published
We’re barely a day into the 2025 PGA Championship and we may have the quote of the week already, courtesy of a player who isn’t even teeing it up at Quail Hollow.
The Athletic’s Gabby Herzig spoke to Hunter Mahan ahead of the year’s second Major and the six-time PGA Tour winner delivered a line that quickly began to go viral on social media.
“I guess I would say Quail Hollow is like a Kardashian,” Mahan, who made over 450 PGA Tour starts before becoming a high school coach said.
“It’s very modern, beautiful and well-kept. But it lacks a soul or character.”
While the comment may well offend the Kardashians, the lack of “soul and character” line is certainly something that the PGA Championship struggles with, and a reason why some consider it to be ranked fourth out of the four men’s Majors.
While The Masters has Augusta, the US Open has the toughest test in golf mantle and The Open is the oldest and most historic golf tournament in the world, the PGA Championship has often lacked a true identity.
One of those reasons is due to the courses used, with venues regularly being long, parkland layouts that feature thick rough along the fairways and around the greens. This week’s venue Quail Hollow regularly features on the PGA Tour and looks set to be in a similar ilk to previous tests, especially after the early week rain.
The different courses also poses the question of whether the PGA is an extremely demanding test or a birdie-fest? You never really know what you’re going to get year-in, year-out.
That’s something Jon Rahm commented on ahead of this week’s action at the North Carolina venue.
“Yeah, you get different things every time you come,” he said.
“It’s very difficult to say that two of them are the same. You can have somewhere you go into a playoff at 5-under and then last year where 21-under wins it.
“A Whistling Straits, he [Jason Day] got to 20 because Jordan was 17. Jason got to 20 at Whistling Straits, which even in a Ryder Cup setup, I wouldn’t in a million years think anyone would get to 20-under there. It’s quite interesting.
“Then you have a Bethpage where you have single digits again. US Opens, for the most part, you know what you’re getting and so on. It definitely has a character of having that different character each time you come.”
While many list the PGA Championship as 4th out of four, one legend actually has The Masters in fourth-place, Gary Player.
“But, never mind the Masters, The Open is by far the greatest tournament on the planet,” Player told the Daily Mail in 2023.
“I rate The Open at one, the US Open two, PGA three and Augusta four; four marvelous tournaments.”
