Best (And Worst) Quotes from the 2025 PGA Championship

Players and golf industry executives have begun stepping to the mic ahead of the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. With many questions surrounding the future of the PGA Tour & PIF, the proposed rollback, technology, and the host venue, here are the the most notable quotes that we've heard so far this week.

Sunday

Scottie Scheffler on where he'll display the Wanamaker Trophy

Q. You joked before that Meredith would smack you on the head if you ever tried to come home and bring your trophies into the house. That's a pretty big one. I mean, where is that going to go in the house?

"Where's it going to go? I have a room in my house called "The Golf Room," and that's where all my crap goes, literally. It's just a room full of all my golf junk. I've got some trophies in there as well, and that's probably where this one will go."

Q. Is it nicely presented or just kind of all hanging out?

"I'd like to say that it's nicely presented, but it's not."

Bryson DeChambeau on what's next after another close call

"Absolutely. What I really think needs to happen, being pretty transparent here, is just get a golf ball that flies a little straighter. Everybody talks about how straight the golf ball flies. Well, upwards of 190 like Rory and myself, it's actually quite difficult to control the golf ball.

"The ball sidespins quite a bit and it gets hit by the wind quite a bit because our golf balls are just longer in the air. So I'm looking at ways of how to rectify that so that my wedges can be even tighter so it can fly straighter. I feel like there are times where I hit wedges and it just overcurves, depending how high and how much time it is in the air and how much spin is on the ball.

"So I think that's really what I'm going to be looking at now along with some equipment stuff to just make myself a little more precise the next time so we don't have what happened this week happen."

Jon Rahm on being in contention again at a major

"It was really close. God, it's been a while since I had that much fun on a golf course, 15 holes. Even the first seven the day where I was swinging well and things weren't happening, but I kept myself in and made the pars that I needed and played really good golf from the 8th to the 15th. It's just mistakes around the green."

Sergio Garcia on the Ryder Cup

"It is there if I play better. Obviously the way I'm playing, even if Luke offered me a pick right now, I would tell him no. So obviously I need to get better. I need to get more where I was just before the Masters. You know, just show myself and show everyone that my game is solid, and it can help the Team Europe. It's as simple as that."

Saturday

Bryson DeChambeau on tough breaks on the golf course

Q. Does that make it more frustrating knowing you felt like you did everything that you were supposed to do, and it didn't actually work out at times?

"That's why golf is the worst four-letter word in the world."

Keegan Bradley on the third round conditions

"You have to really hang tough because there's still wicked mud balls out there. I had a couple that were violent. You've just got to hang tough. There are some holes that you can make birdies on and there's obviously holes like the last three that are just really, really difficult. Did a great job of hanging in. Hit a lot of good drives, and I think that's the key."

Tony Finau on chasing Scottie Scheffler

Q. How much harder is that to do when you have a guy like Scottie leading the tournament?

"Yeah, I mean, as I mentioned before, Scottie, he's the best player in the world and he's an incredible frontrunner because of how good his ball-striking is. He can ball strike his way into winning golf tournaments, even with an average putter. And so when he's on top of the leaderboard, he's extremely hard to catch but that's the task that I'm presented with this week. It looks like Scottie is going to be leading after today. He'll be a tough guy to catch tomorrow, but you know, we've got 18 holes to see what happens."

Jon Rahm on how hungry he is for a major

Q. Well-played. You must be very happy. Tell us how you reflect on where you are right now going into the fourth round, and I sense you're really hungry for another major title. Tell us just how hungry.

"I mean, hard to express how hungry I may be for a major, about as hungry as anybody can be in this situation."

Friday

Scottie Scheffler on playing with players who go on a hot streak

"When you're out there competing, I'm mostly concerned about myself out there. I notice what's going on, but it's not like another sport. Like if we were playing basketball and he's hitting a bunch of threes in my face, I'd probably have to adjust something because it's more of a one-on-one game. In golf there is -- outside of us two there is 154 other people in the field this week. It's a big field, and there's a lot of guys. I think mostly we're competing against the golf course at times, especially the first two rounds. If it was late on Sunday and he was making a charge to get three ahead of me, maybe I'd have to change something.

"But in the second round, it doesn't really make much of a difference to me."

Max Homa on mudballs and preferred lies

"I particularly like playing the ball down. I think it just causes chaos for the fans. It's supposed to be entertaining, so seeing people who can look like robots for a while look completely silly isn't the worst except when it's you."

Matt Fitzpatrick on when contending at a major feels real

"I would say like Saturday back nine, I think ... Saturday is always, I feel like, the make or break of how close you are to the lead or how far away you are, or if you're leading. Yeah, I would say Saturday back nine is kind of where ideally you'd like to play your best holes -- your best golf of the tournament for the last 27, in my opinion."

Jon Rahm on Quail Hollow's volatility

"It's a difficult golf course. I can see how somebody can shoot 5, 6-under fairly easily, and I can easily see how a round gets going the wrong way and you shoot 3-, 4-over. I don't really ever think about how many major champions are out there, so I couldn't tell you if this is normal or not."

Jhonattan Vegas on his lack of major success throughout his career

"It's definitely been annoying. It's been very, very annoying, especially knowing I have the game to compete in these big events. I feel like my game is very complete, but I just haven't been able to put it all together in a major. I think I've been patient enough to not really get too down on myself for not playing well at majors. I've played good at the Players. I've played good at some good, big tournaments, but never a major, right?

"Like I said, it's just kind of one of those things that you've just got to keep learning about yourself and what it takes to play good here. Unfortunately, it's taking me a little bit longer than usual, but I'm glad that I'm in this position right now."

