Xander Schauffele not only player defending as PGA Championship returns to Quail Hollow

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The pre-tournament interview lineup is always robust at a major championship, and this week is no exception heading toward the start of the PGA Championship. There are notable stars, potential storylines and the defending champs – all three of them.

PGA of America officials surely view that as a singular term, as only Xander Schauffele landed in Charlotte, North Carolina, this week with the Wanamaker Trophy in tow. But given the unique history of recent tournaments at Quail Hollow Club, he’s not the only one with something to defend.

Schauffele won the most recent PGA Championship. Justin Thomas won the most recent PGA at Quail Hollow. And the last player to win any tournament here? That would be the reigning Masters champ.

This, after all, is "Rory McIlroy Country Club" – eloquently termed last week by Jordan Spieth. Not every major venue sees annual PGA TOUR competition, as Quail Hollow does as the typical host of the Truist Championship. A good chunk of that history has been dominated by the Ulsterman, now unshackled from any Grand Slam expectations as he returns to a course where he has won four times. That list includes last year, when he raced past Schauffele to win on the eve of the PGA, putting together a clinical 65 in the final round to blow away the competition.

There’s likely no course on the planet where he has flexed his on-course advantage to a greater degree, bombing drivers past bunkers and taking unimagined sight lines while setting scoring records seemingly at will.

As the player in the field who has won most recently at Quail Hollow, he’s among this “defending” trio. And at +450 at FanDuel Sportsbook, he’s a clear betting favorite along with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (+400) heading into this week’s major test.

“First and foremost, he’s really, really good at golf, so that definitely helps,” Thomas said of McIlroy. “I would argue he’s the best driver of the ball I’ve ever seen, and that is extremely important here.

“He just has – when he’s on, he has such control over that driver, it seems like he can hit it in a window and an area that some guys are trying to hit short irons.”

Thomas knows a thing or two about controlling his driver, especially here. It was eight years ago that he burst onto the scene here in a major way, highlighting a five-win season with the first of his two PGA victories.

His 2022 PGA triumph at Southern Hills in Oklahoma was – up until a few weeks ago – his most recent win ... but also the start of a maddening drought that lasted nearly three years for the former world No. 1, one that included a number of near-misses and close calls. But then he got his hands on another trophy (or jacket) at the RBC Heritage last month, and he promptly followed that with a runner-up finish last week in Philadelphia.

Suddenly Thomas is surging, both on paper and in betting markets, heading back to a venue he holds dear.

“There’s definitely different parts of that week, and especially Sunday, that I’ll always remember,” Thomas said. “It’s always very special to (get) a first of anything, a first win and obviously a first major. So it was a very, very special week.”

Thomas is sitting at +2200 for another Wanamaker, a victory that would put him in some select company with the likes of Hale Irwin and Peter Thomson among players to have three or more major wins – all from the same event. No longer fielding questions about an ongoing victory drought, he has both momentum and fond memories upon which to rely.

McIlroy is perhaps more unburdened now that his green jacket sits neatly in his closet. So, too, is Schauffele, who came to the PGA last year as one of the best players in the world without a major. He left with a watershed win, one that he translated into a second just two months later at Royal Troon to position himself as Scheffler’s top challenger for dominance on TOUR.

“If I didn’t win one (major) ever, it would have been that conversation that would have haunted me until I was done playing probably,” Schauffele said. “That’s just how the game goes.”

A rib injury slowed him down at the start of the year, and McIlroy’s three-win run that also included THE PLAYERS deflected some of the attention. And while Schauffele may not seek the spotlight, his game is quietly trending in the right direction.

Four straight finishes of T-18 or better, including a T-8 result at the Masters, are promising. So is his penchant for major challenges, having cracked the top 20 in 12 straight majors dating back to the 2022 U.S. Open.

“Game’s coming along, slowly but surely,” he said succinctly.

Like the rest of the field, Schauffele is set to face a waterlogged Quail Hollow layout, with strong storms moving through the Charlotte area after a total washout on Monday. It accentuates the emphasis on strong play off the tee, as everyone will be looking to channel what McIlroy has done here time and again.

But it could also paint a similar picture to last year at Valhalla Golf Club, when Schauffele shot 21 under on a soft course where players leaned hard on the driver. When in form, his skillset should shine through in a week like this – but a combination of factors, from recent wins by Scheffler and McIlroy, to his early-season injury woes – have taken some of the shine off the defending champ’s name.

Having entered the new year as the second choice on the odds board behind Scheffler, he’s now all the way out to +2200 – alongside Thomas and behind four others, with the likes of Collin Morikawa and Ludvig Åberg (+2500) in close pursuit.

But Schauffele’s major pedigree speaks for himself, and bettors should be wary of fading him despite the attention heading toward others like McIlroy and Thomas. After all, while three players are defending something this week in Charlotte, it’s Schauffele who is putting the Wanamaker on the line – and if he gets within reach of his best stuff on a long and soft layout, he might just be defending next year, too.

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