Truist Championship Preview and Picks

⛳ Welcome to This Week’s GolfStats Insider

Welcome to this week's edition of GolfStats Insider! We're diving deep into the upcoming Truist Championship, offering you a glimpse of what our premium subscribers get every week. This week, the PGA Tour heads to a historic venue, and the field is packed with talent. This newsletter is free, but if you want more detailed golf stats, consider a GolfStats subscription. It offers detailed performance charts, easy-to-sort history, and special formulas to help you make the best choices.

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🏌️‍♂️ This Week's Field: A Stacked Lineup Awaits

The upcoming Truist Championship boasts a strong contingent of elite golfers, promising an exciting week of competition. The field features an impressive 64 of the top 100 and 43 of the top 50 players from the latest Official World Rankings. Notably, nine of the world's top-ten players are set to compete, including such luminaries as #2 Rory McIlroy, #3 Xander Schauffele, #4 Collin Morikawa, and #5 Justin Thomas, ensuring a star-studded leaderboard. The only top-ranked player taking the week off from this designated event is the formidable #1 Scottie Scheffler. This high level of participation is consistent with last year's Wells Fargo event, which also drew a similarly high-caliber assembly of talent.

Looking at the 2025 FedEx Cup point standings, the field is further strengthened by the presence of 24 of the top 25 players, spearheaded by current #1 Rory McIlroy and #3 Justin Thomas. The tournament will also be graced by the return of six past champions, each looking to rekindle their success at this event. This distinguished group includes Rory McIlroy, a four-time victor (2024, 2021, 2015, & 2010), Wyndham Clark (2023), Max Homa (2022 & 2019), Brian Harman (2017), Rickie Fowler (2012), and Lucas Glover (2011).

For fantasy golf enthusiasts and those looking to delve deeper into player performance specifics for the Truist Championship, Golfstats.com offers a suite of valuable resources.

Interested readers can explore a detailed performance chart, which is listed by average finish, providing a clear view of past player success.

Additionally, a special formula developed by Golfstats identifies the top average performers at the Truist Championship over the last five years.

For a broader historical perspective, a sortable eight-year glance at the Truist Championship is also available, offering comprehensive insights into long-term trends and player consistency at this tournament.

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🏆 Scheffler's Historic Victory & The PGA Championship Horizon

The golf world watched with little surprise but immense admiration as Scottie Scheffler delivered a commanding performance to win last week's CJ CUP Byron Nelson. His dominance was underscored by a remarkable statistical showing, leading in Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee, SG:Tee-to-Green, and SG:Total, as well as Greens in Regulation, Proximity to Hole, Putting Average, 3-putt Avoidance, Birdies, and Par Breakers. He also ranked in the top five for numerous other key metrics, including Strokes Gained Approach-the-Green, Driving Accuracy, Total Driving, Total Putting, and Eagles.

Scheffler's 253 total matched the low 72-hole score in PGA Tour history, and his eight-stroke margin of victory was the second-largest in the tournament's history and the largest on the PGA Tour for the 2025 season. This victory, marked by only four bogeys over 72 holes and rounds of 61-63-66-63, is being hailed as one of the most dominating wins since Tiger Woods' triumphs in 2000. It signifies a breakthrough for Scheffler, who had several near-misses earlier in the season.

This stellar performance firmly positions Scheffler as a prime contender for the upcoming PGA Championship, joining Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau as the players currently generating the most excitement. McIlroy enters the major with a Masters victory and four wins in his last eight starts, while DeChambeau recently secured a win at the LIV Korea event after some final-round struggles.

Interestingly, Scottie Scheffler has limited experience at Quail Hollow, the PGA Championship venue, having only played there during the 2022 Presidents Cup where he lost three matches and halved one. This lack of individual event experience at the course might be a factor. In contrast, Bryson DeChambeau has a more established record at Quail Hollow, with finishes including a 4th place in 2018 and a T-9th in 2021.

Rory McIlroy, however, stands out as a strong favorite given his exceptional history at Quail Hollow. It was the site of his first PGA Tour victory in 2010, and he has since won there in 2015, 2021, and 2024. With nine top-ten finishes in 13 starts and over $9.2 million in earnings at the venue, Quail Hollow is McIlroy's most prolific course. His impressive 69.48 scoring average over 50 rounds further solidifies his favoritism as he aims for his second consecutive major. Winning back-to-back majors is a significant achievement, last accomplished by Jordan Spieth in 2015 (Masters and U.S. Open). Historically, this feat has been achieved by a select group of golfing legends, including Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Price, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, and McIlroy himself in 2014 (British Open and PGA Championship). The anticipation for this year's PGA Championship is palpable, with these narratives adding to the intrigue.

