The golfing world has seen the kind of start to 2025 which fans, in all likelihood, would have joked about the potential of beforehand – with Rory McIlroy winning The Masters and Scottie Scheffler failing to win on the PGA Tour before May.
Scottie Scheffler seemed to put the entire PGA Tour on notice when he won the Hero World Challenge in December. While it is not an official event, the manner of his victory was so impressive after he had spent time away from the game in the wake of the Tour Championship.
Of course, that was a ninth win of the year worldwide. It put Scheffler’s season alongside some of the best of Tiger Woods’ career. And the question seemed to be who would be able to catch and stop the 28-year-old?
It has turned into a really bizarre year so far for Scheffler. A hand injury sustained on Christmas Day ruled him out for a few weeks, and he is yet to win since his return.
The ‘weird’ position Scottie Scheffler will be in before the PGA Championship
He has not finished outside the top 25 so far, and he has five top 10s in eight starts. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy has triumphed three times, including at The Masters. And of course, the site of the PGA Championship holds plenty of happy memories for the Northern Irishman as he has won there four times.
And with that, Rex Hoggard has told Golf Channel that Scheffler probably goes into the second major of the year in a very unfamiliar position.
“This one’s kind of tough to quantify, I don’t know what to expect from Scottie Scheffler because there is no body of work. You look at Quail Hollow, it’s a big ballpark, it seems like it would fit a ball-striker like Scottie Scheffler. And, as he proved last year, I’m not quite sure there is a golf course that he can’t play but he’s never played a strokeplay event at Quail Hollow, which is shocking considering it hosts a PGA Tour event, a signature event, every single year,” he said.
“The only time he’s ever played there was way back in 2022 during the Presidents Cup and that didn’t go well for him at all – he went 0-3-1 as a rookie on that Presidents Cup team. So it’s a bit of an unknown. He’s still the world number one, all the expectations will still be on him, but I think because of how Rory’s playing, and because of the fact that Rory’s won at Quail Hollow multiple times, in a weird way, I think the pressure will actually be off.”
Scheffler widely criticised after his performance at the 2022 Presidents Cup
It is easy to forget the pressure Scheffler was under heading into the 2024 Presidents Cup. His previous two team appearances for USA had been so disappointing, including at the same event two years earlier.
For example, Golf Digest made a point to praise Sam Burns as they graded all of the players. Burns collected just half a point more than Scheffler having played alongside the world number one in three sessions. However, it was widely felt that it was Scheffler who brought the pairing down.
In fact, Scheffler was given an F grade in the piece.
It is hard to imagine that it was Quail Hollow which was solely responsible for his struggles. But it is remarkable that he will go into the PGA Championship with no other professional tournament appearances under his belt at the venue.
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