Xander Schauffele believes his game is ideally suited to Quail Hollow as he bids to turn previous near-misses at the venue into a successful US PGA Championship title defence.

Schauffele finished runner-up in the Wells Fargo Championship in 2023 and 2024, with newly crowned Masters champion Rory McIlroy overhauling him last year with a final round of 65, despite a double bogey on the last.

That tournament, now known as the Truist Championship, has switched to Philadelphia Cricket Club this year with Quail Hollow hosting the 107th US PGA, where Schauffele will attempt to become the first back-to-back winner since Brooks Koepka in 2018-19.

“I’m aware that I’ve played really well there and come up short two years in a row,” Schauffele, who followed his maiden major title at Valhalla last year with victory in the Open Championship at Royal Troon, said.

“I think it fits my eye for whatever reason and I’ve been up at the top of the leaderboard for the last two years so I don’t see why this year should be an issue.

“I guess writers call it horses for courses. For us, golfers sort of play well in stretches and like certain courses for some reasons. I’m sure there’s some analytics or statistics that could back that up.

“But yeah, you just have to get on a property and you have to feel good, and the vibe has to be good, and I’ve sort of had that feeling when I’m on property there. So the hope is to sort of keep that going.”

Quail Hollow will play to 7,626 yards and boasts a daunting closing three-hole stretch known as ‘The Green Mile’, but Schauffele is well aware that danger lurks everywhere, with Justin Thomas carding a winning total of eight under par in the 2017 US PGA.

“I think the overall length of the property, the green complexes, the speed of the greens (makes it so hard),” Schauffele said.

“You know, there’s sneaky, sneaky trouble kind of lurking. People obviously see hazards and OB (out of bounds) and things of that nature, but some of those holes are sort of relatively wide open from penalty area to penalty area.

“But there are some big trees and you really have to be in play to be successful on that property.

“I think that’s sort of why I’ve played well is I’ve hit the driver really well there, and that kind of sets you up for success.

“It’s a hard place to scramble if you’re not hitting many fairways and kind of in the rough and trying to work your way up to holes, it’s not an easy place to get around.”