Major championships are typically held at two kinds of courses: those with hundred-year (or more) histories like the Old Course at St. Andrews or Winged Foot, and modern courses like Whistling Straits or Erin Hills that were created with major championships in mind. Quail Hollow Club, site of the 2025 PGA Championship, fits neither description. The North Carolina private club’s course opened for play on the site of a former dairy farm in 1961, an era with few representatives on the list of major championship venues. But if you study the design of its hilly, broad-shouldered course and the challenges each of its treelined holes present, you’ll quickly understand why the club has been chosen to host so many professional tournaments over its relatively short lifetime.
The course was originally designed by George Cobb, creator of the par-3 course at Augusta National. Arnold Palmer’s course design company tweaked it in the late 1980s, and Tom Fazio was called on in 1997 to strengthen it even more, work that he has continued to do right through to the 2020s. Today, Quail Hollow can play more than 7,600 yards, with a 77.2 course rating and 148 slope. Its last three holes, collectively called “The Green Mile,” rank among the PGA Tour’s stoutest finishing stretches. It’s a course should give 2025 Wannamaker Trophy hopefuls all they can handle, just as it has other competitors in prior pro events.
The list of those events is a long one. It includes a PGA Championship in 2017 and the Presidents Cup in 2022. But its PGA Tour event history extends much farther back. Here’s a list of prior events at Quail Hollow, many of which have interesting stories to tell. No doubt the course will produce more great storylines when the PGA Championship is contested there again in 2025.
Kemper Open (1969–79)
The list of winners of the PGA Tour’s Kemper Open held at Quail Hollow reads like a Who’s Who of golf’s 1970s and ’80s all-stars. Dale Douglas took top honors in the event’s inaugural year of 1969. Two years later, Tom Weiskopf birdied the last four holes in the final round and went on to beat Gary Player, Lee Trevino, and Douglas in a playoff to win the first of his three Kemper Opens at Quail Hollow. Weiskopf almost skipped the event in 1977, but he came back from three shots down in the last round to shoot 70 and win his third Kemper title. Some of the other luminaries joining him as Kemper champs were Raymond Floyd, Andy Bean, Jerry McGee, and the colorful Doug Sanders.
World Series Invitational (1980–85)
In 1980, Quail Hollow began playing host to a PGA Senior Tour event, the World Series Invitational. Gene “The Machine” Littler prevailed that year, as he would again in 1982. Miller Barber, also known as “Mr. X,” further reinforced the idea that Quail Hollow was a course that favored certain horses when he captured the first of his two titles there in 1981. To prove the point further, Doug Sanders went on to win for his second time at Quail Hollow in 1983. The WSI’s other champions showcased its ability to choose a worthy winner, too. Among them were Gary Player, Peter Thomson, and Bruce Crampton.
Paine Webber World Seniors Invitational (1985–87)
In 1985, the event’s name was changed to the Paine Webber World Seniors Invitational. And wouldn’t you know who won that event in its first year? Miller Barber, with a 72-hole scoring record of 277. Seeing a pattern emerge here?
Paine Webber Invitational (1988)
Feisty Dave Hill captured the 1988 event, which again had a new name. But he couldn’t repeat the feat in 1989 after Hurricane Hugo had ripped through the Carolinas and no event was held that year.
Wachovia Championship (2003–08)
The flatbellies of the PGA Tour returned to Quail Hollow in 2003. David Toms took the initial title by two strokes with a score of 10-under, but only because he had a huge lead going into the last hole (where he made a quadruple bogey 8 that included a four-putt). Other winners at Quail Hollow during these years underscored again its ability to separate the wheat from the chaff. They included major winners Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, and Tiger Woods. Anthony Kim set what was then the course’s tournament scoring record when he finished 16-under in 2008.
