Truist Championship Picks, Best Bets and Golf Odds:
Perhaps in honor of the Kentucky Derby last weekend, Cameron Young went gate-to-wire at the Cadillac Championship to earn his second “Signature Event” victory (The Players Championship) of the season.
Young, priced at 14-1 pre-tournament, cashed as an outright winner for this column, finishing 19 under par. He also led the field for Strokes Gained: Putting.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, paired with Young for three of the four rounds, finished runner-up for his third straight event (Masters, RBC Heritage) at 13 under.
Rounding out the top 5 were Ben Griffin in third along with Adam Scott, Si Woo Kim and Alex Smalley finishing T-4.
This week, the PGA Tour has yet another “Signature Event” before next week’s PGA Championship as the Truist Championship heads to Charlotte, N.C., after a year at the Philadelphia Cricket Club because Quail Hollow hosted last year’s PGA, which was won by Scheffler.
Scheffler will not lead the odds board this week as he is not in the field, but Rory McIlroy (6-1) will tee it up for the first time since winning his second green jacket at the Masters last month. McIlroy, who turns 37 this week, is also a multiple-time winner of this event, having won at Quail Hollow four times (2010, 2015, 2021, 2024).
Young (+850) is arguably the hottest player in the game at the moment with his two victories and two third-place finishes (Masters, Arnold Palmer Invitational) in his last five events. Matt Fitzpatrick (14-1) can also stake a claim to the title of being the game’s hottest player, having already amassed three victories (Valspar, RBC Heritage, Zurich Classic of New Orleans) this season.
Xander Schauffele (12-1) has finished runner-up in the Truist the last two times (2023, 2024) it was held at Quail Hollow.
Ludvig Åberg (18-1) has garnered four top-5 finishes in his last five events.
Tommy Fleetwood (22-1) has four top-10 finishes in 2026 but has yet to really contend this year.
Sepp Straka (45-1) is the defending Truist champion from last year’s event in Philadelphia.
Four other former winners at Quail Hollow are in this week’s Truist field: Rickie Fowler (35-1), Jason Day (50-1), Max Homa (110-1) and Lucas Glover (225-1). Justin Thomas (50-1) also won the 2017 PGA Championship here.
The Event
The Truist Championship has annually attracted one of the better fields on the PGA Tour since its inception as the Wachovia Championship in 2003.
Truist Financial Corporation, a Charlotte-based bank holdings company, took over last year as the title sponsor of this event. Wells Fargo sponsored this event from 2011 to 2014.
The event’s charitable beneficiary is the non-profit organization Teach for America, and the tournament is organized by Champions for Education, Inc.
It has been held at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte each year since the beginning, except for 2017 when Quail Hollow hosted the PGA Championship and the event moved to Eagle Point Golf Club in nearby Wilmington, and in 2022 the event was held at TPC Potomac because Quail Hollow was hosting The Presidents Cup, plus last year when Quail Hollow hosted the PGA.
In 2023, the Truist became one of the PGA Tour’s “Signature Events,” and the overall tournament purse has risen from $9.3 million to $20 million.
The Field
There are 72 players in this week’s Truist Championship field. The primary absences are Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Russell Henley and Shane Lowry.
The Course
Quail Hollow Club, built on land that was once the largest dairy farm in North Carolina, was founded as a private-member club in 1959 by James J. Harris, and the course was designed in 1961 by George Cobb, who is most famous for designing the par-3 course at Augusta National Golf Club. It hosted the Kemper Open on the PGA Tour from 1969 through 1979, followed by the PGA Tour Champions’ Paine Webber Invitational from 1983 through 1989. Quail Hollow also hosted the 2017 and 2025 PGA Championships and 2022 Presidents Cup.
The layout has undergone several renovations under the auspices of Tom Fazio in 1997, 2003, 2012 and 2016. For the 2016 renovation leading into the 2017 PGA, Fazio changed the layout to a par-71 of 7,521 yards for tournament golf, but it still plays as a par-72 for the members.
This year’s layout is a par-71 of 7,583 yards. Since the renovations, the course is the third-longest on the PGA Tour and played as the seventh-toughest (+0.75) last year.
Aside from the par-5s, there are four par-4s at 490 yards or longer, so Quail Hollow is a big, long course.
The fairways run at a 33-yard average width (17th narrowest on tour) and are comprised of Bermudagrass with Ryegrass overseed (about a 50/50 split), as is the rough that will measure just two inches.
