Why McIlroy is favourite to win US PGA at Quail Hollow

With four wins and the course record, Quail Hollow holds many happy memories for McIlroy They say you drive for show and putt for dough but Rory McIlroy's remarkable record at Quail Hollow, the home of this week's second major of the year, suggests otherwise. McIlroy has won no fewer than four titles at a Charlotte venue where he happens to hold a spectacular course record. He also made into to a play-off in 2012, which was won by Rickie Fowler. It is little wonder that Jordan Spieth referred to the home of the upcoming US PGA Championship as the "Rory McIlroy Country Club", when the two players exchanged pleasantries before last week's Truist Championship in Philadelphia. Masters winner McIlroy, fresh from completing his full set of major victories, suggested the American, who has won the Masters, US Open and Open Championship, would become the next player to complete the career Grand Slam. Spieth seemed more realistic. His quipped response reflected the Northern Irishman's fearsome reputation at Quail Hollow. Of all the regular stops on the PGA Tour, none fits better the 36-year-old world number two than this 7,626 yard par-71 layout. It was designed by George Cobb and recently updated by Tom Fazio. Everything about it fills McIlroy with confidence, and that is largely founded in his incredible power off the tee. "The way he drives the ball gives him a bigger advantage there," says DP World Tour stalwart Oliver Wilson, who lives close to the North Carolina course. "Some holes become far easier when you can take the bunkers out of play with your length off the tee. The 16th for example." Having won there for the first time as a callow 20 year old in 2010, McIlroy is a combined 102 under par on this properly robust major championship test. He set his course record 61 when winning in 2015. Twelve months ago McIlroy beat the in-form Xander Schauffe - who is defending the PGA Championship title this week - by five shots to triumph for the fourth time. He topped the strokes gained stats off the tee that week despite hitting only 29 of 56 fairways. Missing the short stuff so regularly did not matter. Only one player managed to beat his tally of 49 greens in regulation and no one came close to topping him on the leaderboard. McIlroy's prowess with the big stick provides the bedrock. "This is a golf course that lets you hit driver a lot and you can really take advantage of length off the tee if you have it," he said. "It's one of the big factors why I've been able to do so well here over the years." The US PGA was first played at Quail Hollow in 2017 and curiously McIlroy was not a factor, posting rounds of 72,72,73 and 68. The course had only been recently renovated and its greens played firmer and faster than anticipated, with Justin Thomas winning at eight under par. "It's a completely different golf course," McIlroy observed at the time. "Even if they didn't do anything else and just changed it to full Bermuda (grass) like it is now, it makes the golf course two shots more difficult." That championship was played in steamy August, another contributing factor to the layout feeling unfamiliar. Now the big changes have bedded with further refinements carried out two years ago. McIlroy posted his most recent wins there in 2021 and last year and will be delighted the PGA is played in May these days. Quail Hollow, boasting 61 bunkers and four water hazards, will feel reassuringly familiar and just how he likes it. But it will be set up tougher than it usually is for the Wells Fargo Championship (now known as the Truist). Chief championships officer Kerry Haigh is known for delivering stern but fair examinations. The rough is likely to be half an inch longer and a new ninth tee adds length to the scorecard. Slopes on a dozen greens have been softened, which should offer a wider range of hole locations to challenge the 156-man field. Of those competitors, though, no one should have more confidence than McIlroy. As much as it can in this capricious game, everything appears to be falling into place. Unburdened by ending his 11-year wait for a fifth major to join the all time greats as a grand slammer, he is now heading to his favourite venue on and off the course. The traditional May date for Quail Hollow's regular tour stop means he has celebrated the majority of his adult birthdays in the Charlotte area. "I love coming back here," he says. "It's a place that I'm very comfortable at. With Quail Hollow, the city of Charlotte in general and the people." He will gain a rapturous following this week, coming in as a redemptive and all conquering hero of Augusta. "All these people have watched me grow up," he added. "I won here for the first time as a 20-year-old. They've seen my progression throughout the years." When the then curly haired youngster won in 2010 he fired weekend rounds of 66 and 62 after making the cut with nothing to spare. He beat Phil Mickelson by four shots. It was a true glimpse into the future. Forever finding the most dramatic storylines, on that occasion McIlroy capped his victory by outrageously holing out on the closing green from more than 40 feet. It lodged the first of so many glorious memories at this venue. Which begs the question of whether there is another just around the corner? Victory this week would move McIlroy alongside Sir Nick Faldo's six majors and tie the record for any European in the modern era. Weather forecasters predict a stormy build up, suggesting a soft golf course to put an even greater premium on length off the tee. And that suits McIlroy and his booming driver just fine. Golf is notoriously difficult to predict, but there can be no argument that there are many reasons for continued optimism for McIlroy's legion of fans. The man himself has observed: "I feel like there's not a place on this golf course where I haven't hit it from and don't have some sort of memory of what to do." And, unarguably, most of those memories are very positive indeed.