Quail Hollow Championship (2009–10)
After another name change in 2009, Quail Hollow welcomed a young, bushy-haired Rory McIlroy for the first time in 2010. Just 20 years old, McIlroy played the last five holes of his final round in 5-under and went on to shoot a course-record 62 to capture his first PGA Tour win in dramatic fashion that had golf scribes comparing him to Tiger Woods. But McIlroy had almost missed the cut. If not for a 200-yard 6-iron that yielded an eagle on his third-to-last hole Friday afternoon to help him make the weekend on the number, McIlroy would’ve been slamming his trunk and moving on.
Wells Fargo Championship (2011–24)
McIlroy would win for a second time at Quail Hollow in 2015 with a new tournament record score of 21-under. He started the final round with a four-stroke lead over North Carolina local Webb Simpson after posting nine birdies in a 10-hole stretch on Saturday and 11 birdies overall to shoot 61. On Sunday, he coasted to an easy 69 and came to the 18th tee with a seven-shot lead, thanks in part to the way he played the 514-yard par-four 16th. He hit driver-gap wedge to a foot and tapped it in for birdie. McIlroy would repeat as Wells Fargo champion in 2021 to join Weiskopf on the podium of Quail Hollow three-peaters, then he won again in 2024. After winning the 2025 Players Championship and Masters tournament, you’ve got to like Rory’s chances in the PGA on a course he’s dominated since the day he set foot on it.
PGA Championship (2017)
Quail Hollow hosted its first men’s major, the PGA Championship, in 2017. Kevin Kisner and Thorbjørn Olesen set the pace on day one with 4-under 67s, with a host of pursuers at 4-under and 2-under that included Brooks Koepka, Gary Woodland, Paul Casey, and Rickie Fowler. Kisner was joined by Hideki Matsuyama at 8-under to hold the second-round lead after Hideki’s sizzling 64. A 24-year-old Justin Thomas shot his way onto the leaderboard with a 66 in round two. Kisner backed up to 7-under on Saturday, but that was still good enough for him to start the final round as the leader by one over Matsuyama and by two over Thomas. By the time players were taking on the back nine, a five-way tie for the lead had emerged, shared by Kisner, Matsuyama, Thomas, Chris Stroud, and Francesco Molinari, who’d made four birdies in five holes on his inward nine. But the day was Thomas’s. He birdied 10; chipped in for birdie on 13; then birdied the uphill, par-three 17th. At 18, he drove into a fairway bunker and had to settle for bogey. But try as they might, no one else could better his score of 276, 8-under. Thomas had his first major win.
Presidents Cup (2022)
When Quail Hollow hosted the 14th playing of the Presidents Cup, it had been delayed for a year by the Covid-19 pandemic. Native North Carolinian Davis Love III captained the U.S. team, with South African Trevor Immelman captaining the Internationals. Twelve players suited up for each team, with six qualifying via a points list and the other six being captain’s picks. Because of their defection to the LIV Tour, The Internationals’ number-one points earner, Cameron Smith, and their number-four, Joaquin Niemann, were ineligible to play. The U.S team was stacked. It featured five of the world’s top 10 players, and every member of its team ranked in the top 25 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Not surprisingly, the U.S. led 4–1 after Thursday’s foursomes matches, 8–2 after Friday’s fourball matches, and 10–4 after Saturday morning’s foursomes. Saturday afternoon, the Internationals turned the tide and took three of four points in those fourball matches to cut the U.S. lead to 11–7. But the U.S. narrowly prevailed in the Sunday singles matches, 6.5–5.5, and captured the Cup by a score of 17.5 points to 12.5. The U.S team was led by Jordan Spieth, who went a perfect 5–0–0, including four matches in which he and longtime pal Justin Thomas scorched their opponents. Also undefeated for the Americans was Max Homa, who finished 4–0–0 in his Presidents Cup debut. The top performer for the Internationals was Si Woo Kim with a 3–1–0 record, but it was 20-year-old Tom Kim who became a fan favorite for his exuberance. The win marked the ninth straight victory for the U.S. in Presidents Cup competition.