The renovations also entailed a changing of greens surfaces from MiniVerde Bermudagrass to Champion Bermudagrass overseeded with Poa Trivialis. Similar greens can be found at Sedgefield Country Club (Wyndham Championship), TPC Southwind (WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational), and the Country Club of Jackson (Sanderson Farms Championship). The greens will be fast, running at 13 on the stimpmeter, and measure out to an average size of 6,578 square feet (17th largest of 44 courses on tour). A SubAir system below the greens firms them up to play tougher on the weekend.
While the layout is fairly straightforward without many tricks or even notable characteristics, Quail Hollow’s closing sequence (holes 16-18) is known as “The Green Mile,” which averages +0.83 over par. This stretch, one of the most difficult on the PGA Tour, includes the course’s signature hole, the par-3 17th, which requires a tee shot over a large pond to a green protected by bunkers on both sides. Shots can frequently find the water over this stretch. In fact, more than 1,900 of them have found the drink over the last 20 years.
There are 61 big bunkers on the course that mostly protect the greens, and water is in play on six holes. Even with all the renovations, Quail Hollow is a typical Carolina, tree-lined design.
The three par-5s (Holes 7, 10 and 15) plus the two short par-4s (Holes 8 and 14) are the scoreable holes at Quail Hollow.
In terms of course correlations, Torrey Pines South, Bay Hill, Muirfield Village, Memorial Park, Riviera, Winged Foot, Southern Hills and Bethpage Black are among the classical designs that have crossover to Quail Hollow.
Other Tom Fazio designs that have been featured on the PGA Tour:
Atunyote GC – 2007-10 Turning Stone Championship.
Conway Farms GC – 2013, 2015, 2017 BMW Championship.
Corales GC – Corales Championship
Eagle Point – 2017 Wells Fargo Championship
Raptor Course Greyhawk GC – 2008/09 Fry’s.com Open.
Shadow Creek Golf Course – 2020 CJ Cup.
Fazio has also had redesign input into:
Merion – 2013 U.S. Open.
Oakmont – 2016 U.S. Open.
Seaside Course at Sea Island – RSM Classic.
While the setup will be slightly different than last year’s PGA Championship, here is a video playlist from Golfweek going hole-by-hole at Quail Hollow in the lead-up to last year’s PGA.
Weather
The AccuWeather forecast indicates cooler conditions than last week in Miami.
The most difficult course conditions appear to be for Thursday’s opening round with some rain and higher winds. After that, the rain could soften up a course that has not had much rain in the run-up to the tournament.
Recent History/Winners
2025: Sepp Straka (-16/264); 45-1*
2024: Rory McIlroy (-17/267); 7-1
2023: Wyndham Clark (-19/265); 75-1
2022: Max Homa (-8/272); 40-1**
2021: Rory McIlroy (-10/274); 18-1
2020: Canceled due to COVID-19.
2019: Max Homa (-15/269); 500-1
2018: Jason Day (-12/272); 20-1
2017: Brian Harman (-10/278); 80-1***
2016: James Hahn (-9/279); 500-1****
2015: Rory McIlroy (-21/267); 7-2
2014: J.B. Holmes (-14/274); 66-1
2013: Derek Ernst (-8/280); 500-1*****
2012: Rickie Fowler (-14/274); 50-1******
2011: Lucas Glover (-15/273); 110-1*******
2010: Rory McIlroy (-15/273); 66-1
Held at Philadelphia Cricket Club – *
Held at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm – **
Held at Eagle Point Golf Club – ***
Playoff win over Roberto Castro – ****
Playoff win over David Lynn – *****
Playoff win over Rory McIlroy and D.A. Points – ******
Playoff win over Jonathan Byrd – *******
Statistical Analysis
The last two winners here at Quail Hollow — Rory McIlroy and Wyndham Clark — ranked fourth and first, respectively, for Strokes Gained: Approach during their winning weeks.
The Greens In Regulation rate here is only around 61%, so iron precision is paramount.
Strokes Gained: Approach — Average Per Round (2026 PGA Tour season)
- Adam Scott 1.009
- Si Woo Kim 0.874
- Matt Fitzpatrick 0.791
- Daniel Berger 0.776
- Rory McIlroy 0.748
- Kurt Kitayama 0.687
- J.J. Spaun 0.635
- Ryan Gerard 0.630
- Xander Schauffele 0.623
- Hideki Matsuyama 0.615
- Sepp Straka 0.557
- Justin Rose 0.538
- Akshay Bhatia 0.528
- Nicolai Højgaard 0.501
- Alex Smalley 0.501
- Cameron Young 0.486
- Ludvig Åberg 0.485
- Corey Conners 0.458
- Jake Knapp 0.448
- Nick Taylor 0.436
- Ryo Hisatsune 0.400
At nearly 7,600 yards and with little penalty for missing fairways, Quail Hollow will be a heavy driver-usage course.
