CHARLOTTE, N.C. —The stars showed up at the PGA Tour’s sixth big-money, no-cut signature event of the season, where two top-five players in the world separated from the pack to set up a slugfest on Sunday.
In the end it was Rory McIlroy who donned the crown and took the throne as the King of the Queen City. The 35-year-old Northern Irishman entered the final round one shot back of Xander Schauffele but flipped the script around the turn to win the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship by a whopping five shots at 17 under after a 6-under 65 at Quail Hollow Club, where he’s now a four-time winner dating back to his maiden victory on Tour in 2010.
McIlroy won his last start at the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans with his partner and good friend Shane Lowry and now has 26 PGA Tour wins to his name. The four-time major champion hasn’t missed a cut this season on Tour in nine starts and has eight finishes inside the top 25, including a trio of top 10s.
Schauffele, who finished solo second at 12 under after an even-par 71, hasn’t missed a cut in 12 PGA Tour starts this season and has now bagged 11 top-25 finishes, with eight inside the top 10, including a T-2 at the Players Championship. Ben An (66) continued his solid season with a third-place finish at 9 under, his fifth top-10 finish in 13 starts this year. Jason Day (70) and Sungjae Im (73) finished T-4 at 6 under.
McIlroy began the day with a birdie on the first hole to briefly tie Schauffele but fell back with a bad bogey on the par-3 4th hole after his tee shot was a club short and found the bunker.
On No. 6, Schauffele left a birdie putt, albeit a lengthy one, criminally short, which would foreshadow what was to come the rest of the round. From off the green, McIlroy nearly holed his chip and put the pressure on Schauffele to make his knee-knocker for par from eight feet. The putt skated by and the pair were once again tied.
On the par-5 7th, McIlroy missed fairway then barely held the green to leave a lengthy effort for birdie that he didn’t give enough respect nor pace. Schauffele, meanwhile, found the fairway and played the contour of the green to perfection to set up an eagle and bounce back from the bogey and take a two-shot lead after McIlroy three-jacked for par.
Then the tide turned. McIlroy made birdie on Nos. 8 and 9 from just outside 10 feet while Schauffele missed his birdie efforts from 10 and 31 feet, respectively, to make the turn to the back nine tied at 13 under. McIlroy curled in a 33-footer for eagle to one-up Schauffele’s birdie on No. 10 to take his first lead of the tournament and he never looked back. McIlroy extended his lead with a birdie-birdie-eagle run on Nos. 13-15 while Schauffele stumbled with bogeys on Nos. 12, 13 and 16 and a lone back-nine birdie on No. 15.
Standing on the 18th tee box, McIlroy had a seven-shot lead, which came in handy as his approach to the back pin on the par 4 skipped off the edge and found the creek that runs along the entirety of the hole. A double-bogey six put the cherry on top of a five-shot win.