Scottie Scheffler Skips Truist Championship Before Pga Championship Defense
Scottie Scheffler will not play next week’s Truist Championship, choosing to focus on defending his pga championship crown the following week. The world number one withdrew from the PGA Tour Signature Event at Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina, and his absence changes the top end of the field before the second major of the season.
Scheffler and Quail Hollow
Scheffler’s decision leaves the Truist Championship without the game’s top-ranked player, even though most of the golfers ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings are set to tee it up. The winner’s cheque is $3.6million, and the event still has enough star power to draw attention, but one of the sport’s biggest names has chosen the major route instead.
That choice puts the focus on the pga championship defense rather than a Signature Event title. The second major of the season comes seven days after the Truist Championship concludes, and Scheffler has opted to build his week around that schedule rather than add another start.
Rory McIlroy’s North Carolina record
Rory McIlroy’s chances of taking home £2.65million improved after Scheffler stepped aside. He could also collect an unprecedented fifth victory at the North Carolina course, where he has already won in 2010, 2015, 2021 and 2024.
Those four wins came when the tournament carried the Wells Fargo Championship name, but the venue has stayed the same and the history remains steep. Last month McIlroy won consecutive Masters titles, so he arrives with a run of form that keeps him in the center of the Truist field.
Russell Henley joins the absentees
Russell Henley, ranked eighth in the world, is another notable absentee alongside Scheffler. That leaves the event without two of its highest-ranked players, even as the rest of the top 10 stays largely intact for Quail Hollow Club.
For the field, the opening is clear: McIlroy moves closer to another title at a course where he has ruled for years, while Scheffler shifts his attention to a major that starts seven days later. The Truist Championship still carries a $3.6million winner’s cheque, but the week now belongs more to those who stayed than to the world number one who passed it by.
