GOLF

Daily Fantasy Golf Course Primer: PGA Championship

With the PGA moving to Quail Hollow, past event results won't help us much. What does this course have in store for us this week?

The PGA Championship heads to its 11th different course in the past 12 years, as the major will take place at Quail Hollow this time around.

There’s plenty of past data to study if we look at prior events at Quail Hollow, dating back to the Wachovia Championship but most recently the Wells Fargo.

We’ll also have to account for performance at the PGA Championship itself, of course, but the course is going to dictate which golfers you want to target on FanDuel this week.

Let’s dive in.

Course and Tournament Overview

It’s a major, so the field is stacked. That’s the fun part. The not so fun part is that this course (a 7,600-yard par 71) can be rough for scoring purposes.

Year Difficulty Rank Course Par Yds Avg Score Avg O/U Par
2016 9 Quail Hollow Club 72 7,575 72.953 0.953
2015 20 Quail Hollow Club 72 7,562 71.916 -0.084
2014 13 Quail Hollow Club 72 7,562 72.546 0.546
2013 10 Quail Hollow Club 72 7,492 73.043 1.043
2012 25 Quail Hollow Club 72 7,469 71.844 -0.156
2011 24 Quail Hollow Club 72 7,469 71.953 -0.047
2010 8 Quail Hollow Club 72 7,469 72.918 0.918
2009 19 Quail Hollow Club 72 7,442 72.420 0.420
2008 20 Quail Hollow Club 72 7,442 72.791 0.791
2007 11 Quail Hollow Club 72 7,442 73.280 1.280


Now, the Wells Fargo isn’t the same field as the PGA Championship, but we do need to avoid significant blowups on a course like this.

Stats to Target

Strokes gained: tee to green and birdie or better rate -- especially in recent rounds -- are always stats to take note of, but in the past 10 years at Quail Hollow, these stats popped up as being the most important to success.

Key Stats for The PGA Championship at Quail Hollow
Birdie or Better Rate
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee
Par 5 Scoring
Strokes Gained: Approach the Green
Driving Distance


Even though it’s a tough course, birdies are still in the mix, and the way to do it is, basically, distance and placement off the tee and taking advantage of the par 5s on this par 72.

Iron play, too, should take priority over wedges at Quail Hollow, according to the overarching trends from the past 10 years.

Course Form Studs

Phil Mickelson has dominated Quail Hollow in the past 10 years. Since 2008, he’s finished 3rd, 12th, 5th, 2nd, 9th, 26th, 3rd, 11th, 4th, and 4th. That’s 10 top-26 finishes and 9 top-12s. Gracious.

Rory McIlroy, well, he's also dominated. He won in 2010 at Quail Hollow, missed the cut in 2011, and reeled off five straight top-10s since then: 2nd (in a playoff), 10th, 8th, 1st, 4th.

Tony Finau and Daniel Berger have similar marks in two tries. Finau was 16th in 2015 and 28th in 2016. Berger was 28th in 2015 and 17th in 2016.

Rickie Fowler beat Rory in that playoff in 2012. Rickie was also 6th in 2010 and 16th in 2011 at Quail Hollow. In 2013 and 2014, he was 73rd and 38th and didn’t play in 2015, but he returned last year to finish 4th.

Hideki Matsuyama, last week's winner at the Bridgestone, tied for 38th in 2014 and has consecutive top-20s since (20th, 11th) at Quail Hollow.