Average Driving Distance (2026 PGA Tour season)
- Aldrich Potgieter 326.7
- Gary Woodland 323.1
- Chris Gotterup 320.7
- Jake Knapp 319.8
- Rory McIlroy 319.7
- Nicolai Højgaard 318.7
- Min Woo Lee 317.4
- Adam Scott 313.4
- Ryan Fox 313.2
- Sam Burns 313.1
- Kurt Kitayama 313.1
- Sudarshan Yellamaraju 313.0
- Ludvig Åberg 312.7
- Taylor Pendrith 312.0
- Xander Schauffele 312.0
- Kristoffer Reitan 311.8
- Cameron Young 311.6
- Sam Stevens 308.8
- Ricky Castillo 308.4
- Jordan Spieth 308.4
- Max Homa 308.1
Nearly 55 percent of the approach shots come from 175 or more yards.
Average Proximity Gained 175-200 Yards (Last 36 rounds)
- Viktor Hovland 16.72 (average feet gained per round toward the hole from the distance)
- Si Woo Kim 12.54
- Hideki Matsuyama 11.91
- Alex Fitzpatrick 11.02
- Nicolai Højgaard 10.80
- Patrick Cantlay 9.80
- Bud Cauley 9.47
- Nico Echavarria 7.78
- Patrick Rodgers 6.95
- Taylor Pendrith 6.79
- Akshay Bhatia 6.69
- Lucas Glover 6.53
- Nick Taylor 6.22
- Webb Simpson 6.04
- Keegan Bradley 5.77
- Kurt Kitayama 5.13
- Brian Campbell 5.10
- Justin Thomas 4.92
- Andrew Novak 4.88
- Sepp Straka 4.70
Average Proximity Gained 200+ Yards (Last 36 rounds)
- Ryan Gerard 26.35
- Viktor Hovland 23.44
- Hideki Matsuyama 22.45
- Matt Fitzpatrick 21.39
- Kristoffer Reitan 17.88
- Ludvig Åberg 17.84
- Gary Woodland 15.07
- Kurt Kitayama 14.16
- Nicolai Højgaard 12.25
- Tom Hoge 9.75
- Sam Stevens 9.38
- Tommy Fleetwood 8.97
- Michael Kim 8.79
- Akshay Bhatia 8.75
- Nick Taylor 8.70
- Ricky Castillo 8.32
- Adam Scott 7.50
- Andrew Novak 6.58
- Jake Knapp 6.07
- Patrick Rodgers 5.97
Seven of the 11 par-4s are between 450 and 500 yards.
Strokes Gained Par-4s 450-500 Yards (Last 36 rounds)
- Xander Schauffele 23.5
- Si Woo Kim 21.7
- Maverick McNealy 19.9
- Daniel Berger 19.7
- Justin Rose 19.2
- Tommy Fleetwood 18.9
- Kurt Kitayama 17.8
- Min Woo Lee 17.5
- Jake Knapp 16.8
- Alex Smalley 15.6
- Cameron Young 15.1
- Gary Woodland 13.7
- Akshay Bhatia 13.7
- Rory McIlroy 12.5
- Jacob Bridgeman 12.2
- Chris Gotterup 11.6
- Webb Simpson 11.3
- Viktor Hovland 10.8
- Sudarshan Yellamaraju 9.8
- Aldrich Potgieter 9.4
Around the complex greens, Quail Hollow plays slightly tougher than the PGA Tour average, primarily due to shaved run-off areas and false fronts.
Strokes Gained: Around The Green — Average Per Round (2026 PGA Tour)
- Ben Griffin 0.591
- Tommy Fleetwood 0.550
- Nick Taylor 0.495
- Andrew Putnam 0.467
- Harry Hall 0.442
- Jason Day 0.416
- Sahith Theegala 0.386
- Rory McIlroy 0.386
- Hideki Matsuyama 0.385
- Patrick Cantlay 0.376
- Ludvig Åberg 0.356
- Matt Fitzpatrick 0.355
- Keegan Bradley 0.342
- Tony Finau 0.33
- Justin Thomas 0.317
- Sungjae Im 0.305
- Min Woo Lee 0.305
- Si Woo Kim 0.281
- Bud Cauley 0.259
- Matt Wallace 0.256
- Alex Noren 0.226
- Cameron Young 0.226
Scrambling (2026 PGA Tour season)
- Xander Schauffele 70.41%
- Robert MacIntyre 70.37
- Andrew Putnam 69.91
- Cameron Young 69.00
- Jason Day 68.60
- Hideki Matsuyama 67.93
- Patrick Cantlay 67.80
- Rickie Fowler 67.77
- Matt Wallace 67.63
- Denny McCarthy 67.62
- Sahith Theegala 67.26
- Ryan Fox 67.04
- Matt Fitzpatrick 66.49
- Nick Taylor 66.18
- Tommy Fleetwood 66.15
- Min Woo Lee 66.10
- Harris English 66.01
- Rory McIlroy 65.98
- Nicolai Højgaard 65.94
- Si Woo Kim 65.78
- Bud Cauley 65.48
Quail Hollow typically plays as one of the more difficult layouts of the year, and bogeys can pile up here.
