PGA CHAMPIONSHIP '25: Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth pursue different grand slams at Quail Hollow

Before golf fans have had a chance to exhale after an exhilarating Masters, the next major is at the door selling an equal dose of anticipation.

Chatter about a Grand Slam had gone largely quiet for the better part of 25 years since Tiger Woods knocked it out in a span of 35 days — winning the U.S. Open and British Open for the last two legs by a combined 23 strokes — in 2000.

Now it's a big part of the conversation going into the PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy is playing the best golf of his career and still buzzing over his playoff victory at Augusta National. That Masters green jacket he proudly wears has given him newfound freedom now that he is the sixth player with the career Grand Slam.

Is a calendar slam out of the question?

The next step is the PGA Championship, which starts Thursday at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, where McIlroy has won four times, including last year, the most titles for him on any golf course in the United States.

''I'm obviously going to feel more comfortable and a lot less pressure, and I'm also going back to a venue that I love,'' McIlroy said. "It's nothing but positive vibes going in there next week with what happened (at the Masters) and ... how well I've played at Quail.

''I probably won't be quite as on edge as I have been for the last few years when I've been at major championships,'' he said. ''I'll probably be a little bit better to be around for my family, and I'll be a little more relaxed. I think overall it will be a good thing.''

That's the freedom he has to go along with his three victories this year at Pebble Beach, The Players Championship and his crown jewel, the Masters. And his peers have taken notice.

"That was really good for golf,'' Xander Schauffele said. ''It was good for Rory's psyche, maybe worse for us now that he feels free.''

High praise also comes from Jordan Spieth, who could be next in line. This will be his ninth PGA Championship with a chance to get the final leg of the career slam. It took McIlroy 11 tries.

''It was obviously a very challenging week for him. It was harder than anybody maybe ever to win a Masters,'' Spieth said. "To be that far from his most recent major as well, and then to go and do it, I mean, it was very inspiring.''

Spieth hasn't attracted nearly as much attention, mainly because he hasn't won any tournament in three years while coping with a wrist injury that finally led to surgery last August. But then he shot 62 in the final round in Dallas, a subtle reminder he hasn't disappeared and is still more than capable.

Gary Player completed the Grand Slam in the 1965 U.S. Open. Jack Nicklaus followed a year later in the British Open. But then it was 34 years until Woods joined them, and 25 years before McIlroy finally got it done.

''Could you just imagine if we get to the weekend and we have a possibility to have two players do this in the same year after having waited so long?'' said Trevor Immelman, a former Masters champion and lead analyst for CBS. ''My goodness, every eyeball in the world that loves sport and loves golf will be enthralled by that.''

Such is the backdrop going into the PGA Championship, the major that rarely lacks for drama but often gets overlooked compared with the other three.

Not this year. Not with so many players at the top of their games.

Scottie Scheffler showed off his No. 1 form by matching the PGA Tour record for 72 holes at 253 with an eight-shot victory in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, his first win of a season that started slowly because of a freak injury.

And then there's Bryson DeChambeau. He played in the final group at four straight tournaments before he broke through with a LIV Golf win in South Korea. In three of the last four majors, DeChambeau finished one behind in the PGA Championship, won the U.S. Open and was in the last group with McIlroy at the Masters.

In between, Justin Thomas — he won the PGA Championship the last time it was at Quail Hollow in 2017 — got back on track by winning a playoff at the RBC Heritage. At stake for Thomas is a chance to join Woods as the only players to win the PGA Championship twice on the same course. Woods won at Medinah in 1999 and 2006.

Quail Hollow is a rare major championship course that breeds familiarity, at least for PGA Tour players. It has been on the PGA Tour schedule since 2003 except for years it has hosted the PGA Championship or the Presidents Cup.

It's a big course at 7,626 yards playing to a par 71, though the par 5s are reachable and there's a par 4 on each nine where players can try to drive the green. The closing stretch starts on the reachable par-4 14th with water down the left side, followed by a par 5 and then the ''Green Mile'' — two long par 4s with water hazards and a peninsula-green in between at the par-3 17th.

''You really have to be in play to be successful on that property,'' said Schauffele, the defending PGA champion. "It's a hard place to scramble ... if you're not hitting many fairways and in the rough and trying to work your way up to holes. I don't know if you'd call it a second-shot golf course or predominately a tee-shot golf course.

"But it does feel like you have to do everything really well around that property.''

While McIlroy has won four times at Quail Hollow, Schauffele has been runner-up the last two years. He won two majors last year but, much like Scheffler, had a slow start to the season because of a rib injury that kept Schauffele out for two months.

Still, there has been no shortage of star power in the weeks leading to the PGA Championship.

The Masters is always a tough act to follow, particularly this year with that storybook finish by McIlroy. The PGA Championship at least has the ingredients in place.

''I'll leave it up to the golf gods to deliver the script,'' CBS lead announcer Jim Nantz said. ''They've been quite prolific so far at their creative writing best. And I can't wait to see what they're going to hand deliver to the world.''

___

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf