13-time PGA Tour winner Jason Day has shared his thoughts on a “really tough” part of Quail Hollow after shooting at three-under 68 on day one at the Wells Fargo Championship.
The 36-year-old sits four shots adrift of Xander Schauffele, who holds the outright lead on seven-under-par. The American’s round wasn’t without drama after taking a controversial drop on his penultimate hole.
Other notable names at the top of the leaderboard include Collin Morikawa, Alex Noren, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.
The signature PGA Tour event in Charlotte is the last chance for the world’s best to play their way into form ahead of the PGA Championship at Valhalla. Schauffele’s opening round certainly provides hope that he could finally end his wait for a major.
Jason Day can’t believe one part of Quail Hollow after day one at the Wells Fargo
Speaking after his first round, one-time major winner Day revealed one part of Quail Hollow that he found particularly challenging.
Despite rain overnight in Charlotte, the Aussie highlighted just how firm the greens were and that it’s been a long time since he’s experienced such conditions.
He said [via Ten Golf]: “The course is obviously playing really difficult with how firm the greens are, even with the rain that we got overnight. I am not sure how the weather is going to be over the next day or so, but those greens are really tough.
“It’s been a while since we’ve played greens like these. I remember back in the day, you’d be bouncing pitching wedges five or ten paces. It just hasn’t been like that for a long time.
“It’s nice to see, for a change. You have to miss it in the correct spot. You really have to plan accordingly ahead of your round to just know where you need to miss to get up and down.”
Quail Hollow is an excellent dress rehearsal for the PGA Championship at Valhalla
This week’s stacked field will benefit massively from playing Quail Hollow. The signature course has previously held PGA Championships and is among the more testing – particularly in terms of length – on the PGA Tour.
Valhalla isn’t too dissimilar and is home to some extremely daunting long par-fours, which could catch some of the shorter hitters out.
Those competing this week should have an advantage over the LIV Golf contingent, who are set to travel to North Carolina next week.
The likes of McIlroy, Morikawa, and Thomas will be primed and ready, having faced a similar test this week. The real question is whether one of the PGA Tour’s big guns can hunt down Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler isn’t competing at Quail Hollow this week, but given his dominant form of late, he will no doubt be near the top of the leaderboard when the year’s second major gets underway.
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