Bryson DeChambeau is targeting another showdown with Rory McIlroy at a venue where he learned an expensive lesson on his last appearance.
DeChambeau and McIlroy made up the last group in the final round of the Masters last month and it was McIlroy who overcame a double bogey on the first hole to eventually beat Justin Rose in a play-off and complete the career grand slam.
McIlroy has also won four times at Quail Hollow, venue for this week's US PGA Championship, including in 2021 when DeChambeau finished ninth in remarkable circumstances.
"I remember, funny side little note, I thought I missed the cut and I was flying back (home)," DeChambeau recalled.
"Flying through the air and halfway through I found out I was going to make the cut.
"So I landed, I stayed the night at my house in Dallas and flew at 2.30 in the morning back to go get my tee time, and I finished top 10 that week. It was worth it.
"But I have good memories here is what I'm trying to say. It's a lot of fun when I come back here. I feel comfortable. I've got some great friends around here that I've developed some good relationships with."
Asked why he thought McIlroy had enjoyed so much success at Quail Hollow, DeChambeau added: "I do believe you have to have a lot of distance out here.
"Rory is a great driver of the golf ball and his iron play is great, too. I think it's a golf course that sets up for his shot shapes pretty well, and I think it sets up well for mine, too.
"We'll see. Maybe I do well, maybe I don't. But I'm certainly going to give it my all, and I know Rory is. Hopefully we can have another go at it again like the Masters."
Meanwhile Jordan Spieth admits he has been inspired by McIlroy completing the career grand slam as he bids to join golf's most exclusive club himself.
Just five weeks after McIlroy won the Masters to become the sixth player to have claimed all four major titles, Spieth can make it a magnificent seven by ending his own major drought with victory in the US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.
It will be Spieth's ninth attempt to complete the career grand slam since he secured the third leg in the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and he will be optimistic of mounting a sustained challenge for the first time.
Although Spieth was third at Bethpage in 2019 he finished six shots behind winner Brooks Koepka and was only that close thanks to five bogeys in the last eight holes from his Ryder Cup team-mate.
It is also three years since Spieth's last victory on the PGA Tour at the RBC Heritage, but he had recorded four straight top-20 finishes before last week's tie for 34th in the Truist Championship and closed with a bogey-free 62 in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, his lowest round for four years.
"There's been a number of years I've come to the PGA and no-one's really asked me about it," Spieth said of the career grand slam.
"There's been some years where it was a storyline, I guess. It's funny, I think if Rory hadn't (done it) then it wouldn't have been a storyline for me here necessarily.
"I just feel like I've been asked about it more than other years, including years like '22 when I came in after winning and finishing second back-to-back. So I've kind of been surprised by the dynamic a little bit.
"But it's always circled on the calendar. For me, if I could only win one tournament for the rest of my life, I'd pick this one for that reason. Obviously watching Rory win after giving it a try for a number of years was inspiring.
"You could tell it was a harder win than... most of the time he makes it look a lot easier. So that (the grand slam) obviously was on the forefront of his mind.
"Something like that has not been done by many people, and there's a reason why. But I'd love to throw my hat in the ring and give it a chance come the weekend this week."
