Three holes on Friday afternoon in 2010 as a young McIlroy just tried to make the cut might have altered the course of McIlroy's career.

The PGA Championship is brimming with compelling storylines ahead of Thursday's opening round, perhaps none bigger than whether Rory McIlroy will be able to build on his career Grand Slam success at one of his favourite venues.

Even Rory McIlroy must have had a good chuckle at how quickly the narrative shifted from ‘he will never win another major’ to ‘can he win the single-season Grand Slam?’

The pro Webb Simpson lives near the seventh hole and knows the ins and outs of the course where the P.G.A. Championship will be played.

Austria's Sepp Straka enjoys flying under the radar but may find that harder to do at this week's PGA Championship given he is fresh off the biggest win of his career that moved him into the top 10 of the world rankings.

North Carolina resident Johnson Wagner is at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte to try out the 12th hole, showing off the worst possible places to miss the green that will give golfers headaches during the PGA Championship.