Out of the Rough: Truist Championship (2025)

With one week until the PGA Championship at the famed Quail Hollow, the PGA Tour heads to Philadelphia for this week’s Truist Championship.

There’s a lot to unpack with the opening line there. 

Wells Fargo served as the title sponsor for this event for the past 14 years but will now be under the sponsorship of Truist.

The event too is annually held at Quail Hollow in North Carolina but with the PGA Championship being hosted there next week, this year’s installment will be held at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. 

The Philadelphia Cricket Club hosted the U.S. Open in both 1907 and 1910, although the St. Martins Course. The Wissahickon course will take center stage this week.

The Field

The Truist Championship will serve as the sixth Signature Event of the season and with that, will come a field we are used to seeing for this level of event.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the most notable absentee this week as it has become the norm to not see him tee it up the week prior to a Major.

World No. 2 and defending the Masters Tournament and THE PLAYERS Championship winner Rory McIlroy will headline this week’s field. McIlroy is also the defending champion of this event, winning at Quail Hollow a season ago over Xander Schauffele.

Other notable names teeing it up this week include Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Ludvig Aberg, Hideki Matsuyama, Russell Henley and Viktor Hovland.

Both Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler received sponsor exemptions to play this week but otherwise would not have qualified. 

The Course

The Wissahickon course at the Philadelphia Cricket Club plays as a par-70 at 7,119 yards.

It was designed by then member, A.W. Tillinghast, the mastermind behind hundreds of golf courses across the United States and Canada.

Tillinghast also designed the likes of Bethpage Black, Winged Foot Golf Club, Baltusrol Golf Club and many more.

What is different about this golf course compared to the many Tillinghast had designed prior (including Somerset Hills Country Club, Quaker Ridge Golf Club and Baltusrol Golf Club) was that he was designing this course for himself.

As a member of the Philadelphia Cricket Club, he was given a blank canvas of virgin rolling Pennsylvania farmland to create a golf oasis for himself, his friends and his family. The course would remain his home course until his death in 1942.

It was opened 1922 and underwent a complete restoration in 2013-14 to restore the course to its original design.

Golfers will need to remain mindful off-the-tee and be creative throughout their rounds as the fairways here feature varying slopes, which will require different shot shapes from hole-to-hole.

Although the rough at the Wissahickon course is not as long as other Tillinghast designs, it will still pose as a line of defense to those who miss the fairways.

The greens are undulating and feature small plateaus for tough pin locations. The undulation of these greens will penalize golfers for missing on the wrong side of the greens.

Greens are protected by close greenside bunkers that are rather deep. Any errant approach shot will see golfers challenged.

The greens and fairways here are both bentgrass. 

For this event, the routing of the holes will be different than if you were to walk up and take on this hidden-gem on any other day.

Golfers will begin at the 365-yard par-four eighth before moving to another short par-four in the ninth hole. Holes ten through 18 will then be played before moving on to holes one and two.

From there, golfers will take on the picturesque par-three third hole that plays only 122-yards as their 14th hole.

The 15th hole for this week will be one of the course’s signature holes, known as the ‘Great Hazard.’ This is a true risk-reward par five.

The final three holes will be the 215-yard par-three fifth, 498-yard par-four sixth and 517-yard par-four fourth.

Starting with the ‘Great Hazard’ the final four holes will offer plenty of excitement and dramatics down the home-stretch.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, Thursday currently calls for the highest chance of precipitation at 50-percent. From there, Friday calls for a five-percent chance as Saturday and Sunday both call for just a ten-percent chance. Winds will begin at nine miles-per-hour on Thursday before peaking at 11 miles-per-hour on Friday. Winds will then decrease to five miles-per-hour across both days of the weekend. Temperatures will begin at 69-degrees on Thursday before dipping to a low of 66-degrees on Friday. Temperatures will then bounce-back to 76-degrees for Saturday and peak at 79-degrees for Sunday. 

