Blake Davis
It would be difficult to find a better suited golf course for players anywhere on the PGA Tour than Rory McIlroy and Quail Hollow. McIlroy, who beat friend Shane Lowry two weeks ago in the 2024 Zurich Classic, will make his 13th career start at this golf course (12 Wells Fargo championships, one PGA championship).
In that time, Rory has racked up five top fives, eight top 10s and just one missed cut (2011 Wells Fargo Championship) when he was just 22 years old. He has only lost strokes from tee to green once in 12 starts and has more tournaments in which he gained more than 3 strokes per round on the fairway per round (four) than tournaments in which he lost strokes on the fairway (one).
“It’s always good to be back at the Quail,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “Not only one of my favorite stops on the Tour, but one of my favorite cities in America. I’ve had so many great memories here over the years, the first Tour win and obviously winning here a few times, and I think the support that I’ve received from this community and the support this tournament has had from this community over the years, it’s always been great to experience. So yeah, it’s great to be back.”
Of the players in the field this week, McIlroy was by far the best on this golf course throughout his career. Here are the top five in strokes gained:
- Rory McIlroy: 2.62
- Justin Tomás: 2.12
- Rickie Fowler: 2.07
- Jason’s Day: 1.99
- Viktor Hovland: 1.97
Only three golfers have a career average greater than 2.0 strokes gained per round, and McIlroy is closer to 3.0 than 2.0. These are surprising numbers.
McIlroy has won here many times. His first PGA Tour win in 2010. His 2015 seven-stroke rout of Webb Simpson and Patrick Rodgers. And finally in 2022, when he beat Abraham Ancer by one and Viktor Hovland and Keith Mitchell by two.
Without Scottie Scheffler in the field, McIlroy is suddenly a 13/2 favorite to win the Wells Fargo Championship. The only other golfer getting into single digits is Xander Schauffele at 9-1.
That doesn’t make Rory a replacement. His iron game has been up and down this year. He finished T47 on this course a year ago due to difficulties with that iron set. He has a lot at stake next week at the 2024 PGA Championship, where he won in 2014; it would be easy to foresee an important and interesting possibility.
“It feels like the Iron game is changing,” McIlroy said. “[Winning the Zurich Classic] it was the end of a four week period for me, so I took a few days off when I got home and played catch for the first time on Sunday. Sometimes taking a break and just thinking about it instead of actually doing it can help too. I arrived here on Monday very early and did some good training. Yeah, I don’t know if it’s this place and I feel good here, but it feels like everything is starting to change, which is great to see.”
There are few better courses on the PGA Tour than McIlroy at Quail Hollow. He absolutely decimates the place with his driver, which makes sense because it’s a course where you can hit the driver anywhere because distance is significantly important. In 12 matches, he never missed tee shots. In four events, he gained more than 2.0 strokes per round off the tee, an unheard of number for a single category.
In fact, colleague Rick Gehman calls Rory and Quail Hollow one of the best infielders of the last four decades. Only Justin Leonard at LaCantera and Tiger Woods at multiple courses (of course) rank better.
