Rory McIlory carried short +500 odds to win the PGA Championship heading into this major, but the Irishman was a huge letdown. McIlroy finished 3-over par at Quail Hollow club, resulting in a T-49 finish, which is by far his worst result this season. Before this, McIlroy hadn’t finished worse than T-17 and he had already won three times in 2025. Not only did McIlroy have incredible form in his favor heading into the PGA Championship, he had a huge advantage with this major being played at Quail Hollow Club, where McIlroy has won a sensational four times. In fact, before this week, he had only finished outside the top-25 once in 13 starts at Quail Hollow Club. Given McIlroy’s form and unbelievable resume at this venue, he was the most rostered golfer in the $2.75 Million Fantasy Golf Millionaire at 34.1%.
So, what went wrong for McIlroy this week? Well, first and foremost, his irons were his main issue, with McIlroy losing 2.0 strokes on approach. He also barely gained strokes with his putter and McIlroy’s driver was erratic, with him only finding 46% of fairways for the week. While this isn’t a dramatic decrease from McIlroy’s 51% driving accuracy percentage for the season, one has to believe he would have performed better off-the-tee if McIlroy didn’t have to swap out his driver right before the major. The USGA tests player’s equipment before every tournament and McIlory’s driver was deemed “no longer permissible” before the beginning of the PGA Championship, so he was forced to compete with a different driver. Overall, McIlroy shot 74, 69, 72 and 72 at Quail Hollow, which is concerning given his average score at this course was 69.5 before this week.
Following the disappointing finish, McIlory will likely test out many new drivers to find a new big stick he is comfortable with and that is USGA eligible. McIlroy should also be heavily focused on fixing his iron play, as the PGA Championship was the second event in a row he has lost strokes on approach. That being said, McIlroy has gained strokes on approach in five of his eight starts this season and he ranks 25th on the PGA TOUR in the metric, so there is obviously plenty of hope that he will improve in this department in his next start, which will either be at the Memorial Tournament in two weeks or the RBC Canadian Open in three weeks. McIlroy has committed to RBC Canadian Open, but he has yet to commit to the Memorial Tournament. However, the Memorial is a Signature Event that features a $20 million purse and McIlroy has competed at this tournament for seven straight years, so he more than likely will tee it up at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village. McIlroy has five top-10 finishes in 13 starts at this par 72 and if he commits to this event as expected, Muirfield Village will be a great place for McIlroy to get his season back on track.
