The second major of the golf year takes place this week when pretty much anyone who is anyone in the game heads to Charlotte in North Carolina for the USPGA Championship, each hoping to get their hands on the Wanamaker Trophy.
Xander Schauffele did exactly that a year ago when he held off Bryson DeChambeau on a thrilling Sunday at Valhalla. He is in the field this week and will look to make a successful defence of his first major at Quail Hollow.
Recent Winners
2024 – Xander Schauffele
2023 – Brooks Koepka
2022 – Justin Thomas
2021 – Phil Mickelson
2020 – Collin Morikawa
2019 – Brooks Koepka
2018 – Brooks Koepka
2017 – Justin Thomas
2016 – Jimmy Walker
2015 – Jason Day
The Course
We head to the regular stop on the PGA Tour of Quail Hollow Country Club. Ironically, this track should have been hosting the tournament last week but because of the USPGA Championship being here we had a different course for the Truist Championship. This course has hosted the USPGA Championship before, in 2017, when Justin Thomas prevailed. When this track has hosted the Truist Championship it has played as a par 72 but recently, including in this tournament eight years ago, it has been a par 71 which is what it plays as this week.
With a few extensions on holes the course has a full yardage of 7,626 yards and if the shorter hitters weren’t already daunted by that then they will see a course which is soft in the early parts of the week because of rain. Length is becoming more and more a factor in American majors and that would appear to be the case again here. Rough is up to four inches alongside the fairways so we’re looking for tee to green specialists who have plenty of length behind them here.
The Field
With the golf landscape the way that it currently is, this is one of just four weeks where everyone comes together so that means that we have one of the best fields of the year on show here, even allowing for the PGA professionals who get to tee it up in this tournament too. The defending champion Xander Schauffele is in the field as is The Masters winner Rory McIlroy along with the man who landed the US Open last year in Bryson DeChambeau.
If that isn’t all enough, we have the world number one Scottie Scheffler looking to tee up a shot at his own Grand Slam at The Open by winning here. There is a big international challenge this week with the likes of Hideki Matsuyama, Joaquin Niemann, Corey Conners and Min Woo Lee looking to challenge while behind McIlroy we have the likes of Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry heading up the Euro charge along with the winner of the Truist Championship last week in Sepp Straka.
Market Leaders
If you shop on the best prices then we have joint favourites this week. We are used to Scottie Scheffler being the favourite when he tees it up but he is joined at 5/1 at the head of the market by Rory McIlroy and that is probably no surprise. Scheffler hasn’t been at his best in 2025 despite cantering to the Byron Nelson title recently whereas McIlroy has been in brilliant touch this year having won The Players Championship and The Masters and now he is on a track where he has won four times. The case for the latter is an obvious one. Scheffler can never be ruled out, especially with length a thing here, but he maybe merits being the second fav this week.
Bryson DeChambeau probably should have won this tournament last year when carrying my money. He was 25/1 last year and is a third of the price this time around. He has won the US Open since then and contended at The Masters where he was in the final group so the reduced price is understandable. He has more length than anyone in the field which is a huge box ticked but if there is a concern his short game can be found wanting at times. I actually think he’s the one to beat here but at 17/2 he’s short enough when the challenge of McIlroy is so obvious so I’ll sit this one out.
In his own mind, Justin Thomas could consider himself the defending champion this week as he was the winner the last time the USPGA Championship took place at Quail Hollow eight years ago. He will be looking to revoke those memories again this week and will be assisted by a recent win at the RBC Heritage and a second placed finish in the Truist Championship last week. Thomas has plenty of experience around here and at 20/1 he is hard to leave out of any calculations.
Two other men are shorter in the field than 25/1 and they are the defending champion Xander Schauffele and the former Masters champion Jon Rahm. The latter hasn’t really delivered the goods at this level for the last few majors and although he carries all the required length form is a key thing too. Schauffele has second in the PGA Tour event here last year and the year before that so although this is a different track to the one which he won on, he might not mind the test he’ll receive for his title defence.
