The Course Report
Wells Fargo Championship
About Quail Hollow
Quail Hollow annually finds itself as one of the toughest courses on the PGA Tour. The course has the ability to humble any skill level of pro, and its “Green Mile” is a closing stretch of holes that bewilder any leader on a Sunday.
There will be little doubt that Quail Hollow will be in pristine condition as there will be the desire to show off much of the elegance that we will see in 2025 at the PGA Championship. The tree-lined fairways with plenty of length can cause high scores for anyone with a wayward tee shot. While distance is a plus, there is balance to the course in that there are 6 holes that generally yield birdie-or-better rates of 25% or higher. So, what it is it that makes this course a monster?
8 par 4’s stretch out past 450 yards. Add water on six holes, and greenside bunkers protecting every pin seeking shot taker. With the overseed all over the course, recovery becomes much easier than it would in pure Bermuda.
The “Green Mile” is arguably one of the most difficult closing stretches on Tour. The name stems from the Stephen King story about a death row inmate, and the walk one would take when facing their execution. While golfers will walk away with their lives, they may not walk away anywhere in the same position they entered. The length is massive as 16 is a 506-yard par-4. To make things harder there is a dogleg on the hole as well. The 17th is a 223-yard par-3, but it is not that easy. Golfers will need to fly water, and anything offline will definitely find the right greenside bunker. Quail Hollow closes with a 494-yard par 4 with a stream that travels with the golfers up the left side. Just to add some fun to the finishing hole, the green slopes that some might argue are comparable to Augusta National.
For those of you looking at historical trends, make sure that you avoid the data from last year. The tournament was played at TPC Potomac instead of Quail Hollow due to the latter hosting the Presidents Cup that year.
Architect: George Cobb, updated by Tom Fazio 1997,2016
Greens: Bermuda Grass Greens
Green Size: 6,580 SQ. Feet, Average Green Size
Stimpmeter: 12-12.5 (Average/Fast Green Speeds)
Length: 7,554 – Par 71
Water Hazards: 2 Water Hazards – 6 Holes
Bunkers: 60+
Nuggets and Tidbits
-Most top-25 finishers are gaining strokes OTT and on Approach. Yet, this course does lend itself to a complete tee-to-green game.
-Surprisingly, dominating with the putter doesn’t not guarantee massive success here from a top-25 perspective. Yet, for the past three years the winner of the tournament did infact lead in SG putting.
-On several occasions over the past five years putting has played a role in the final outcome of the tournament, but it hasn’t been massively significant. Annually, we witness masterful putting performances for players to simply miss the cut. In 2018, Oosthuizen and Kokrak missed the cut while finishing 3rd and 4th in putting.
-It is important to mention again that this touranment was not played at Quail Hollow in 2022 due to the course hosting the President’s Cup.
-The highest correleation to top-25 finishes is SG: OTT. In addition, driving distance is important
-The only year in which SG:OTT was worthless was in 2018, where the entire top-10 in the stat category missed the cut.
-Do not overlook scrambling. Quail Hollow is filled with challenges, but if you’re unable to overcome your mistakes it lends itself to a short weekend for any player.
-The rough is somewhat thick here, and if you’re looking at data from the President’s Cup, understand that the rough at that time had been trimmed down way lower than what is usually played here at the Wells Fargo Championship.
-When considering importance, I will take distance over fairway accuracy everytime.
-This course is massivley long, but make sure you do your homework this week. There are plenty of players that have had success here regardless of the length of the tee. A great example would be Corey Conners who has made the cut the two times he played here at Quail Hollow. Other’s to consider are Max Homa, Grillo, Watney, and Power.
Weather Forecast
Approach Shot Distribution
Past Winners
Homa wins again, and this time at a different course. THis was his fourth win overall, and he simply played solid all over the course in wet,cold conditions.
The tournament did not go without drama. Sunday was a battle between Keegan Bradley and Homa, but Max did enough to close out for the win.
Rory wins again as he was able to hold off Kieth Mitchell, Vikto Hovland and Abraham Ancer.
Yet, we did see McIIroy almost give the tournament away even with a 2-stroke lead on the 18th. A drive up th e left side foreced Rory to take a drop, but he did enough to save a bogey.
Homa’s path to victory was easy on Sunday, but it wasn’t without its share of obstacles.
That obstacle was an hour-long rain delay, which actually set up ideal conditions for Homa to shoot a 4-under 67 on Sunday and win by three strokes at 15 under for the week.
It was a wild Sunday, and Jason Day was all over the course.
Entering the “Green Mile”, Day had just bogeyed two of the last three holes, and had only hit 4 of 12 fairways to that point. So when you can’t hit them solid, then you better hope for a bit of luck.
On the par-3 17, Day fired a pin seeking rocket that nearly went in for an Ace, but more importantly, luck was on his side because if that ball had not hit the pin it more than likely would have found the water.
This Wells Fargo Championship was not played at Quail Hollow, as the course was seeing extensive rennovations to make it even more challenging.
Regardless of the venue, the touranment was filled with drama to the end. Many thought that Dustin Johnson was going to walk away with his fourth straight victory, but Harmans’s birdie on 17 followed by his birdie on 18 sealed the victory.
*Played at Eagle Point Golf Club
An absolute stunner of a win for Hahn as he entered the tournament missing 8-straight cuts and earned his second win on Tour.
Hahn’s win did not come easy. He bogeyed the 18th and allowed a window of opportunity for Roberto Castro to win in a playoff. Castro hit the water and allowed Hahn to play conservatively and score a par for the win.
There was no doubt that Rory was walking away the winner in 2015. He even opened the tournament with 3/1 odds on favorite.
McIIroy smashed. Literally. He set the new course record. He broke the birdie record for the tournament, pouring in 26 for the weekend.
Holmes captured his second PGA Tour win, and his first since 2008.
No stranger to Quail Hollow, Holmes outlasted Mickelson and McIIroy with his 54-hole lead as neither could capitalize on scoring opportunities. Homles nailed back-to-back birdies to start the back 9 and never looked back.
Ernst’s win was certianly one of the best Cinderella stories many have ever heard on the PGA Tour.
22- years old and ranked near the bottom of the OWGR rankings, Ernst won in what was only his 9th career start. What made it more special was his win against a solid David Lynn in a playoff with a par on the first hole.
Rickie Fowler outduled McIIroy and D.A. Points to win his first PGA Tour event, and to what many considered at the time would be a career filled with multiple majors.
Fowler started Sunday 3-strokes behind the leader, but found ways to overcome adversity while others succumbed to pressure. The key mishap was McIIroy’s bogey on the 17th hole which allowed Fowler the opporutnity win his first PGA touranment.