The PGA Championship is here as the golf world descends on Quail Hollow Club for the second major of the year.
Chalk held at The Masters, with Rory McIlroy completing the career grand slam with a clutch performance late on Sunday. The five-time major champ comes into this tournament as one of the big favorites, having won at Quail Hollow four times during his career.
As always, Scottie Scheffler will get plenty of buzz as one of the favorites coming in, as will the always-dangerous Bryson DeChambeau. Defending champion Xander Schauffele has had a difficult 2025, but nobody would be surprised to see him contending on Saturday and Sunday.
Even with all of the stars out, there are still plenty of candidates to lift the Wanamaker Trophy that are flying under the radar.
Here are five dark horses that could win the PGA Championship.
Max Homa
Max Homa’s struggles this season have been well-documented, but he has slowly come around just a hair over his last few starts. The fan favorite ended a miserable string of five missed cuts in a row with an impressive T-12 at The Masters to get his major season off on the right foot.
Homa had a down week at Harbour Town, but he put together a solid T-30 finish at the Truist Championship.
Homa’s comfort at Quail Hollow garners a spot on this list. He won the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte back in 2019 and has finished T-8 in each of the last two editions in 2023 and 2024. Coming back to this course should give him comfort and confidence to play some of his best golf.
Sepp Straka
Straka became less of a dark horse last Sunday, when he outlasted Shane Lowry in the clutch to get his second PGA Tour win of the year. Normally, a guy who sits alongside McIlroy as the only multi-time winners on the PGA Tour this season wouldn’t qualify as a dark horse, but Straka fits in here.
Save for a T-2 finish at the 2023 Open Championship, Straka’s track record at majors is essentially nonexistent. He has just two top 10s and four top 25s in 15 major starts while missing the cut five times. It would be a rare occurrence for Straka to contend at Quail Hollow, even if he does have nine top 20 finishes this season.
The Austrian also finished in the top 10 at the Wells Fargo in 2024 and is fifth in total strokes gained so far on the PGA Tour this season. He could be a name to watch at the PGA.
Will Zalatoris
Nothing about Zalatoris’ form or the circumstances coming in suggest that he could contend for the title this week. However, the 28-year old has been a beast at the majors in his career and this could be the week that he finds a groove.
While Zalatoris doesn’t have the success at Quail Hollow during his career, he has seven top 10s in 15 major starts with three runner-up finishes in his career. That includes a second-place finish at the PGA Championship in 2022, when he lost in a playoff to Justin Thomas.
A first major title would be a little out of left field for the San Francisco native this week, but few have raised their games at the majors like he has over the last five years.
Corey Conners
Corey Conners is quietly having one of the best seasons on the PGA Tour in 2025 and is contending for titles week after week despite never finding the winner’s circle. He has four top 10 finishes in his last seven starts and is coming off of a strong T-11 showing at the Truist.
Conners’ major record is spotty, especially outside of Augusta National. He has four top 10s in eight starts at The Masters, but just one in 17 starts everywhere else. Still, he is 12th on tour in overall strokes gained in 2025 and finished T-8 and T-13 in his last two starts at Quail Hollow.
Daniel Berger
Berger is the longest of long shots on the list, but he has very quietly been rock solid so far this season. The 32-year old has a pair of top three finishes this season and has finished in the top 30 in each of his last nine starts, displaying impressive week-to-week consistency.
It feels like Berger has been on the verge of a big result, and what better place to do it than at Quail Hollow. He ranks in the top 10 in strokes gained this season and is the No. 8 tee-to-green player on tour in 2025, so he clearly is playing some of the best golf of his career.
Berger’s major record is cause for pause here; he doesn’t have a top 20 major finish since the 2021 Open Championship and has just four top 10s in 27 career starts, but he came into almost all of those tournaments in worse form than he is in now. If he can keep this level up, he could be on the front page of the leaderboard on Sunday.
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