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (SG: OTT)

• Par-Four Average Scoring

• Strokes Gained: Putting on Bentgrass (SG: PUTT Bentgrass)

• Good Drives Gained

• Scrambling

• Proximity to the hole from 125-200 Yards

• Ball Striking

• Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ATG)

DFS Suggestions

$10,000+

Without Scottie Scheffler in this field, Rory McIlroy leads the DFS charge at $12,000. That’s $1,500 more expensive than my suggestion in Collin Morikawa ($10,500.) Morikawa is currently third on Tour in both SG: APP and good drives percentage, seventh in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 14th in SG: OTT, 21st in ball striking, 30th in par four average scoring, 41st in scrambling, 89th in SG: ATG and 140th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass. We last saw Morikawa at the Zurich Classic where he and teammate Kurt Kitayama missed the cut and prior to that he placed 54th at the RBC Heritage. Throwing those two starts out, he placed 14th at the Masters Tournament, tenth at THE PLAYERS Championship, second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 17th at The Genesis Invitational, 17th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and second at The Sentry Tournament of Champions on the season. He is also on my betting card at +1500 this week.

$9,000-$9,900

Leading off this price range is Patrick Cantlay ($9,500.) Cantlay has actually been solid so far this season. Of golfers with at least seven starts this season, Cantlay has the fifth best average finishing placement on Tour this season. Of golfers with at least nine starts, Cantlay has the third best average finishing placement. We last saw him at the RBC Heritage where he placed 13th. He also placed 36th at the Masters Tournament, 33rd at the Valero Texas Open, 12th at THE PLAYERS Championship, 31st at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, fifth at The Genesis Invitational, 33rd at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, fifth at The American Express and 15th at The Sentry Tournament of Champions. He is currently fourth on Tour in par-four average scoring, tenth in ball striking, 12th in good drives percentage, 17th in SG: APP, 33rd in SG: OTT, 34th in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 54th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, 70th in SG: ATG and 136th in scrambling. Also consider Russell Henley ($9,400.) Right behind Cantlay in terms of average finishing placement this season of golfers with at least seven starts is Henley. He placed eighth in his last outing at the RBC Heritage, missed the cut at the Masters Tournament, placed 30th at THE PLAYERS Championship, won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, placed sixth at the Cognizant Classic, 39th at The Genesis Invitational, fifth at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, tenth at the Sony Open in Hawaii and 30th at The Sentry Tournament of Champions. Henley is currently fourth on Tour in par-four average scoring, eighth in good drives percentage, 15th in SG: APP, 17th in SG: ATG, 18th in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 36th in ball striking, 77th in scrambling, 108th in SG: OTT and 143rd in SG: PUTT Bentgrass. 

$8,000-$8,900

Per my stats based model this week, my overall favorite is Robert MacIntyre ($8,000.) He is currently second on Tour in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, ninth in SG: OTT, 20th in both good drives percentage and ball striking, 33rd in SG: APP, 41st in par-four average scoring, 49th in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 62nd in scrambling and 117th in SG: ATG. He hasn’t been in the best of form coming into this week however. He placed 32nd at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, 66th at the RBC Heritage and missed the cut at the Masters Tournament. Prior to that however, he placed ninth at THE PLAYERS Championship, 11th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and sixth at the WM Phoenix Open. He is also on my betting card at +6600. Also consider Keegan Bradley ($8,100.) Bradley is currently 16th on Tour in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 20th in par-four average scoring, 24th in SG: APP, 28th in SG: OTT, 30th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, 34th in ball striking, 36th in SG: ATG, 67th in good drives percentage and 102nd in scrambling. We last saw Bradley at the RBC Heritage where he placed 18th. He missed the cut at the Masters Tournament but prior to that placed 47th at the Valero Texas Open, 20th at THE PLAYERS Championship, fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 34th The Genesis Invitational, 15th at the Farmers Insurance Open, sixth at the Sony Open in Hawaii and 15th at The Sentry Tournament of Champions. He is also on my betting card at +5000.