Bryson Dechambeau on what scores are possible over the weekend

"It depends where the pins are. The pins have been mostly on top of crowns this week, which has made it a very difficult test of golf. You have to have your irons super precise this week, which we all know how good my wedges are, so that makes it a little bit more difficult for me. That's okay, though. It's a great test. I've just got to have my putting a little more on and keep playing the way I am. It easily could be 7-, 8-under right now, or I could be even par. So just keep moving along, and I think a 65, 64 is out there. I almost shot it out there today and I definitely saw it out there, I just didn't accomplish it."

Wednesday

Rory McIlroy on preparing for Quail Hollow for a PGA Championship compared to a PGA Tour event

"I thought it was going to feel different just because it was a major championship, and I got out on the golf course yesterday, and it felt no different than last year at the Wells Fargo. The rough is maybe a little juicier. But fairways are still the same cut lines and same visuals. It doesn't feel that much different."

"And yeah, because we all know this golf course so well, it's not as if you're going to glean anything new from a strategy perspective. It's just a matter of stepping up and hitting the golf shots when the gun goes on Thursday."

European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald on LIV player eligibility for Bethpage

"I have had zero conversations. That's a question for Guy Kinnings. I do not get involved with the politics of that. So my concentration is to get the best 12 players to New York, and hopefully everyone is eligible."

Viktor Hovland on what makes the Green Mile (Nos. 16-18) difficult

"It's just long. 16 is just a really long hole. But it's pretty generous off the tee, and even the green is pretty big. But 17 is a really hard hole with the water all along the left side, and if they have the tee boxes all the way back, you're hitting a 5- or a 4-iron, and even though you've got room to the right, there's a little slope down there that's a difficult up-and-down.

And then obviously 18 you can't hit it right, you can't hit it left, and even if you hit it in the fairway, it's a pretty difficult second shot, as well. It just forces you to hit good shots. This course doesn't allow you to hide."

PGA club pro Tyler Collet on Quail Hollow compared to Kiawah, Southern Hills, and Valhalla

"Golf course-wise, I think this is probably, of the four that I've played, I think this is probably the best venue that I've been a part of. Not to take away from the other ones that I've played in, but this is a really big golf course, but it's set up so good for a major."

Tuesday

PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague on the proposed golf ball rollback

"There's no change in our stance. We're certainly vehemently against the ball rollback. We've had great conversations with the governing bodies since that point. We've had several constructive and collaborative meetings probably a number of times, three, four times.I feel really good about where we are with them, and we're going to continue to collaborate on the proposed rollbacks."

Jordan Spieth on driver technology

"The improvement Titleist has made in their drivers, like the mis-hits being just as fast and just as straight, I think the technology has a lot to do with it....I didn't try to become a better driver by any means. It just kind of happened." - Jordan Spieth

Players on 2025 host venue Quail Hollow

“I guess I would say Quail Hollow is like a Kardashian. It’s very modern, beautiful and well-kept. But it lacks a soul or character.” - Hunter Mahan

“The golf course is very challenging, but it’s not tricked up…Guys love being challenged in the right way. Not tricked up, but real tough golf holes and Quail has a great variety of them.” - Webb Simpson

‍"I feel like a place like this, where it doesn't necessarily require a lot of thought or strategy off the tee, it's generally pulling out driver and just I need to hit this as far and straight as possible..." - Justin Thomas

"When Augusta National tried to 'Tiger Proof' their golf course, all they did was make it more of an advantage for that player. When you look at the changes we've made to Quail Hollow it only benefits Rory." - Johnson Wagner on the Fried Egg Golf Podcast

Jon Rahm when asked about the identity of the PGA Championship

Q: So in a way, the fact that this major doesn't really have an identity is its identity?

"Yeah, you get different things every time you come. It's very difficult to say that two of them are the same."

Captain Keegan Bradley on the U.S. Ryder Cup team makeup

"No one cares about what's going on in this side PGA Tour-LIV. We're trying to put the best team together. It could mean there's one LIV guy, two LIV guys, it doesn't matter. We'll see how this year shakes out."

PGA of America President Don Rea on bifurcation

"There is no personal opinion. I'm the president of the PGA of America, right? I've got 31,000 members that are listening to my every word, and I'm proud to represent them. You know what I think? It's all part of -- I know where you're going, but these conversations we're having, bifurcation was taken off the table. So I'm not talking about that now."

PGA of America Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh on course setup

Q: "What exactly -- when you come to a PGA Championship site, what are you trying to accomplish when you set up the course?"

Haigh: "Every PGA Championship, we challenge all of our staff to make this one the greatest championship we've ever held."

Q. By doing what?

Haigh: "Making it so that you, the media, enjoy it, the players enjoy it, the caddies enjoy it, spectators enjoy it, and the TV viewers enjoy it."

Q. I need to be more clear. I wasn't talking about our parking. I was thinking more about the golf course. Exactly what kind of test are you trying to present, and how do you go about it?

Haigh: We look at each golf course. Obviously each has a different architect. So two or three years prior, we look at the golf course and see how it is we would like it to play and test the best players in the world. In this case, there has been some history with the number of events in 2017 when we played. So we do know what took place then, but now we're playing it in May versus August. So the overseed has sort of changed a little bit of how it will play...Set it up, the tees, and there's some wonderful short par-4s that you have opportunity, some long par-3s, and that is what setting up a golf course is. There's so many aspects to it. Let's try and bring out the very best in all of those ona magnificent golf course."

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This post will be updated throughout the 2025 PGA Championship.

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