⛳ This Week’s Tournament: A Visit to a Tillinghast Gem – The Philadelphia Cricket Club

The PGA Tour continues its journey through some of golf’s most revered courses, and this week, it makes a stop at a truly special venue: The Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course. This marks the 22nd year of the Truist Championship, an event historically played at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. However, with Quail Hollow hosting the PGA Championship next week, the Truist Championship (formerly Wells Fargo Championship) has temporarily relocated, as it did in 2017 (Eagle Point) and 2022 (TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms). This year, players will tackle a course designed by the legendary A.W. Tillinghast, an architect synonymous with the Golden Era of golf course design and responsible for iconic layouts such as Quaker Ridge, Baltusrol, Bethpage Black, San Francisco Golf Club, and Winged Foot.

Course Information:

• Venue: The Philadelphia Cricket Club (Wissahickon Course)

• Location: Flourtown, PA.

• Yardage: 7,119 yards

• Par: 35-35–70

• Grass: Bentgrass (tees, fairways, greens), Tall Fescue (rough)

• Course Rating: 74.7

• Slope Rating: 138 (from back tees)

The Wissahickon Course, opened in 1922, is a testament to Tillinghast’s genius and holds a unique place in American golf history as part of the oldest country club in the nation, founded in 1854. Tillinghast himself was a member and even competed in the 1910 U.S. Open held at the club's original course, finishing 25th. He later designed the Wissahickon course on a new parcel of land, and it remains one of his designs with minimal alterations over the decades. The course is known for its excellent routing, absence of blind shots, and challenging bunkering, with 118 bunkers strategically placed to guard fairways and the relatively small greens (averaging just under 5,800 square feet).

By 2010, the course had lost some of its original challenge due to tree overgrowth and changes to bunker styles. In 2012, a restoration project led by Keith Foster aimed to return the Wissahickon Course to Tillinghast’s 1922 vision. This involved extensive tree management, rebuilding all greens, improving drainage, and meticulously restoring the original bunkering scheme. The restoration emphasized strategic play, forcing golfers to navigate offset hazards rather than simply aiming down the middle.

While not excessively long on paper at 7,119 yards, the par-70 layout features only two par-5s and four challenging par-3s. To accommodate a modern PGA Tour event, including space for spectators and hospitality, the PGA Tour has implemented a course rerouting for this week. The tournament will begin on the traditional 8th hole, proceed through the 9th, then play holes 10 through 18 before looping back to holes 1 and 2. The short par-3 3rd hole (122 yards) will play as the 14th. A particularly exciting stretch will be the par-5 7th hole (playing as the 15th), known as the “Great Hazard.” The finishing stretch will comprise the 215-yard par-3 5th, the 498-yard par-4 6th, and the 517-yard par-4 4th, promising a demanding conclusion to each round.

 Key Stats for Success at Wissahickon

With no past PGA Tour data to draw from at the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course, we’re leaning on comparable course profiles and informed analysis to project which stats will define success this week.

Driving the ball both far and straight will be essential. The layout is reminiscent of Quail Hollow, where players gain an edge by dominating from tee to green. Those who can combine distance and accuracy will be able to attack the course. From there, it’s not just about hitting greens—it’s about hitting it close. Proximity to the hole will be critical to creating realistic birdie opportunities, especially on a course that rewards precise iron play much like Augusta National.

Miss a green? Players will face a tough test. With 60 bunkers and tightly mown areas around the greens, strong scrambling will be needed to save par. And as always, putting will be a separator. With undulating, tricky greens averaging 5,800 square feet, success will depend on reading the breaks and rolling it pure.

The 4 Key Stats This Week:

1. Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green – Measures a player’s all-around performance in ball-striking, from driving accuracy and length to hitting the green.

2. Proximity to Hole – Highlights who is hitting their approach shots closest and giving themselves the best birdie chances.

3. Strokes Gained Around the Green – Reflects skill in scrambling from bunkers and tight lies around the greens.

4. Strokes Gained Putting – Evaluates overall putting performance, especially crucial on the undulating surfaces at Wissahickon.

Who to watch for at the Truist Championship

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