Sign in/Register 
I'm a firm believer that the course is one of the most influential factors in determining a winner for any golf tournament. Alongside form and weather, the golf course has a serious impact because it puts such a heavy emphasis on every golfer's style-of-play. Where do you gain the most strokes? How far do you drive? How often do you hit greens in regulation? We see it time after time; players fail or prevail depending on the course. Quail Hollow will be no different.
It's easy to look at who has won the competition a handful of times in the past or who is ranked higher in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), but you must, and I mean must, consider the course. Don't get me wrong, if you're sitting at the top of the OWGR then you're probably a half-decent player, and if you've tasted glory on the same stage already, it helps. It really does. But remember it's not the be-all and end-all when you're telling your mates about your 'banker' for the PGA Championship this week. Anyway, let's take a look at what we can expect at North Carolina's Quail Hollow Club.
A major at Quail Hollow is a dream for anybody who, like me, is paid to write about golf (yeah, it's not a bad way to make a living). Why? Simple: we know who plays well on the course. The course in Charlotte, North Carolina, played host to the Wells Fargo Championship between 2003 and 2016, giving us a bucket-load of data to analyse until the cows come home. Starting with the course's top performers, Rory McIlroy already has two victories under his belt at Quail Hollow- one being his first PGA Tour win in 2010 and the other featuring a course-record 61 in 2015. That 2015 win also smashed the tournament record of 16-under with a remarkable -21. It's fair to say that Mr McIlroy is the red-hot, nailed-on, undeniable favourite. The World No. 4 has the best scoring average over the past five years at Quail Hollow, followed by Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson respectively. Rose and Mickelson will fancy their chances of making life tough for McIlroy.
The Quail Hollow course certainly favours big-hitters and those who gain the majority of their strokes off-the-tee. Five of the last eight Wells Fargo Championship winners ranked at first or second in strokes gained off-the-tee. Jon Rahm leads the PGA Tour in average strokes gained off-the-tee, just ahead of Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia. The course will no doubt have Rickie Fowler licking his lips, having carded his first PGA Tour win on the same course in the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship, much like Rory McIlroy in 2010. Oh, and guess who he beat in the play-off. Yep, the Northern Irishman himself.
I mentioned earlier my belief that the course overrides world ranking and tournament records with regards to relevance to performance and therefore importance when assessing the field. This extends to the likes of Jordan Spieth and Jason Day. Spieth sits at number two in the OWGR as he chases a career grand slam. In fact, this will be his only chance to beat Tiger Woods's record as the youngest ever career grand slam winner (Spieth, now 24, will be 25 and therefore older than Woods was when he achieved his first career grand slam, by the time of next year's PGA Championship). However, the American is famously far better in his approach and green game than off-the-tee. Meanwhile, Jason Day finished in top-spot in this tournament in 2015 before settling for runner-up last year. The Australian, however, is simply not as compatible with this course as the likes of Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler.
Finally, I also mentioned weather as being a key factor in the golfers' performances. I'm sat here looking at two graphics: one telling me it's going to rain at Quail Hollow from Thursday-Sunday, the other telling me the golfers with the most strokes gained in the rain since 2014. Let me tell you something, Rory McIlroy is causing me an incessant pain in my backside as I try to put together a case for someone else- anyone else- to have half a chance in this tournament. I shouldn't be surprised that the 28-year-old is the top performer in rainy conditions over the past three years, given that he truly is one of the great golfers of this era. Oh, and he grew up in Northern Ireland- rain is a way of life out there. However, the graphic is not entirely discouraging for his competitors, with Dustin Johnson sitting in second- ever so slightly edging third-place Sergio Garcia. Rickie Fowler ranks in at fifth, whilst Justin Rose, Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson are also hanging around the right end of the table. Game on? I'll go as far as maybe. Just maybe.
Written by Joe Carabini