Main Bets
I do think Bryson DeChambeau is the one to beat this week but at twice the price I will go with a player who I took last week to go one better here and that is Justin Thomas. He has won the USPGA Championship around here which should give him a real confidence boost going into the week. He has finished first and then second in his last two starts which should also have seen his morale elevate and he didn’t exactly put in a bad showing at The Masters either. Thomas is playing good golf again and this course sets up pretty well for him. Thomas also on the PGA in 2022 so this is a major he goes well in and he looks to have everything to run well again here.
We are going to hear a lot about how there is form correlation between this place and Torrey Pines and Riviera Country Club over the course of the week and if there is anything in that, and the reason why it gets brought up is the same names are usually on the leaderboard across all three tracks, then I have to have Torrey Pines lover Jon Rahm on side here. Rahm won the US Open there and he won the Farmers Insurance Open on that course too and he is a winner at Riviera on top of that as well. The Spaniard generally thrives on long tracks and his T14 at The Masters was only the second time since June that he has teed it up in a golf tournament and been outside the top 10. Admittedly much of that is on the LIV Tour but that tour has already produced a winner of this in Brooks Koepka in 2023 and the US Open with Bryson DeChambeau last year and he could easily have won The Masters too. Rahm ticks too many boxes to leave out of the staking plan here.
Outsiders
I’ll go with a quartet of outsiders this week as it is the only tournament taking place with the 2015 winner of this tournament, Jason Day, being the first of those. Day won at Whistling Straits but even though you wouldn’t perceive him as a bomber he has an excellent record on long courses, not least Torrey Pines where he won in 2015 and 2018. He has also won the Wells Fargo Championship on this course and he was fourth here a year ago in the same tournament. The Australian is no stranger to contending in majors and with his iron play and short game there is no reason why Day, who already has top 10 finishes at Bay Hill and Augusta this season can’t be heavily in the shake up come Sunday night.
Max Homa is another one who jumps off the page this week. This might not be the Homa of a few years ago but a man who has won at Torrey Pines, Riviera and here automatically shoots up my shortlist a few spots. Admittedly those first two tracks are in California where his record is exceptional but this place isn’t and he is very good here. As well as his win in 2019 he has been in the top 10 in his last two starts here. The T12 at The Masters was encouraging because if there is one thing you can throw at Homa it is that his record in majors is terrible in comparison to his PGA Tour career but there are signs he is hitting the ball better and with the attention very much elsewhere he might just sneak under the radar at a track he enjoys.
Harris English is my next outsider bet. He ticks the Torrey Pines box completely having won there earlier in the season and generally when the test is long and tough English comes to the fore. He was third on this course at the Wells Fargo Championship and is on a steady run of five straight cuts made in majors which tells us that when the test is tough he can rise to the occasion. English has three top 20s in his last four starts so he is heading here in decent enough form and is solid enough right throughout the bag. There is certainly enough in his profile to think that he could get himself involved in the business end this week.
Returning to the big hitting theme, I just can’t leave Taylor Pendrith out of the staking plan. The Canadian hasn’t hit the consistency this season that he had last term but he did register a T7 at Torrey Pines and another top 10 at Pebble Beach the following week and he was fifth in the Houston Open so when he clicks he can still produce the goods. Pendrith has successive top 10 finishes at Torrey Pines and he was in the top 10 here last year too so as you would expect with someone who whacks it a mile off the tee these long tracks play right into his hands. Although it went west quickly last week, he did open with a 66 which shows he is hitting the ball decent enough and on a track that will play more to his strengths I’ll pay to see how well he goes here.
Tips
Back J.Thomas to win USPGA Championship (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 19.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-8)
Back J.Rahm to win USPGA Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-8) (Money back if McIlroy wins)
Back him here:
Back J.Day to win USPGA Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 76.00 with Bet365 (1/5 1-8)
Back M.Homa to win USPGA Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 111.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-10)
Back H.English to win USPGA Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
Back T.Pendrith to win USPGA Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Betway (1/5 1-8)
