BlogTruist Championship Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

Not one person was surprised at what happened last week at the Byron Nelson. The big surprise had to be how dominating Scottie Scheffler was in winning. He was a beast when you look at his stats for the week.

Scheffler led these stats:

• Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee
• Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green
• Strokes Gained Total
• Greens in Regulation
• Proximity to Hole
• Putting Average
• 3-putt Avoidance
• Birdies
• Par Breakers

Scheffler was in the top five in these stats:

• Strokes Gained Approach-the-Green (T-4th)
• Driving Accuracy (T-4th)
• Total Driving (2nd)
• Rough Proximity (2nd)
• Fairway Proximity (4th)
• Total Putting (2nd)
• One Putt Percentage (T-2nd)
• Putting Inside 10 feet (4th)
• Eagles (T-2nd)

Scheffler’s 253 total matches the low 72-hole score in PGA Tour history.

Scheffler’s eight-stroke margin is second-largest margin of victory in CJ CUP Byron Nelson history (10 strokes/Sam Snead/1957); largest margin of victory of the 2025 season on the PGA Tour (previous: 7 strokes/Thomas Detry/WM Phoenix Open); last winning margin of eight or more strokes on the PGA Tour: 11 strokes (Dustin Johnson/2020 FedEx St. Jude Championship); Scheffler’s previous largest margin of victory: 5 strokes (two times; 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, 2023 PLAYERS Championship).

Scheffler had played in 8 PGA Tour events before Dallas. His best finishes were T-2nd at Houston, T-3rd at Genesis, and 4th at the Masters. I have to say it’s probably the most dominating win in golf since Tiger Woods won the British and U.S. Opens in 2000.

In a way, it was like a dam was broken, and Scheffler couldn’t do anything wrong. For 72 holes, Scheffler only made 4 bogeys, missed 16 of 56 fairways, and 13 of 72 greens.

Scheffler shot rounds of 61-63-66-63. In the history of the PGA Tour, going back to 1970, only 37 winners shot 66 or lower in each round, the last of which was Thomas Detry at this year’s Phoenix Open (Tom shot 66-64-65-65).

So what does this all mean?

Scottie is primed and ready to go at next week’s PGA Championship. He now joins Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau as the hottest golfers. After three weeks of failure in the final round, Bryson won the LIV Korea event. Rory comes in with his Masters’ victory and four wins in his last eight starts. So, there will be a lot of anticipation for this year’s PGA Championship.

Off the bat is one glaring nugget: Scottie has never played in an individual event at Quail Hollow. The only time Scheffler has seen Quail Hollow was in the 2022 Presidents Cup, which may be why Scheffler hasn’t returned. He lost three in those matches and halved one, so the course might not meet his eye.

Bryson  DeChambeau has played four times at Quail Hollow: He missed the cut in 2016, was T-33rd at the 2017 PGA, and finished 4th in 2018 and T-9th in 2021. So, at least he has something to work with, including his 4th-place finish in 2018.

That will make Rory the favorite when considering his record at Quail Hollow. The course has to have a special place in Rory’s heart when you consider he won his first PGA Tour event at Quail Hollow in 2010. Since then, he won in 2015, 2021, and last year. In 13 starts at Quail Hollow, including his start at the 2017 PGA Championship, Quail Hollow is the most prolific venue in Rory’s career. He has won $9.2 million in his 13 starts, with nine top-ten finishes. In 50 rounds, he has a 69.48 scoring average, with 31 rounds under par and 25 in the 60s. So McIlroy will be a big favorite as he goes after his 2nd straight major. Many will think that winning back-to-back majors is a big task. It is and isn’t. Rory did it in 2014, winning the British and PGA Championships. The last time it happened was in 2015 when Jordan won the Master and the U.S. Open. Here is a chart of those who have won back-to-back since 1970:

