Rory McIlroy could come to Quail Hollow playing horribly and still feel like his chances are pretty good, but now you have the opposite. You have got a guy that is fully firing and someone who knows his game is in top form.

There are only a handful of players out there that are really going to challenge McIlroy, so he’s in pole position and the player to beat. Having said that, we’ve got some heavy-duty company that’s playing well right behind him!

World No 1 Scottie Scheffler just won on the PGA Tour and Justin Thomas has won a PGA Championship around here before. If everyone does what we expect them to, then this is going to be amazing.

It is set up right now for a bunch of top players in peak form to impress, so this could be one for the ages. If you’re going to walk away from Quail Hollow with the Wanamaker Trophy in the passenger seat, then you need to be ready to beat all the best in the game.

The heavy rain earlier in tournament week will make the fairways just a little bit wider and McIlroy can carry it so much further than most players, so that certainly is going to play right into his hands.

If it plays softer, then of course it’s going to be of benefit, because he just flies the golf ball so far. The only place it ever could hurt him is off the tee box, if it comes down and does grab a little bit of mud on it, but I just don’t see that happening.

When you’re Rory at this golf course then everything becomes easier, so it will make his prep time so much less than everybody else. He will end up exerting so little energy over the practice days, compared to others who will have used up a tonne of it.

The greens can be tricky at times and there are four or five that will really get your attention, but – if you’re hitting the fairways – you’re going to have an opportunity to shoot a 65 or 66 without hesitation.

If you start missing any more than about four or five fairways, you’re going to put yourself in serious trouble and you’re going to be coming out of some heavy-duty rough. That loses the ability to give yourself a best look at birdie and you’ll be playing defensively from there.

For the most part, they’ll be playing the course the same way the day for the old Wells Fargo Championship – an event McIlroy has won four times – so it’s not like there’s any massive surprises.

Can relaxed McIlroy go back-to-back?

If McIlroy goes into the final round with a lead, he will want to get further ahead as quickly as possible. He effectively owns this golf course and knows all the nuances around it – he has seen it all and won around here in many different ways.

It’s not like he comes here and drives the ball perfectly every time. He knows where to miss it and where not to miss it. He understands what he can and cannot get away with. If he plays to those strengths, then he is going to be hard to beat.

It’s almost like having a brand-new shiny sports car and taking it out to see what it can do. McIlroy’s Masters win is that shiny new sports car in the colour green, so he can take his game out for a spin for the rest of the year and saying, ‘I’m ready, let’s go’ and see what happens.

I’m going to go with what most of the planet believe and say McIlroy will win again, as it’s so hard to see past him. I’m hoping that a lot of big guys will be in the mix, but I really have a tough time seeing anybody besides Rory McIlroy lifting the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday.

Beem explains major withdrawal: ‘I learned my lesson!’

I missed Oak Hill in 2023 because I knew that I couldn’t handle it and I only played Valhalla last year because my family asked me to – my wife and kids wanted me to go there.

I learned my lesson and got very humbled, finished dead last after 36 holes. That sucked! As a professional golfer, even though I’m a professional commentator now, that sucks. I toyed with the idea of playing this year for a little while, but I knew probably a couple of months ago that I probably wasn’t going to be ready for it.

I’m still battling a little bit of an injury in my left shoulder and it hurts when I play. There’s no chance I could go out there and try and attack a golf course that’s going to play as long as it does. I learned my lesson last year and it stung – it’s never fun playing as poorly as I did.

I will play one more time n 2027, when it’s Frisco for the first time ever at the new home of the PGA of America. That’s because it’s in Texas where I live and I will hopefully have a lot of friends and family out there rooting me on.

As much as I would love to play in this, I know that I can’t compete. I haven’t competed in a long time. I’ve been lucky to make the cut a couple of times since I’ve been working for Sky Sports Golf, but I know my limitations. I don’t quite have the firepower!

When is the PGA Championship on Sky Sports?

Sky Sports is the home of the majors, including the PGA Championship, with over 40 hours of live coverage from the four tournament days and a host of extra programming available throughout the week.

“Live from The PGA Championship” will offer eight hours of extended build-up, news and interviews on both Tuesday and Wednesday, before live coverage from the opening round begins on Thursday at 1pm on Sky Sports Golf. Get Sky Sports or stream with NOW.