The golf season is in full swing with its second major tournament of the year in the books. The 107th PGA Championship occurred during May 15th-18th 2025, and was hosted at Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the men’s world number one, Scottie Scheffler, won his first Wanamaker Trophy. By winning the PGA Championship, Scheffler claimed his third major title, following his two successful wins in the Masters Tournament, which came in 2022 and 2024.
There was much hype going into the tournament, after Rory McIlroy won his first Masters to become the sixth player in history to win a Grand Slam. Many expected the PGA Championship to be wide-open for anyone to win, and that was true for the first two days. After heavy rain hit Quail Hollow, the expected favorites couldn’t find their footing in the wet conditions, and started to fall behind. Some favorites, Scheffler, McIlroy and Xander Schauffle, the 2024 PGA Championship winner, were in a group together for the first two rounds. McIlroy and Schauffle struggled shooting a 74 and a 72, respectively, on day one, but found their groove on Friday posting scores of 69 and 71.
Andrew Tropp ‘26 says that “I’m very excited and happy that Scheffler won, and proved that he can win not just the Masters, but other majors too.”
After the first two days, Jhonattan Vegas was 8 under par after shooting a 1-under-71 on Friday, giving him the lead, and was followed by Si Woo Kim, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Mattheiu Pavon, who were all 6 under. Scheffler started to climb up the leaderboard with a score of 5 under, after shooting a 68 during the second round, which is one lower than what he shot the day prior. On Saturday, Scheffler shot 6-under-71 to put him at 11-under and in first place where he stayed during the fourth round, as he shot par.
Scheffler winning wasn’t even the biggest story as there was controversy around the testing of players drivers. McIlory’s driver was one of the ones that was tested by the United States Golf Association (USGA), for a non-comfroming driver. A driver that is non-comfroming occurs when the face of the driver starts to thin out and wear down, making them more springy which could cause a potential increase in distance. USGA randomly tests drivers at tournaments, and was invited to Quail Hollow by the PGA of America, who runs the tournament. The problem of non-conforming drivers is most seen with players with a high swing speed, such as McIlroy, and Bryson DeChambeau. Scheffler was also tested for a non-comfroming driver. The USGA said that around 50 players had their drivers randomly tested, which is around a third of 153 players that were in the field.
As the fourth round was under way, Jon Rahm started to surge in the leaderboard, and at one point threatened Scheffler’s lead. Rahm started the day at 6 under and five strokes away from first. Rahm shot a 34 on the front nine which was good enough to start to challenge Scheffler. Rahm birdied holes 10-11 which put him at 9 under, and two strokes away from the lead. The Spaniard was still in reach of the lead but his chances took a hit after he bogeyed the par-4 16th hole. The bogey dropped him to 8 under but now was three below Scheffler. Rahm faltered more when he double-bogeyed the par-3 17th and the par-4 18th holes, giving Scheffler the way to claim his victory. After his abysmal last three holes, Rahm finished T-8th in the tournament with a score of 4-under-72.
The excitement of how the PGA Championship will follow into the final two major tournaments in the summer. The U.S Open kicks off on June 12th-15th at Oakmount Country Club in Texas, and The Open Championship follows being hosted by Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland from July 16th-20th.
