Curtis Strange made one last impassioned plea. Well, two, technically. "Don't do it," Strange said while watching Justin Thomas debate whether or not to play his third shot at Quail Hollow's 18th hole on Thursday.

Thomas won the PGA Championship back in 2017, which catapulted him into the limelight. His first major victory at a young age of 24 shielded him from broader pressures and left him lacking the “scar tissue” that shapes resilient champions.

About a month removed from his epic completion of the career grand slam, Rory McIlroy begins a new phase of his career this week. That its genesis comes at Quail Hollow is a perfect fit: it’s the site of his first PGA Tour victory in 2010,