Truist Championship
Truist Championship
May 04, 2026Truist Championship
It was a solid if unspectacular week for us at the Cadillac Championship. For most of the week to be fair it had looked like it was going to be one of those weeks where all of our team played nicely but never really got in the mix.
In the end though Adam Scott produced a superb Sunday 64 to bag himself a top five finish and us a full place return.
The event itself was won by Cameron Young who dominated to lead wire to wire, eventually closing out a six shot win over guess who, Scottie Scheffler. Clearly Young is now right up there as an elite player and there is a strong argument to say he is the worlds number three at the moment.
So onwards we go and needless to say it’s time for another limited field Signature Event, The Truist Championship at Quail Hollow.
Quail Hollow has been the host course for the event since the inception of the tournament in 2003 with three previous exceptions, firstly in 2017 when the event was held at Eagle Point Golf Club in Wilmington as Quail Hollow prepared to host the PGA Championship later in the year, in 2022 when the event moved to Maryland while the course hosted the Presidents Cup and finally again last year when the tournament headed to Philadelphia as Quail Hollow hosted the PGA Championship once more.
With Scottie Scheffler skipping the event the market is headed up by proven course specialist Rory McIlroy. McIlroy is then followed by Cam Young, Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick.
COURSE
The course is a George Cobb design, which has undergone subsequent redesigns under the supervision of Tom Fazio both in 2013 and 2016.
The course is a Par 71 and measures 7600 yards.
One important point to note is that from 2003 until 2016 the course played as a par 72 playing at just under 7600 yards but following the Fazio redesign prior to the hosting of the 2017 PGA Championship the course was changed to a Par 71.
This change was effected by reducing the 570 yard Par 5 5th to a 450 yard Par 4.
Following on from this the Par 4 1st hole was lengthened by approximately 100 yards to measure just over 520 yards. The par 3 2nd hole disappeared completely and a new Par 3 4th hole was built to replace this.
The greens are Champion Bermudagrass. These were changed from Miniverde Bermuda again in the run up to the 2017 PGA Championship.
HISTORY
As mentioned above the event has been held at Quail Hollow every year since it’s inception with the exception of 2017, 2022 & 2025. We can therefore dismiss those two editions from our thoughts, however in addition to the years of course history we have here we should also focus on 2017 & 2025 PGA Championship.
So let’s take a look at the winners on this course since 2010 including the 2017 & 2025 winners of the PGA;
2025 Scottie Scheffler [PGA CHAMPIONSHIP]
2024 Rory McIlroy
2023 Wyndham Clark
2021 Rory McIlroy
2019 Max Homa
2018 Jason Day
2017 Justin Thomas [PGA CHAMPIONSHIP]
2016 James Hahn
2015 Rory McIlroy
2014 JB Holmes
2013 Derek Ernst
2012 Rickie Fowler
2011 Lucas Glover
2010 Rory McIlroy
So, what does this list tell us? Well, there’s no doubt that the majority of these winners could all be bracketed as class proven winners who can ‘get it out there’ off the tee with the predominantly renowned more for their tee to green game than their skills on and around the greens. In fact with Rory McIlroy a four time winner here that basically gives you the prototype course specialist.
There have though been four ‘curve ball’ winners over those years in the form of the 2019 winner Max Homa, James , the 2023 winner Wyndham Clark who was unproven at the time and, arguably the biggest shock winner on the PGA Tour in the last 20 years or so [alongside Adam Long], Derek Ernst. Clark it should be noted though has certainly gone on to prove his win here was no fluke!
One interesting point to note though is the year’s Hahn and Ernst won the scoring conditions were by far the toughest over that ten year period as they won with scores of -9 and -8 respectively.
We should also note that the 2019 edition was the first time the event had been played a fortnight before the years second Major, The PGA Championship and it is possible that Max Homa’s win has set a precedent for some more leftfield winners here while the bigger names present are playing with one eye on tuning up for the PGA.
Following on with this angle and while McIlroy’s 2021 and 2024 triumph was a return to the norm Wyndham Clark’s victory certainly adds credence to the above thought and with the event this year coming the week before the years second Major it is quite possible this pattern will pop up again.
Focusing on the 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023 & 2024 editions, the ones held since the changes made for the PGA Championship, and it was certainly the case that we have seen some bigger hitters coming to the fore with Clark, McIlroy and Day at the time of his win all seen as long off the tee, although 2019 champion Homa was only slightly above average in distance off the tee at the time.
Course history in general has over the years been a reasonable pointer here with Glover, Holmes and Fowler along with Day and McIlroy [second & third time around] all having a previous top ten finish here prior to their victories, however Clark, Hahn, Ernst and Homa to name four had done nothing here prior to winning.
Form coming in of past winners has been fairly hit and miss though with Clark in 2023 along with Day, McIlroy, Holmes, Fowler and O’Hair winning here when in strong form but Homa, Glover, Ernst and Hahn of course on the back of his eight consecutive missed cuts were all struggling for form when coming in.
I stated in past years that historically, and similarly to Bay Hill, taking care of the par 5s has been key to getting the job done at Quail Hollow, and that in addition to Rory and Tiger two other past winners of the Wells Fargo, Glover and O’Hair, also had solid records at Bay Hill.
