Rory's sacred turf, Cam the Terminator, and boring/interesting Quail: 10 things for the Truist Championship

+ 10 top-10s in 14 tries (this is more impressive for me than the four wins)+ The course is basically tailor-made for his game, but he somehow (per DataGolf) gains about a stroke more per round than even his own very high expectation.+ He owns the SG career totals on seven of the course's 18 holes.+ He had the greatest final round in PGA Tour history here, back in 2010

The fact that driving is so important here, and there are still so many approaches from longer than 175 yards, feeds right into his strengths—the farther you are from the hole on the second shot, the better he gets. He also just feels good here; he's friends with the president of the club, he got his first PGA Tour win here and it's usually his birthday week. At Quail, everything is constantly coming up Rory.

2. But Cameron Young has become a terminator

When I watched Cameron Young win his first ever Tour event last summer in Greensboro, I was a little taken aback because he looked so invincible. It was giving off those elite vibes you only see every once in a while, where the firepower is so off the charts you start wondering how good he can be. That was tempered by the fact that he'd had trouble winning before, and it felt very premature to tag him with the "next big thing" label.

Since then, he was the only bright spot at the Ryder Cup, he won the Players with incredible clutch play at the end that included the greatest drive we've maybe ever seen and he just crushed everyone—including Scottie—at a signature event. We are no longer tempering; this man feels like a superstar in waiting.

Or, maybe we're tempering a little, because he missed a big chance to win the Masters and looked uncomfortable on Sunday en route to a 73. But that's the last big question: can he do it at a major? Because at Doral, the driving and the putting alone were absurd enough to warrant some pretty intense comparisons.

Long story short, I wished aloud last week for a Young-Scheffler duel on Sunday at Doral, and kinda/sorta got it, so this time I'm invoking whatever powers I've been granted to get Young and Rory going down to the wire at Quail.

3. Quail is boring in a kind of interesting way

As a North Carolina guy (transplant/carpetbagger, but I've been here for over 15 years now, so I'm counting it), I wish I liked Quail more than I do. There's a certain drab, repetitive quality to it, and on an aesthetic level it's made worse by the grotesque mansions lining the fairways, a byproduct of huge amounts of banking money and zero taste.

But what makes Quail Hollow dull—a seemingly unending stretch of long, punishing holes—makes it sort of a fascinating test of who can fight war of attrition best and longest. Do you have power? Can your power hold up over long stretches? Everyone can bomb, but can you bomb straight-ish for four days?

When Rory says that a ball rollback would favor him, I think Quail is his best proof—when everything is punishingly long, this guy will kill you because he never bends or breaks. Three of the hardest 20 holes last year were at Quail, (9, 11, 18), and though two are par-4s and one a par-3, they're basically the same hole.

In fact, they're the last three holes on the course—the so-called "Green Mile"—and it's the toughest three-hole stretch by far on tour every year (as recently as 2024, no. 18 was the literal hardest hole on the entire calendar, and the only one where players averaged a half-shot over par).

It's not the most fascinating design you'll ever see, but it will absolutely wear you down.

4. Ranking the sponsor's exemptions

Why? - Tony Finau - I mean, I guess I understand why—he's a big name—but it has been struggle central for Big Tone, and the last signature they let him into, the RBC Heritage, he finished DFL by a mile.

Double Why? - Mackenzie Hughes - I do understand that these exemptions involve partnerships and connections and all that, but I refuse to stop gawping when it doesn't immediately make sense.

Solid - Webb Simpson - Local boy, in the Ryder Cup captaincy pipeline, so ... sure. Yeah.

Nice - Max Homa - Previous winner here, twice, fun guy, shown flashes of competence lately. This is how you use a sponsor's exemption.

5. The Jordan Spieth Sadness Index (JSSI)

I'm raising it from a 7.6 to a 9.8. Do you realize what this guy just did to us? Do you realize what he's putting us through? He hit all the beats of a comeback story early this year, albeit a bit stop-and-go, and then he shot a beautiful 65 on Thursday at Doral to sit just one shot off Young's lead. This was going to be it. And then? AND THEN?? Dead even the rest of the way. Finished right where he left off, seven under, tied for 18th, with us, his loyal fans, left to limp off licking our wounds again. The Saturday 75 was especially brutal. And what makes this so hard is that he left us still kinda hopeful, but also more broken than ever. Now we have to sit here wondering if that 65 meant anything, or if we're just doomed. This is hell.

6. Could Xander be warpathin'?

I'm just saying ... two runner-ups here in '23 and 24, loves the course and has been lurking all year with top-10s in the Players, the Masters and seemingly everywhere else. We're not talking about Xander very much in 2026—his 2025 season was an effective Men In Black-style memory eraser—but it really can't be long until he's the X-Man again. He's just a little behind his 2024 pace in both SG: Tee to Green and SG: Putting, but not as far as you might think.

7. Golf Tweet of the Week: The Alex Fitz haters are crying

From Digest's own Alex Myers:

Yes! Fitzpatrick was phenomenal at Doral, finishing T-9, and as someone who thinks it's completely fine that we have one tournament a year where you can win with a partner and get a long tour exemption, it was cool to see him stuff it in the haters' faces. It was amazing how fast everyone's enjoyment of the great finish at the Zurich, and the brothers winning together, boomeranged into petty whining about Alex's exemption. It literally happens once per year! It's fine! I hope he wins the next three majors.

8. One Normie Pick, One Weird Pick

I'm taking Young for a back-to-back over Rory on the normie side (my words last week: "I'm rocking with Cam Young for my normie pick, even though it feels like the absolute worst Scheffler will finish is third"... please pat me on the back), and for the weird pick, let's go with Keith Mitchell. His form is just so-so, but he led here after round one at the PGA last year, and he's got two top-10s in the past. Isn't it about time for a weird, out-of-nowhere signature winner?

9. Rogue Golf Thought - Rahm's deal proves LIV and its players have no leverage

This is late-breaking as I'm writing, but apparently Jon Rahm has made peace with the DP World Tour, agreeing to a deal where he pays his old fines and plays five events on their tour (he wanted four, they wanted six, and if you want a breakdown of the entire fight, I've got you covered.) That's a big win for the DPWT, and a win for the European Ryder Cup team who won't have to worry about Rahm being a hold-out next year. Five events represents a nominal concession (and one the DPWT probably didn't have to give), it was probably worth it just to ink the deal.

What it actually represents is another sign that these guys on LIV who didn't bail out already are desperate for a soft landing, and I'd wager a hefty bet that we're getting a return to the PGA Tour announcement soon. This reads a lot like a guy securing his near future as his league collapses, and Brian Rolapp isn't one to miss a chance to deal a killing blow to his rival. Unlesssss ... he can't get out of his contract, and then he's praying like hell that LIV folds this year and doesn't linger on in some diminished form, keeping him in golf purgatory for another few years.

10. Rogue Non-Golf Thought: I need to start eating more hummus

Every time I have hummus, I love it. It's such a reliable, tasty dip, and yet I never have it in my house. Plus, it's made from chickpeas, which will not kill you, unlike every other food in my house. My wife brought home some red pepper hummus the other day, I housed half of it with pretzels in ten minutes, and this has opened my eyes. It's time for a major life change—I'm a hummus guy now, and nobody can stop me. (But I will still never eat a disgusting olive.)