• 1970 – Jack Nicklaus won the British Open and PGA Championship
• 1971 – Lee Trevino won the U.S. Open and British Open
• 1972 – Jack Nicklaus won the Masters and U.S. Open
• 1982 – Tom Watson won the U.S. Open and British Open
• 1994 – Nick Price won the British Open and PGA Championship
• 2000 & ’01 – Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship, and Masters
• 2002 – Tiger Woods won the Masters and U.S. Open
• 2005 & ’06 – Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship and the Masters
• 2006 – Tiger Woods won the British Open and PGA Championship
• 2008 – Padraig Harrington won the British Open and PGA Championship
• 2014 – Rory McIlroy won the British Open and the PGA Championship
• 2015 – Jordan Spieth won the Masters and U.S. Open

Enough of this, we will get into it further next week.

Let’s talk about this week:

One of the great things about the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open is that they travel and play the great gems of golf. However, in the last couple of years, the same can be said about the PGA Tour. They have gone to gems like Medinah C.C., Olympia Fields, Caves Valley, Wilmington Country Club, and Castle Pines, to name a few. This week, they are going to the Philadelphia Cricket Club, one of the rarest gems in golf, which few people know about. Designed by A.W. Tillinghast, considered the best golf course architect in the Golden Era of golf. Tillinghast had his hands on building some of the greatest courses built 100 years ago. Quaker Ridge, Baltusrol, Bethpage Black, San Francisco Golf Club, and Winged Foot. He was one of golf’s most prolific builders of courses, with more than 265 different courses. He also helped others; one of the best courses that Tillinghast consulted on was Pine Valley Golf Club, which is considered one of the best courses ever built.

Things you need to know about the Truist Championship:

This is the 22nd year of the Truist Championship, which has been played every year at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, except for 2017, 2022, and this year. Eagle Point and TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms were big successes, but Quail Hollow is the course of record for Truist, which is in its first year as a sponsor, taking over from Wells Fargo.

Course information

• The Philadelphia Cricket Club (Wissahickon Course)
• Flourtown, PA.
• 7,119 yards     Par 35-35–70

The Wissahickon Course has a course rating of 74.7 and a slope rating from the back tees of 138. The tees, fairways, and greens are bentgrass, and the rough is tall fescue.

The Wissahickon Course is one of the best of his courses, which most golfers aren’t familiar with. The club is the oldest country club in America. It was founded in 1854 by a group of men from England to play cricket. In 1895, they built a nine-hole course, which grew to 18 holes in 1897. The course held the 1987 and 1910 U.S. Open, and in both of them, A.W. Tillinghast was a competitor, finishing 25th in 1910. Tillinghast loved the Philadelphia area and was a member of the Philadelphia Cricket Club. In 2015, the club sold the course and realized the problem of not owning its property. So, in 1920, the club commissioned one of their members, Tillinghast, to help them find a new home. Tillinghast found a piece of land 6 miles away in Flourtown, PA, and the club had Tillinghast design and build the new course. Opened in 1922, the Wissahickon course is one of the few remaining courses designed by Tillinghast that has had minimal changes over the past 80 years. Tillinghast loved the course and once lived in a home on the course. He also lived in Beverly Hills with his wife, but Tillinghast fell victim to the great depression, and a series of failed investments left him bankrupt, on top of his drinking problem. This forced him to live his final years with his daughter in Toledo, Ohio. He died in 1942, and rumor was that some of his ashes had been returned and spread into the river that crosses the 18th hole at the Wissahickon course.