However in 2018 I speculated that with the course now only containing three par 5s, that par 4 scoring would potentially be as or even more paramount.
Well, if we look at the 2018 final leaderboard we saw that the winner Day was a past Bay Hill champion and that in addition 2018 Bay Hill runner up Dechambeau was fourth here. Meanwhile 2019’s final leaderboard saw Keith Mitchell who had previously finished fifth at Bay Hill featuring prominently. Meanwhile in 2023 Harris English performed well here for us on the back of a big result at Bay Hill while API specialist Tyrrell Hatton posted a top five. Meanwhile to rubber stamp the link the 2023 champion Wyndham Clark produced a big week at Bay Hill the following year.
From a winning score point of view we have seen Max Homa and Jason Day get the job done with totals of 14- under and 12- under respectively since the course changes were made and then McIlroy triumphed with 10- under. In 2023 Clark blew the field away with a 19- under total while in 2024 Rory posted -17.
WEATHER FORECAST
The days leading in to the tournament look set fair however Thursday itself shows the chance for a thunderstorm unfortunately. Hopefully this stays away though and the forecast then looks good for the remainder of the week.
Temperatures look set to sit in the high 70s most of the week.
Alongside Thursday’s potential for a storm the wind potentially looks a factor on the opening day with gusts of 25mph + in the forecast. The wind then looks to settle down as the week progresses.
As I always say though this could all change!
PICK
I have gone with four players this week as follows;
RICKIE FOWLER – 28/1 - 2pts E/W - 1/5 odds 1st 8
First cab off the rank this week is Rickie Fowler.
Rickie arrives here in the midst of a really solid 2026, which has seen him post six top 20 finishes including three top tens to date meaning he currently sits 30th in the Fedex standings.
Of late after two missed cuts in Texas where the pressure of trying to make Augusta probably weighed on him Fowler has finished eighth at Hilton Head and ninth last weekend at the Cadillac.
Looking at Rickie’s numbers at the Cadillac and he was an impressive eighth in approach play while he was also solid off the tee and on the greens as well. If we then look at his season long stats we can again see he has been impressive both in the long game department and on the greens gaining shots in all of these areas.
Fowler bagged his maiden tour win at Quail Hollow back in 2012 and has continued to play well here over the years with two further top five finishes.
He also has a top 10 on his CV at Bay Hill this year, which we know links well.
With his most recent win coming in 2023 Fowler will be fully focused on the job in hand this week and I can see him making a bold showing to get back to winning ways here.
HARRIS ENGLISH – 40/1 – 1.5pts E/W - 1/5 odds 1st 8
Moving on and a player who we know plays tough long courses well is Harris English.
English posted a win at Torrey Pines early last year while notching a third at Bay Hill that same season. Add that to second here in 2023 and it was enough to see us get on board Harris when the PGA Championship came to Quail Hollow last May at big odds. English then delivered for us in spades finishing in a tie for second that week to give us a nice each way return.
On to this week then and English returns to Charlotte in the midst of a season, which has seen him mostly post a string of mid division finishes. More recently though he caught the eye when notching his first top five of the year at Hilton Head.
The main area holding Harris back this season has been his approach play, the hope then this week is that on a layout we know fits his eye his iron play can click while the putter remains solid.
TAYLOR PENDRITH – 110/1 - 1pt E/W - 1/5 odds 1st 8
Another player who enjoyed his time at Quail Hollow in the PGA last year is Taylor Pendrith.
The big hitting Canadian arrived in Charlotte last year with nothing better than 42nd in his previous four starts however he went on to post his best ever Major result when finishing fifth.
Moving on to 2026 and following a year opening sixth at the Sony its been pretty low key stuff since with nothing better than 34th at Pebble Beach on the resume.
Having closed out his week at Hilton Head with a 63 though Pendrith was for the most part solid at Doral on the way to 38th with only a 76 on Saturday letting him down. His long game numbers were particularly impressive as he ranked eighth off the tee and 18th in approach, with the latter being the most encouraging as he has struggled in this department this season.
Something to build on then as he returns to the scene of a great week last year and he could just surprise at big odds.
MICHAEL KIM – 125/1 - 1pt E/W – 1/5 odds 1st 8
Finally I will roll the dice on Michael Kim.
After a quietish start to the year Michael has gained some good momentum over the past month, firstly when finishing second in Texas and then when 25th and 18th at the two Signature events at Hilton and last week in Doral.
Both of these latter two events have seen Kim post the low round of the day once and on his hugely insightful X feed he himself said Saturday’s 65 at a windy Doral was some of his best golf of 2026 to date.
On to this week then and clearly gaining momentum and Michael returns to a venue he was seventh at in 2023 while his fifth place finish at Bay Hill in 2025 reminds us that despite not being one of the longer players on tour off the tee he actually plays tough long courses well.
It is nearly eight years since Kim’s lone PGA Tour success at the John Deere however he reminded us last year when winning in France on the DP World Tour that he very much has what it takes still to raise a trophy and with confidence clearly returning to his game of late I will take him for a big week here.