It’s Major week on the PGA Tour so let the festivities begin! The 2026 PGA Championship rolls into Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. Aronimink is hosting the PGA Championship for the first time since Gary Player won here in 1962. The winner walks off with the stunning Wanamaker Trophy, the sterling silver cup engineered in 1916 by department-store magnate Rodman Wanamaker, who was pivotal in founding the PGA of America.
With all the Major excitement brewing, last week’s Signature Event at Quail Hollow is already in the rearview. Don’t tell that to 28-year-old Norwegian rookie Kristoffer Reitan, who won the Truist Championship by two shots over Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Højgaard, taking home a $3.6 million paycheck. No doubt he is still basking in the glow after finishing at -15 (269) for his first PGA Tour win.
The Setup: Tournament Stakes, Field, and Storylines
The PGA Championship runs May 14-17 and boasts a field consisting of 156 players, including 15 past PGA Champions and 29 major champions. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler took last week off to rest and prepare for a repeat performance. While the 2026 purse has not officially been posted yet, expect it to at least match the 2025 total of $19 million, with $3.42 million going to Scheffler.
Three main storylines tee this week up.
First, of course, is Scheffler defending his title after a five-shot win at Quail Hollow last May. He also arrives with three straight runner-up finishes: second to McIlroy at the Masters, a playoff loss to Fitzpatrick at the RBC Heritage, and a six-shot runner-up finish to Cameron Young at the Cadillac. He skipped the Truist by design, telling reporters at Doral he does not love playing the week before a major.
Second, Rory McIlroy is chasing the calendar Grand Slam after back-to-back Masters wins while already owning two PGA Championship titles (Kiawah 2012, Valhalla 2014). The work he has put in this year is clearly showing, though he is literally limping into Aronimink. McIlroy finished T19 at the Truist at -5, with his Saturday 75 ranking among the worst rounds of his professional career. Not exactly the ideal tune-up entering a major, but it is never wise to underestimate Rory and his entourage of well-being support staff. To his credit, he bounced back with a Sunday 67 in Charlotte.
Third, Jordan Spieth gets his 10th attempt at the career Grand Slam, with only the Wanamaker missing from his trophy shelf. He has made 11 of 12 cuts this season, with his best finishes being T11 showings at both the Valspar Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational in March. He also finished T12 at the Masters before posting a disappointing T52 at the Truist. His 2026 season has been respectable, but it still hasn’t consistently looked like major-winning form.
The Course: What It Demands and What It Punishes
Aronimink plays as a par 70 at 7,394 yards, with the 2016-17 restoration by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner sharpening Donald Ross’s original masterpiece. The duo roughly doubled the bunker count from 74 to 174 while also expanding the greens, which now average roughly 8,100 square feet.
The back nine is where the drama really builds.
The 466-yard par-4 12th features twelve fairway bunkers that force players to keep the ball in play. No. 15 is a 546-yard par 4, yep you read that right. It is officially the longest par 4 at a major championship this year. No. 16 immediately flips the challenge, offering a reachable 588-yard par 5. Then comes the 229-yard 17th, a brutal par 3 with water running down the left side.
Aronimink rewards players who consistently position themselves on the proper side of the fairway and trust that two-putt pars are good enough. The closing hole, a 490-yard par 4, is lined with both natural and man-made hazards before finishing at one of Hanse and Wagner’s terraced greens.
Players who consistently hit center mass will be rewarded. Those who tend to spray the ball under pressure could spend the week trying to recover from mistakes they cannot afford to make.
Who Fits Here: Player Archetypes and Names to Know
Scheffler remains the cleanest fit if his irons are dialed in and ready to fire. He owns five top-10 finishes in six career PGA Championship appearances and still ranks No. 1 on Tour in strokes gained total. If he can improve his opening-round scoring, where he currently ranks 72nd this season, it could be the difference between another close call and another Wanamaker Trophy.
Matt Fitzpatrick is one of the hottest players in the field, with three wins in his last five events: the Valspar Championship, a playoff victory over Scheffler at the RBC Heritage, and the Zurich Classic alongside his brother Alex. He now sits at No. 4 in the world rankings.
Cameron Young is another popular pick after already collecting two victories in 2026, including THE PLAYERS and the Cadillac. His father, David Young, spent 21 years as the head professional at Sleepy Hollow in New York, so the tree-lined Northeast setup should feel familiar.
Justin Rose is another intriguing option because he already owns strong Aronimink history. Rose won the 2010 AT&T National here and later finished runner-up to Keegan Bradley in a playoff at the 2018 BMW Championship at the same venue.
Betting Board: Odds, Angles, and Smart Plays
*Odds last updated Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. CT.
At FanDuel Sportsbook, Scheffler sits at +480, McIlroy +950, Cameron Young +1200, Jon Rahm +1500, Ludvig Åberg +1600, and Xander Schauffele +1800.
DraftKings Sportsbook lists Scheffler even shorter at +385, followed by McIlroy at +910, Rahm +1400, Young +1475, and Bryson DeChambeau at +1900.
One-and-Done / Season-Long Strategy
Majors are the cleanest spot to deploy Scheffler given his floor. Three straight runner-up finishes combined with last year’s dominant five-shot victory make him the safest play on the board.
If Scheffler has already been used, Fitzpatrick and Young both make excellent pivots. Fitzpatrick enters with three wins in five starts and already owns a playoff victory over Scheffler this spring. Young, meanwhile, arrives in outstanding form with two wins already this season.
What I’m Watching When the First Tee Shot Flies
Three things.
Scheffler’s Thursday. Slow starts are the biggest reason he has not already converted one of those recent runner-up finishes into another victory.
McIlroy’s tempo early. If the foot injury slows him down or the around-the-green issues from Saturday at the Truist carry over, the Grand Slam conversation could quiet quickly.
And then there is Young and Fitzpatrick, both of whom feel very capable of crashing the Scheffler-McIlroy spotlight.
The Takeaway & Next Stop Tease
Aronimink has not hosted a PGA Championship since 1962, meaning nobody in the field owns meaningful major championship experience at this venue. That levels the playing field and opens the door for more contenders beyond the very top of the odds board.
That said, several players have competed here before in other events, including Justin Rose, who has already proven he can score well at Aronimink. It is also almost a given that Scheffler and others have already logged preparation rounds here ahead of the week, so expect the game’s biggest names to arrive fully prepared.
Next stop: The CJ CUP Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch, where hometown favorite Scottie Scheffler returns as the defending champion.
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