$7,000-$7,900

First up in this price range is J.J. Spaun ($7,500.) Spaun is having one heck of a season to date. He placed 42nd in his last outing at the RBC Heritage and prior to that placed 50th at the Masters Tournament and missed the cut at the Texas Children’s Houston Open. However, prior to those starts he placed second at THE PLAYERS Championship, 31st at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, second at the Cognizant Classic, 34th at The Genesis Invitational, 33rd at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, 15th at the Farmers Insurance Open, 29th at The American Express and third at the Sony Open in Hawaii. On the season, he is currently sixth on Tour in SG: APP, ninth in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 17th in ball striking, 30th in par-four average scoring, 51st in good drives percentage, 71st in SG: OTT, 92nd in scrambling, 111th in SG: ATG and 127th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass. Also consider Taylor Pendrith ($7,500.) Pendrith is seeking form, having missed the cut last week at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, placing 42nd at the RBC Heritage and missing the cut at the Masters Tournament. Prior to that however he placed fifth at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, 38th at THE PLAYERS Championship, ninth at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and seventh at the Farmers Insurance Open. He currently leads the tour in ball striking and is also fifth in SG: OTT, 23rd in good drives percentage, 36th in SG: APP, 52nd in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, 69th in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 90th in par-four average scoring, 144th in scrambling and 165 in SG: ATG. 

$6,900-

Leading off this final price range is Erik van Rooyen ($6,200.) Rooyen is currently 18th on Tour in ball striking, 26th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, 41st in par-four average scoring, 44th in SG: APP, 47th in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 53rd in good drives percentage, 60th in SG: OTT, 97th in SG: ATG and 178th in scrambling. He was the runner-up to Scheffler last week at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson and also placed ninth earlier this season at the Cognizant Classic. Also consider Nick Taylor ($6,500.) Taylor is currently tenth on Tour in par-four average scoring, 20th in SG: APP, 27th in scrambling, 35th in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 36th in good drives percentage, 42nd in ball striking, 98th in SG: ATG, 112th in SG: OTT and 161st in SG: PUTT Bentgrass. Taylor placed 12th in his last outing with teammate Adam Hadwin at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He also placed 49th at the RBC Heritage and 40th at the Masters Tournament. Earlier this season he placed ninth at The Genesis Invitational, 25th at the WM Phoenix Open, 12th at The American Express and won the Sony Open in Hawaii. 

Betting Card

• Collin Morikawa (+1500)

• Shane Lowry (+4000)

• Keegan Bradley (+5000)

• Robert MacIntyre (+6600)

• Aaron Rai (+7500)

Shane Lowry (+4000)

I’m not sure what it is, but this event and course just feels like one Lowry will excel at. He is currently 11th on Tour in both SG: APP and scrambling, 14th in SG: ATG, 42nd in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards, 45th in SG: OTT, 55th in par-four average scoring, 80th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, 85th in good drives percentage and 114th in ball striking. Of golfers with at least seven starts this season, Lowry has the seventh best average finishing placement. He placed 12th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans alongside Rory McIlroy, 18th at the RBC Heritage, 42nd at the Masters Tournament, eighth at the Valspar Championship, 20th at THE PLAYERS Championship, seventh at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 11th at the Cognizant Classic, 39th at The Genesis Invitational and second at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. 

Aaron Rai (+7500)

Rai is currently second on Tour in good drives percentage, fourth in par-four average scoring, 24th in SG: OTT, 45th in SG: APP, 52nd in ball striking, 93rd in SG: ATG, 119th in SG: PUTT Bentgrass, 123rd in proximity to the hole from 125-200 yards and 139th in scrambling. He placed 18th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, 38th at the RBC Heritage, 27th at the Masters Tournament, 14th at THE PLAYERS Championship, 11th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and fourth at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld this season.