What made the Wissahickon Course so good was the great routing of the course, which had no blind shots. Each fairway is a challenge to hit as all of them are guarded by bunkers, making it a challenge to get the ball onto the fairway. There are 118 bunkers guarding the fairways and greens, each of which is a challenge to get out of. The greens are also hard to hit; they are just a notch under 5,800 square feet and guarded by 60 bunkers. The dramatic greenside bunkering is just the start, as the greens are undulating, and you have to be in the right place to make putts. But by 2010, the course had lost a lot of its teeth. With the heavily overgrown trees, along with bunkers that were allowed to become grass bunkers. A prominent example of the course changing over the years was the par 5, 7th hole (Hole 15 this week). When built, Tillinghast put a significant hazard of bunkers and waste area in the mid-fairway. At the 14th hole (hole 7 this week), he had a cluster of nine bunkers, and over time, both of these hazards were covered with grass. So, in 2012, the club hired Keith Foster to restore the course to its 1922 opening. According to PGA Tour.Com, the layout’s original strategic width had been lost to narrow holes threaded through dense overhanging tree corridors. An aging irrigation system needed replacement. Thick, dense, rough, not tightly mowed short grass surrounded the putting surfaces, such that greenside recovery was reduced to a lob wedge rather than allowing players to pitch, bump, or put back to the hole. The restoration entailed extensive tree management, a complete rebuild of all greens, enhanced drainage, more consistently manageable bentgrass on tees and fairways, and, most of all, meticulous attention to Tillinghast’s original scheme for bunkering. Instead of playing golf down the middle, golfers now had to tack their way around the offset placement of hazards.

On paper, the course is not brutally long, at just 7,119 yards. But with only two par 5s and four tough par 3s, the key to playing well is hitting fairways and greens and making putts. Scrambling will be important, and players who are best from bunkers have an advantage. The par 4s are very fair, with only three over 450 yards. One of the big problems with holding a tournament on the course was the clubhouse area. There was no room for bleachers and hospitality suites, so the PGA Tour created a course rerouting. For this week, the 8th hole is the first, and move to another short par four on the 9th. Then they’ll play 10 through 18 before moving to 1 and 2. The par-3 3rd, measuring only 122 yards, will be their 14th hole. Then they’ll take on the Great Hazard for an exciting risk-reward par-5 7th hole. The final three holes—the 215-yard, par-3 5th, 498-yard, par-4 6th and 517-yard, par 4 4th will end the routing.

So, who is favored to win this week?

I have to say that Rory is my favorite. Philadelphia Cricket Club is a driver’s course, and Rory has the best game off the tee. Of course, Rory would love to win, but he is pacing himself for next week at Quail Hollow. As we have said, winning the week before a major does not increase your odds of winning the major the following week. Since the advent of the Masters in 1934, it has been done 11 times:

• Rory McIlroy: Won WGC Bridgestone Invitational, followed by the 2014 PGA Championship
• Tiger Woods: Won WGC Bridgestone Invitational, followed by the 2007 PGA Championship
• Phil Mickelson: Won BellSouth Classic, followed by the 2006 Masters Tournament
• Sandy Lyle: Won Greater Greensboro Open, followed by the 1988 Masters Tournament
• Lee Trevino: Won the Canadian Open, followed by the 1971 British Open
• Art Wall: Won the Azalea Open, followed by the 1959 Masters Tournament
• *Sam Snead: Won the Greater Greensboro Open, followed by the 1949 Masters Tournament
• *Ben Hogan: Won the Winnipeg Open, followed by the 1946 PGA Championship
• *Byron Nelson: Won the Chicago Victory Open, followed by the 1945 PGA Championship
• Ralph Guldahl: Won the Greater Greensboro Open, followed by the 1939 Masters Tournament
• *Henry Picard: Won the Scranton Open, followed by the 1939 PGA Championship

What does the asterisk (*) mean? Golfers without an asterisk won their two events in back-to-back weeks. When the asterisk appears, those golfers won their major championship as the next tournament played on the schedule, but with a gap of one week between the two events.

But let’s get back to our look at who the Wissahickon Course favors.

