Smiley Kaufman reveals what he’s already been told about the greens at Quail Hollow ahead of The PGA Championship

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The PGA Championship at Quail Hollow begins on Thursday, with numerous incredibly exciting storylines already developing.

Scottie Scheffler and recent Masters champion Rory McIlroy are both hugely fancied at Quail Hollow this week.

The PGA Championship is said to be somewhat of a ‘bomber’s paradise’, so that means that Bryson DeChambeau cannot be ruled out either.

McIlroy’s familiarity with Quail Hollow could help him win the sixth major of his career.

Whilst Scheffler is being tipped to run away with The PGA Championship by some pundits and fans alike.

One thing’s for sure – this golf course will only suit the players who are striking the ball exceptionally well.

Nothing less than perfection will do at Quail Hollow, and Smylie Kaufman has now lifted the lid on why ball-striking will be so important this week.

Smylie Kaufman on what he’s been told about greens at Quail Hollow ahead of The PGA Championship

The field is absolutely stacked in Charlotte, North Carolina this week.

Scheffler, McIlroy and DeChambeau are the three main contenders to win the PGA, but there are numerous other players who could challenge as well, including the likes of Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele and perhaps even Joaquin Niemann.

Kaufman believes that we will not get an unexpected winner this week, and he shared what he’s already been told about the greens at Quail Hollow when speaking on the Smylie Show.

He said, “Already, from what I’ve been told, even after all this rain, which you would have to guess, they probably have had at least two to three to four inches thus far this week, that’d be my estimation just from videos that I’ve seen. But the greens are bouncing. Like, they were bouncing even yesterday. They were bouncing today.

“So the as far as just weather we expect Thursday and Friday to have, you know, just the overall firmness, I think you you’ll see the balls bouncing on Thursday and Friday on the greens.

“And what does that mean? Well, let’s say this was a course where the sub-air wasn’t great. You know, the greens weren’t getting firm. Then you would say, all right, this kind of brings in a lot of players that maybe, their hybrids, their four irons, their five irons, their the middle long irons. Maybe they’re holding on Thursday and Friday to where they’re up top of the leaderboard and, you know, for the most part, they can go out and not have to, you know, shoot something crazy low on the weekend where I I feel like this golf course is all about how far you can hit it, and how high you can hit it.

“And I think it’s a very limited amount of players that can win this event. I would be surprised if we saw, you know, an unexpected winner this week.”

Those sub-air systems that these top golf courses have are miracle workers.

To have that much rain fall on the golf course and the for the greens still to be firm is quite something.

Leaders in PGA Tour ball-striking categories in 2025

It’s very simple this week – strike the ball supremely well and you will probably contend.

Here’s how the three main categories for ball-striking stack up so far this year:

So if this golf course really is mainly about the quality of ball-striking, then it’s hard to see past Scheffler isn’t it.

For him to be inside the top two for all three categories is truly remarkable.

And Kaufman’s revelation about the greens at Quail Hollow ahead of The PGA Championship should play right into Scheffler’s hands.