open in 2021, it has been a struggle to get over the line for him.
Only one win has come Morikawa's way since the Open, and it was in a slightly weakened field at the Zozo in 2023, as he fell away at the US PGA last year despite being tied for the lead heading into Sunday, before finishing 14th at the Masters last month, and not really contesting at the Heritage or the Truist.
Morikawa also lost out at the Arnold Palmer Invitation on the 72nd hole to Russell Henley, and missed the cut at the Zurich Classic, but nevertheless he does have the ability to win tournaments of this stature, he just need to prove he can hold it together at the business end once again.
The best European hopes at Quail Hollow:
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Apart from Jim Barnes in the 1910s, no player from the UK has ever won the US PGA apart from McIlroy, meaning Englishman Rose will look to make history after his heartbreaking defeat at the Masters, and become the first winner from Great Britain in the modern era.
Rose received just as much praise as McIlroy did following the dramatic final round at Augusta, recovering from a poor Saturday to shoot six birdies in his final eight holes on Sunday to force an unlikely playoff, but he had to settle for runner-up for the third time at the Masters.
If current trends continue though, Rose could be a rare player who manages to break into the winner's circle at a major in his 40s, considering he finished T2 at the Open last year, and sixth at the US PGA, meaning he has come in the top-15 in each of the last five editions of this tournament - the only player to do so.
Shane Lowry was left bitterly disappointed at throwing away the opportunity to claim his biggest win Stateside last weekend, coming second to Sepp Straka at the Truist, blowing his chance on the 72nd hole when he three-putted from close range.
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That is essentially the story of Lowry's career in the US; he so often contends, but he only has one solo win on Tour, and it came back in 2015, and while he does have four top-10s so far this season, he capitulated at the Masters, shooting an 81 on Sunday to drop from the top-10 to 42nd - he is one to keep an eye on though.
Straka, the man who got the better of Lowry, became just the second player on the PGA Tour, after McIlroy, to claim multiple titles so far this season with that success at the Truist, in what is his biggest win to date.
That moves him into second in the FedEx Cup rankings, after also winning the Amex early this season, but he has not been great at the majors since finishing second behind Brian Harman at the 2023 Open, missing two of five cuts, including at the Masters last month, and failing to register a single top-15 finish, so there is still plenty of scope to improve for the Austrian.
Another line must be dedicated to Ludvig Aberg though, as the young superstar is seemingly on the cusp of doing something very special at the tender age of 25, but inconsistency makes it difficult to pinpoint when he could turn it on, with two missed cuts and a withdrawal already this season. The big Swede did finish seventh at the Masters, but has flattered to deceive at the Heritage and the Truist since, however, a big performance is due.
Who must improve in time for the US PGA?
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It is tough to find a golfer with as much talent and promise, but who has failed to capitalise on it in recent years than Joaquin Niemann, as the former number one amateur continued his dreadful run in majors at the Masters last month, failing to ever get into contention.
Whatever your thoughts may be on his move to LIV are irrelevant to this conversation, because despite his multiple wins on that tour, and the subsequent hype that has been attributed to him, the Chilean has just one top-20 finish in 23 major starts, missing the cut on seven occasions.
Niemann's LIV compatriot Jon Rahm may be among the highest-paid athletes in any sport at present, but his relevance in the game is starting to dwindle slightly, after a complete drop off in form since jumping ship from the PGA Tour.
Whoever falsely informed Rahm that the PGA and LIV would quickly merge after his move may be partly to blame, but the Spaniard has followed the same trajectory as many former top players who have made the move, as 14 of the 18 LIV players who have played in at least three majors since making the jump have performed worse in terms of Strokes Gained compared to their three-year average prior to the move.
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Among players on the PGA Tour, nobody need a win more than Tommy Fleetwood, who has still never tasted success in America ahead of his 150th start, and the US PGA has been his weakest of the four majors, with only one top-10 finish, a missed cut in 2021, and a T61 when it was at Quail Hollow in 2017, and there has been little of late to suggest his fortunes are going to change.
Jordan Spieth is another player who proves just how difficult it is to win at the highest level, with only three victories in eight years, finishing well down the field at the Truist, as well as only managing T14 at his favourite course at Augusta, but a surprise win this week will see him complete the Career Grand Slam, eight years after he claimed his last major at the 2017 Open.
It is harsh to say a man who has won on Tour this season must improve, but Viktor Hovland has shown no form whatsoever outside of his win at the Valspar shortly before the Masters, missing three straight cuts going into that tournament, and he did not contend at Augusta or the Truist, but high hopes remain in place for his career, even though he has to rediscover the brilliance he showed in 2023.
Outsiders who could contend at Quail Hollow:
There were no real surprises at the top end of the Masters leaderboard last month, as our tips Nico Echavarria and Tom Hoge both fell away unfortunately on the Sunday, but a bigger field at the US PGA means there is more chance of an unlikely contender this week.
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Englishman Aaron Rai will hope he can use this tournament as a springboard for success in the majors in what will be his fifth start, having already won on the PGA Tour at the Wyndham Championship last August.
Famed for wearing two gloves, Rai is an excellent iron player, and frequently hits fairways, allowing him to target the pin regularly, and just missing out on the top-10 in both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players earlier this season suggests he is capable of competing in due course.
Youngster Akshay Bhatia is another to keep an eye on, after only turning 23 in January, he already has two PGA Tour wins to his name, both coming in playoffs, which indicates he has the ability to hold his nerve when the pressure is on.
Bhatia has very limited major experience, and missed the cut on his US PGA debut last year, but he has shown promising signs, performing well at stages in the most recent US Open and the Masters, as well as finishing in a tie for third at the Players in March - he looks overpriced at 120/1.
A familiar face on the tour now is that of 35-year-old South African Van Rooyen, who has won twice on the PGA Tour, and would have added a third at the Byron Nelson if Scheffler did not put in one of the most commanding performances of recent years two weeks ago.
Van Rooyen is priced at around 350/1, due to missing back-to-back cuts at the Players, and in six straight majors between 2021 and 2022, as well as at the US Open last year, but his best major performance was at the US PGA, and a big-priced outsider always seems to contend at this competition, and after the performance at the Byron Nelson, there is nothing to suggest why it could not be the South African.
Andrew Delaney