Those who are both powerful and straight off the tee. The best of them is Rory, but Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas, Maverick McNealy, and Ludvig Aberg are closely behind him. Frankly, one of these seven players will win this week. Another key will be putting; right now, the top putters on the PGA Tour are Sam Burns, Min Woo Lee, Denny McCarthy, Rory McIlroy, Akshay Bhatia, Russell Henley, and Justin Thomas. These players and one more are at the top of my list. The one not listed is Patrick Cantlay, who has won courses like Muirfield Village, Caves Valley, and Wilmington Country Club, which are much like the Philadelphia Cricket Club.

We are entering a significant part of the PGA Tour season. Over the next six weeks, five of the events will be played at the greatest courses in America: Philadelphia Cricket Club, Quail Hollow, Colonial, Muirfield Village, and Oakmont. In between, the RBC Canadian Open will be played at a new gem, TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, so we will be entertained with some great golf in the coming weeks.

Let’s take a look at vital stats that are important for those playing at Wissahickon Course.

The 72 players in the field will be embarking on a new adventure. The Wissahickon Course isn’t a spot that most of the pros have played. According to the club, not one player came out to play the course, so everyone was in the same boat and had no course experience.
Adding to the problem is the fact that there will be rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, which means players won’t be able to learn about the course, so yes, they will be flying blind.
The rain extends to Thursday and Friday, with mostly cloudy skies over the weekend. So this is the one week everyone will be at the same disadvantage. Historically, when a new course comes to the PGA Tour, the winner is someone you least expect to win.

Since we have no data on which stats to base our conclusions for our four categories, we will take an educated guess on which stats are needed to succeed this week at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. The first will be accuracy and length of the tee. Will the course put any fear in the players ‘ minds off the tee? They will have an advantage if players can hit it far and straight. Driving it on the Wissahickon Course will be much like it was for players at Quail Hollow in past years. So, our first category is Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green.
If players can take advantage of length off the tee, hitting greens will be easier. So, hitting greens in regulation won’t be that important, but proximity to the hole is essential for those who hit it in the fairway. Just like it is at Augusta National, getting it close to the pin will have an advantage. But just like the Masters, hitting greens is a chore, but getting them close to the pin and having the right putt is another battle on good iron play. So that is why Proximity to Hole is our second category. It will be essential to get it close this week and have the best birdie tries.
Of course, when you miss a green, you will have to scramble to make your par. All 18 greens are well guarded with 60 bunkers, and you know that mistakes will be made, which puts many skills in getting it up and down from just off the greens. So, our third category is Strokes Gained Around the Green. Combining all skills in getting it up and down from the short grass and bunkers around the greens will be complex.
Our last category is Strokes Gained Putting. Remember, the greens are an average size of 5,800 square feet, but all of them are very well undulated, so they will be tricky differently. So, good putters will have a fun week. Strokes Gained Putting is an excellent way of determining how a player does overall on the greens, and putting will be a key to winning at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. I don’t see any stat better to end this stat look with.

*Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green: This measure looks at the combination of length off the tee and accuracy, then gets the ball on the green to determine who is best at all of these items.

*Proximity to Hole: Those that hit the fairway and hit it closest to the hole.

*Strokes Gained Around the Green: This combines all skills in getting it up and down from the short grass and the bunkers around the greens.

*Strokes Gained Putting: This is an excellent way to determine a player’s overall performance on the greens. The length of the putt, the percentage the player should make the putt, and the stroke figure are calculated.

70 of the 72 players from this year’s field have stats from 2025.

Click any column title in the table header to sort columns.

DraftKings tips

Most DraftKings points earned

We have compiled a database covering the last 52 events on the PGA TOur, beginning at the start of the 2024 season and ending with the 2025 Byron Nelson. The database includes the number of points a player won during each event and its cost. From the database, we can determine the total DraftKing points earned, the players’ average points earned per event, and the average points based on the number of rounds played.

Of the players in the field, here are the top 60 playing in at least eight events:

It makes sense that the top players on this list are guys who will score a lot of points this week.

