Back-to-back Signature Events on the PGA Tour sees a stellar field head to Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina for the Truist Championship.
With Quail Hollow hosting the PGA Championship last season, the Truist Championship was held at the Philadelphia Cricket Club, but returns to its usual place on the PGA Tour calendar in 2026.
A very long course, distance off the tee is usually important, especially considering the dog legs which make fairways hard to find even for the most accurate hitters. The average distance of approach shots is typically around 185 yards, meaning greens will be hit at a rate of around 50% across the week. As such, good scrambling skills are also important.
The nature of the course means there’s also a premium placed on strong iron play and it’s no surprise to see that the likes of Xander Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and Viktor Hovland have all posted recent good results in North Carolina.
The greens will be made up of Bermuda grass with a Poa trivialis overseed and will likely run at some of the fastest speeds on the PGA Tour.
Rory McIlroy bids for a fourth Quail Hollow win and tops our Power Rankings, but who makes up the top five? Find out below.
5 – Ludvig Aberg
Ludvig Aberg only has one appearance at Quail Hollow under his belt and it was a missed cut at last year’s PGA Championship. In his defence, his firm running into the tournament was MC-MC-7-T54-T60.
His form now is finally returning to the levels we saw during his first full PGA Tour season. After a stuttering start to the campaign, Aberg was T20 at the Genesis and followed that up with T3-T5-T5-T21-T4. Two of those top-fives were at Signature Events and another was at the Players Championship.
More impressively, Aberg has gained strokes in 25 out of the possible 28 categories across his last seven starts.
The Swede’s ball-striking is getting back to its best, he’s putting well and his short game is showing signs of improvement, and having already recorded a win at the stretching Torrey Pines in 2025, he could be on for another Signature Event win this week.
4 – Matt Fitzpatrick
Twelve months ago, Matt Fitzpatrick was on the outside of the European Ryder Cup team and very much looking in. His middling record in the competition did him no favours either, but his outstanding play from May onwards meant he was a must-pick for Luke Donald.
Fitzpatrick got a long overdue win at the DP World Tour Championship in November and started the 2026 PGA Tour season well, but since the Players Championship in the middle of March, the Englishman has taken his game to new levels.
Fitzpatrick was playing well in the run-up to his US Open win in 2022 and had tacked on significant distance, and while he’s not as long as he was then, the rest of his game is in much better shape.
The 31-year-old’s short game remains excellent but his ball-striking over the last three months is right up there with the very best players in the world.
Fitzpatrick had a T8 at last year’s PGA Championship – his best finish at Quail Hollow – and with three wins in his last four starts, he may well improve on that this week.
3 – Xander Schauffele
After a challenging 2025, we’re starting to see the best of Xander Schauffele again. A strong finish at the Players Championship continued into the Valspar Championship with a T4 finish, and despite never looking overly impressive at Augusta, he still finished T9 to record another Masters top-10.
Schauffele was a steady T12 at the RBC Heritage, but his recent record at Quail Hollow will give him the most confidence.
Prior to his T28 at last year’s PGA Championship, Schauffele was outstanding in his two previous Quail Hollow appearances, finishing three shots clear of third place, but running into an inspired Rory McIlroy and Wyndham Clark on each occasion.
Across the Golf Betting System's eight-week Strokes Gained trackers, Schauffele top-20 for putting, top-10 off-the-tee, top-five tee to green, first for approach play and second on current form!
Schauffele certainly has the game for the course, and refreshed from his break last week, he might be about to notch his first win of 2026.
2 – Cameron Young
It’s safe to say Cameron Young is currently playing the golf of his life. While the about-to-be-29-year-old has had stretches of stellar form in his career – largely his first 18 months on the PGA Tour – it’s never been quite as sustained as this.
Never the most accurate driver, Young is starting to complement his length by finding more fairways which in turn seems to be helping his iron play.
Young’s work off the tee and on approach is spiking high and often at the moment – two crucial elements to contend at Quail Hollow.
If there is a concern this week, it’s that Young’s finishes in his three trips to Charlotte are T59-T34-T47.
But playing how he is now, especially off the back of his third PGA Tour win, it’s hard to see the New Yorker not improving on that this week.
1 – Rory McIlroy
If you could give Rory McIlroy three golf courses to compete on, Quail Hollow would likely be one.
It was the site of his first PGA Tour win and the site of three more, making it McIlroy’s winning-most venue.
McIlroy missed the cut when defending his maiden title back in 2011, but his finishes from there read T2-T10-T8-1-T4-T22*-T16-T8-1-T47-1-T47*
McIlroy was in something of a post-Masters malaise when travelling to Charlotte for the 2025 PGA Championship and his T47 finish was a surprise, only making the cut on the number, but we’re seeing a reinvigorated McIlroy now, returning after an extended break following his second Masters title.
He’s hungry for more majors, and while he will no doubt have one eye on next week, the absence of Scottie Scheffler at a place like Quail Hollow makes McIlroy a very worthy favourite.
*PGA Championships
