The PGA Championship is at Aronimink this week and the world’s best are in Philly’s backyard

The second major of the year is here and it’s being played a stone’s throw from Philadelphia. Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square is hosting the 108th PGA Championship and the field is loaded.

Three days of practice rounds are in the books. The narratives are set. The Wanamaker Trophy is up for grabs on one of the best Donald Ross courses in the country. This is the biggest sporting event in the Delaware Valley this week and it’s not particularly close.

Welcome to Aronimink

A closer look at how Aronimink will play for Round 1. #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/CNuyIMXFFA

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 14, 2026

Scottie Scheffler Is Rounding Into Form at the Worst Possible Time for Everyone Else

Scottie Scheffler’s season has been strange even by his standards. Won his first start at The American Express by four strokes. Then struggled with first rounds, mounted comeback after comeback that fell short, and looked visibly irritated at Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass. Then things flipped. Runner-up at the Masters. Second place in three consecutive starts heading into this week.

The difference is the iron play. Scheffler finished first in Strokes Gained: Approach for three straight seasons. This year he’s 42nd. That number has been the one thing holding him back from winning everything in sight. But the trend is moving in the right direction fast. He was 47th in approach at the American Express, bounced around the 30s and 40s for the next several starts, then jumped to third at the Masters and sixth at the Cadillac Championship. The ball-striking is coming back and it’s arriving right on schedule for a major championship.

When Scheffler’s approach play is elite, he’s the best player in the world by a wide margin. The field at Aronimink should be terrified that the one weakness in his game is disappearing right as the PGA Championship starts.

Justin Rose Actually Has Course History Here

There’s almost no course history to work with this week because Aronimink hasn’t hosted a lot of major men’s events recently. Only two players in this week’s field played in all three of the last major tournaments at the course: Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler.

Rose’s Aronimink history is legitimately impressive. He won in his course debut at the 2010 AT&T National for the second Tour win of his career. He came back in 2011 and finished T15. Then at the 2018 BMW Championship, Rose had a putt to win on the 72nd hole, lipped out, and lost in a playoff to Keegan Bradley. Despite the loss, that result pushed Rose to world number one for the first time and he won the FedExCup the following week.

Rose’s coach called him “a savant when it comes to how you strategically play a course” and said the golf courses Rose plays well at historically fit his eye in a way that allows him to navigate them better than most.

His recent form has cooled after a strong start to the year with finishes of T65 and T45 in his last two starts. He also recently switched to McLaren Golf irons, which could explain some inconsistency as he acclimates. But Aronimink is a course that Rose knows and loves. Don’t sleep on him this week.

Make It Happen: Jordan Spieth’s Grand Slam Drought at the PGA Championship

This is Jordan Spieth’s 10th attempt at completing the career Grand Slam. He needs the PGA Championship. He’s won the Masters, the U.S. Open, and The Open. The PGA is all that’s left.

The problem is that he’s been nowhere close for years. After finishing T28, T12, and T3 in his first three attempts following his U.S. Open win, Spieth has zero top-20 finishes at the PGA Championship in the six years since. Cut in 2025. T43 in 2024. T29 in 2023. His one start at Aronimink was a solo 55th in 2018.

Spieth has had flashes of brilliant play in 2026 but hasn’t been able to sustain it for four rounds. He’s still searching for his first top-10 of the season. Is there any reason to believe this year is different? Not really. But it’s Spieth at a major and you never fully count him out.

McIlroy Said He Wouldn’t Have Another Post-Masters Hangover

Rory McIlroy declared after winning the Masters again this year that he wouldn’t repeat the post-victory hangover that torpedoed the rest of his 2025 season. Last year he spent months soaking in the Masters win, had a tense relationship with the media, and later admitted the whole stretch was born from a lack of purpose after reaching the mountaintop.

One start since the Masters this year. A T19 at Quail Hollow, a course he normally dominates. Not exactly a statement performance. The PGA Championship is the first real test of whether McIlroy has found the motivation to keep pushing after winning the biggest tournament in golf for the second time.

McIlroy says the objective is clearer now. More majors. Pushing into the conversation as one of the greatest ever. He already belongs in that conversation but there are still a few more trophies to collect. A win at Aronimink would set those goals fully in motion. A poor finish would restart the same questions that followed him all last summer. No player in the field has a bigger gap between what the conversation looks like after a good week versus a bad one.

Majors Have Been Won by Major Winners Lately

Six of the last eight PGA Championship winners had already won a major before lifting the Wanamaker Trophy. The two exceptions were Xander Schauffele in 2024, who was ranked third in the world, and Collin Morikawa, who was 12th. Jimmy Walker in 2016 was the last true surprise winner at the PGA. The championship has increasingly been won by the very best players in the world, which favors guys like Scheffler, McIlroy, and Matt Fitzpatrick this week.

The notable exception to watch is Cameron Young, whose major record is about as good as it gets without an actual trophy. If anyone is going to break the trend of major winners winning majors, Young has the game to do it at a course like Aronimink.

A Major Championship in Philly’s Backyard

Aronimink is right there. Newtown Square. Twenty minutes from the city. The PGA Championship being played this close to Philadelphia is a big deal for the region and the golf should be outstanding this week.

The course is a Donald Ross classic that rewards precision and course management. The field is stacked. The storylines are compelling. Scheffler’s approach play returning to form. Rose’s Aronimink history. Spieth chasing the Slam. McIlroy trying to prove the Masters hangover is behind him.

Enjoy the week. This is world-class golf in our backyard.

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