(Point) Missers From The 2025 PGA
Golf holes, people, and organizations that left a less-than-positive impression in Charlotte.
Last and least from the week in Charlotte…
Annual Tour Event Hosts As Major Sites. Quail Hollow’s ubiquitous presence seemed bound to have a dulling effect on the 2025 PGA. It did! A more-than-suitable venue in checking the various financial boxes would have seen more enthusiasm if not for its WachFargoist Championship hosting role since 2003. Unlike West Coast venues Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines where players see radically different playing conditions from Tour events in winter and a major in the summer. They also have distracting views that Uptown Charlotte can’t match. Riviera will face similar antipathy hosting too many events in the coming years but in a market that likes pro golf in much smaller doses. Quail Hollow should either go all in on majors or focus on continuing to build its Tour stop into one of the biggest non-majors of the year. Hoping to have it both ways serves no party well.
Par 3s. Quail Hollow presents the dreariest set of one-shotters in all of major championship golf. Only the downhill, over-water 17th is remotely memorable and a child could have sketched that one out. But it did offer moments of risk and reward while the others just stink. The lack of a super short par-3 doesn’t help given the eagerness to play from distances no upright mortal enjoys playing (or watching). At least Kerry Haigh tried to vary yardages a bit. But the actual holes are notable only for mundane bunkering, weird greens for the yardages, or any sign that they were remodeled in daylight by people who like golf. The cruddy fourth is as forgettable as they come. The sixth features a short par 3 green played from 250 yards. The 13th blends extreme blandness with notes of goofiness. It takes a certain kind of talent to produce such a terrible set of one-shotters, particularly given the money spent modifying the place.
Wannamaker Follies. Einstein must have been thinking of the PGA of America when issuing his insanity-defining proclamation about “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The Wannamaker Trophy is large and heavy (as several packaged vignettes told us last week). Its unfastened top went flying when Scottie Scheffler admirably wanted to lift the giant jug with a jolt of unexpected emotion. As a result, 2025 joins 2014 and 2020 in the PGA of America Hall of Shame. Has the organization not heard of tape? Velcro? Glue? Twist Ties? Rubber bands? Just deal with it, PGA. Before someone loses an eye.
TaylorMade. The top two players in the game had their drivers ruled non-conforming on the eve of a major. It’s an undeniable stain on the company as it’s reportedly up for sale.