Bogeys Avoided (Last 36 rounds)
- Rory McIlroy 36
- Cameron Young 26.2
- Si Woo Kim 25.3
- Jason Day 23.7
- Hideki Matsuyama 23.6
- Xander Schauffele 22.3
- Kurt Kitayama 21.6
- Tommy Fleetwood 20.0
- Rickie Fowler 18.9
- Jacob Bridgeman 18.7
- Sudarshan Yellamaraju 18.0
- Jordan Spieth 17.2
- Patrick Cantlay 16.9
- Nicolai Højgaard 16.8
- Robert MacIntyre 16.4
- Kristoffer Reitan 15.0
- Sepp Straka 13.8
- Nick Taylor 13.4
- Matt Fitzpatrick 2.6
- Jake Knapp 12.5
As long as the course is, and with the greens not being easy to hit, the putting surfaces arguably provide the most challenge at Quail Hollow. It is one of the most difficult to gain strokes putting and has one of the highest three-putt percentages on Tour.
3-Putts Avoided (Last 36 rounds)
- Jacob Bridgeman 11.1
- Sam Stevens 5.8
- Si Woo Kim 5.0
- Jake Knapp 4.5
- Rory McIlroy 4.1
- Sungjae Im 4.0
- Rickie Fowler 3.9
- Nick Taylor 3.8
- Mackenzie Hughes 3.3
- Matt McCarty 3.3
- Ryan Fox 3.1
- Harry Hall 2.1
- Nico Echavarria 2.1
- Sudarshan Yellamaraju 1.5
- Justin Thomas 1.4
- J.T. Poston 0.8
- Robert MacIntyre 0.6
- Ludvig Åberg 0.5
- Ryan Gerard 0.3
Strokes Gained: Putting — Average Per Round (2026 PGA Tour season)
- Jacob Bridgeman 1.106
- Akshay Bhatia 0.848
- Robert MacIntyre 0.832
- Jake Knapp 0.744
- Sam Burns 0.625
- Michael Kim 0.518
- Maverick McNealy 0.518
- Harris English 0.512
- Jason Day 0.503
- Rickie Fowler 0.484
- Sudarshan Yellamaraju 0.451
- Alex Noren 0.417
- Jordan Spieth 0.415
- Gary Woodland 0.385
- Harry Hall 0.372
- Denny McCarthy 0.344
- Ludvig Åberg 0.339
- Cameron Young 0.337
- Min Woo Lee 0.309
Selections
Xander Schauffele (+1175, DraftKings)
Schauffele has been the runner-up in the Truist the last two times it has been held at Quail Hollow (2023, 2024).
He comes in with four top-10s in his last six starts.
Thus far, he has seen all of the game’s other elite players win this season, and this time of year is when he typically has his most success. Of his 10 PGA Tour victories, nine have come in the spring or later in the season.
Ludvig Åberg (18-1, DraftKings)
Much was expected of the Swede last year at Quail Hollow for the PGA Championship, but he surprisingly missed the cut on a course that appears to be ideal for him.
Åberg has four top-5 finishes in his last five starts coming into this week and could benefit from an extra week of rest after skipping Doral last week.
Last year, he won at Torrey Pines, which does have a strong correlation to Quail Hollow.
Rickie Fowler (44-1, Circa Sports)
Fowler finished T-9 last week at Doral for his second consecutive top-10 finish. In doing that, he improved his OWGR to 52nd and is inching closer to locking up a spot in the U.S. Open.
Fourteen years ago, Fowler won his first PGA Tour event right here at Quail Hollow.
Kurt Kitayama (50-1, BetRivers)
Kitayama overcame a slow start last week at Doral to finish T-9 after sitting 66th (out of 72 players) post-Round 1.
He comes into this week of back-to-back top-10 finishes and ranks fourth on tour for Ball Striking and ninth for Total Driving.
Nicolai Højgaard (55-1, BetMGM)
Nicolai is six weeks removed from his best career PGA Tour result, finishing runner-up to Gary Woodland at the Houston Open.
While only finishing T-23 last week, he ranked second in the field for Driving Distance and sixth for Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee.
Placement markets, matchups, and/or other bets will be up Wednesday at VSiN.com/picks
