Said Quail Hollow\u2019s Director of Green and Grounds, Keith Wood, “We want a fair course, and a challenge,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want it to play long but not soft. Honestly, from my point of view, we just want to see a great competition. On Sunday, as the leaders are making the turn to the back nine, you know, we want to have six or seven guys in contention. That\u2019s exciting, a lot of competition, good drama.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
The Field<\/h2>\r\n
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Another Signature Event brings the PGA TOUR\u2019s elite to Charlotte this week, with a tightly packed 72-player field at Quail Hollow. Every eligible top-35 player in the world is set to tee it up, with the lone absences being world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>, No. 8 Russell Henley<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>, and No. 35 Shane Lowry<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n Rory McIlroy<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> returns as the most recent winner here, having cruised to a five-shot victory in 2024. The Grand Slam champion now sits at 30 PGA TOUR wins, four of which have come at Quail Hollow Club, further cementing his dominance at this venue. Past champions at Quail Hollow include Max Homa<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>, Jason Day<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>, and Rickie Fowler<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>. Justin Thomas<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> also brings strong course history, having captured the 2017 PGA Championship on these grounds.<\/p>\r\n Several players enter the field via exemptions, including Tony Finau<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>, Max Homa<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>, Mackenzie Hughes<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>, and Webb Simpson<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> on sponsor invites. Kristoffer Reitan<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> earned his spot through the Aon Swing 5, while David Lipsky<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>, Ricky Castillo<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>, Matt Wallace<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>, and Chandler Blanchet<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> round out the field through the same pathway.<\/p>\r\n Quail Hollow was laid out on what once was the largest dairy farm in North Carolina and was named for the plethora of quail that inhabited the property. Built on a 270-acre tract of land, architect George Cobb completed the course in 1961, intending to capture the beauty and natural terrain of the Piedmont region. The early Cobb design was a product of its times, with flashed-up bunkers rising to meet elevated putting surfaces that required an aerial attack through tight tree-lined fairways. It hosted the Kemper Open on the PGA Tour from 1969 through 1979 followed by the Senior Tour’s Paine Webber Invitational from 1983 through 1989.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Arnold Palmer<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> helped to redesign the layout in 1986. Tom Fazio made further alterations in 1997 and again in 2003 to prepare the course for PGA Tour competition. The club stepped back into the limelight that year with the PGA Tour’s Wachovia Championship. Over time, it was renamed the Quail Hollow Championship and is now the Wells Fargo Championship.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Most of what is seen on the ground today is the result of decades of work led by Tom Fazio, one of the most successful golf architects of the modern era. \u201cThere’s not much of the George Cobb design left, except for a little bit of the routing,\u201d Wood said. \u201cMr. Palmer came in and did some work, and it still was a Cobb course. Mr. Palmer took what was there and created new greens complexes, new bunkers, things like that. But after Mr. Fazio really started having some influence and doing things on the golf course, it really became a Fazio course.\u201d<\/p>\r\nQuail Hollow Club – History<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n