DraftKings Picks

*Here are the guys that cost the most on DraftKings this week:

• Rory McIlroy – $12,000
• Collin Morikawa – $10,500
• Xander Schauffele – $10,200
• Justin Thomas – $10,000
• Ludwig Aberg – $9,800
• Patrick Cantlay – $9,500
• Russell Henley – $9,400
• Tommy Fleetwood – $9,300
• Jordan Spieth – $9,200
• Viktor Hovland – $9,100

The event’s pricing is fair; yes, Rory McIlroy is the best player in the field, but at the cost of $12,000. His season has been brilliant, and he comes to a perfect course for his game.  I want to see Rory win next week, so it will be interesting to see how he plays.  Of course, if he has a chance to win on Sunday, he will go full bore.  You take Rory because of the number of points he will give you, and in his last seven PGA Tour starts, he has earned over 100 points in five of them, including the last four starts.  So rest assured, Rory is well worth the cost.  Collin Morikawa at $10,500 is questionable since he hasn’t been very prolific since finishing 2nd at the Palmer.  Have to wonder if Collin is ready this week. This week will be a jumping point to the PGA Championship, so it’s best not to choose him.  Xander Schauffele at $10,200 is a hard sell because we haven’t seen Xander close with his game.  We know it’s coming, but don’t think it will come this week, so it’s best to forget about him.  Justin Thomas at $10,000 is a big yes this week, think the course is perfect for him, and he is playing great right now.  Ludwig Aberg at $9,800 has struggled since winning at the Genesis two months ago.  But watch him this week, the course should suit his game, and I feel he will do great.  Patrick Cantlay at $9,500 is my big bet for the week.  Yes, he has struggled most of the year, but he looked close at Hilton Head and came to a perfect course for his game, making him your top squeeze this week.  Russell Henley at $9,400 is a tough pick, yes has played great in 2025 but I don’t think Henley’s game suits the Wissahickon Course.  Tommy Fleetwood at $9,300 is an automatic no for me.  He is overpriced each week and never seems to get enough points to justify his course.  In eight starts in 2025, Fleetwood has only earned over 80 points three times, which is a major problem.  Jordan Spieth at $9,200 is a player to think about. He played well in Dallas and thinks his game is shaping up and will do well in the next three weeks.  Viktor Hovland at $9,100 is a hard choice.  He did win at Valspar and has been okay at the Masters and Heritage. He also plays well on courses like the Philadelphia Cricket Club.  But he is still too volatile, and I don’t think he is the master of his game right now.

*Players in that $7,500 to $8,900 price range, which ones are worth the money?:

Corey Conners at $8,800 is a very good buy.  Conners played well in 2025 and was a good player on challenging, east coast-type courses like Philadelphia Cricket Club.  Shane Lowry at $8,500 is worth looking at, has been consistent in 2025, and does play well on challenging courses.  Maverick McNealy at $8,300 is good, playing well in 2025, and you know he will find a way to get into contention.  Sam Burns at $7,900 is a great buy considering that Burns’ game has gotten good of late, and he plays well on challenging courses.  Considering how well he has played lately, Andrew Novak at $7,800 is also a bargain.  Denny McCarthy at $7,800 could be a pleasant surprise.  A great putter who plays well on challenging courses.  Justin Rose at $7,600 is worth considering since he plays well on challenging courses.

*Are there any “Bargains” out there?

Brian Harman at $7,500 is hot right now and playing well.  Byeong Hun An at $7,300 is always good for getting you 70 points; he has been consistent.  Won’t win but could finish in the top ten.  Akshay Bhatia at $7,100 is a good driver and should do well at Philadelphia Cricket Club.  Harris English at $6,900 is a very good buy, plays well on challenging courses, and has proven my winning at Torrey Pines this year.  Eric Cole at $6,700 is a cheap price for a player who has been consistent in his last six starts.  Ryan Gerard, at $6,600, has been great in 2025 and has shown that he can do well on almost every type of course.