PGA TOUR PREVIEW: All eyes on Aronimink in second major of season – Golf News
The PGA Championship, the second of the four men’s Major Championships, will be held at the Aronimink Golf Club in Philadelphia from May 14-17, where all eyes will be on the battle for supremacy between world numbers 1 and 2, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, who have won four of the last five titles between them.
The PGA Championship used to fight for oxygen on the main calendar, but its return to its May date in 2019 has changed its place on the season schedule. No longer the big deal that once came at the end of a long summer, it now comes at a time when form lines are clearly established, the best players in the world are in full swing, and expectations are high after the excitement of the Masters.
It also remains the strongest field in a major golf tournament. With more top 100 players than the Masters, the US Open and The Open Championship, it is arguably the most competitive. With no invites, novices and no international qualifiers, it’s a big professional tournament.
WHO COMES TO ARONIMINK IN FORM?
Scottie Scheffler he’ll be putting it together as the defending PGA champion, and the world no.1 is naturally a short-priced favorite to retain the Wanamaker Trophy he won by an impressive five shots at Quail Hollow last year.
Despite recording just one win so far this season, at January’s American Express Championship, the 29-year-old American has been in consistent form, finishing six of five from his nine starts in 2026, including finishing second in his last three.
The most appealing part of Scheffler’s profile this week is how well his game fits a position like Aronimink. He’s arguably the best long iron player in the world, and on a course that might require repeated fairways from 175 to 220 yards, that’s pretty important. He also has the patience needed in a competition that may be more about survival than explosives.
Scheffler’s rival in most betting rankings is the man to whom he finished second at the Masters, Rory McIlroywho arrived in Philadelphia with the cheers of the Augusta crowds no longer ringing in his ears – as it had been more than six weeks ago – but still remembered very much.
The Northern Irishman defended his Augusta title in impressive fashion, and the 37-year-old will be eager to add a sixth major title to his CV quickly, having waited more than a decade to record his fifth. Rory will be coming in young, having not played competitively since winning his second green jacket, but those thinking of investing a few pounds in him can be sure he will have put in some time on the range and is keen to add to his big tally.
Over 7,390 yards and playing as a par 70, Aronimink should reward high-quality driving, especially for players who can handle fairway bunkers and minimize brutal par fours. There are few in the game who can shape long irons into lofty greens like McIlroy when in rhythm. The question, as always, is accuracy. The difficulty in Aronimink is expected to be intense and punishing. McIlroy can conquer almost any golf course, but if he relies too much on recovery golf, his path to major success won’t be as easy as it was at Augusta, where a bad name is a dirty word.
THERE ARE ALL CONNECTORS
Other players who arrived in hot form include the world no.3 Cameron Young and 4 worlds Matt Fitzpatrick. Young finally broke his PGA Tour duck at The Players Championship in March, finished third at the Masters and won the Cadillac Championship by five shots two weeks ago. The 28-year-old New Yorker is playing from a tight spot right now and his big drives and precise iron playing will serve him well at Aronimink.
The same can be said for Fitzpatrick, who scored an impressive hat-trick of titles this spring, with wins at the Valspar, RBC Heritage and Zurich Classic in a blistering six-week span, although the latter did not earn him world ranking points, as it was a team event, which he won with his brother, Alex.
With a career Grand Slam on the line, Jordan Spieth is making his tenth attempt to join golf’s most exclusive club since his 2017 Open victory. After losing his way during the 2024-25 seasons, Speith looks to be returning to some sort of form at the right time, with five top 20s this year pointing to a man who has yet to call time on his winning ways.
STUDENT HORSES
Aronimink Golf Club hosted the PGA Championship for the second time and first in 64 years after Gary Player won his third Major title in 1962. Designed by Donald Ross and renovated by Gil Hanse in 2018, the course currently hosts the Women’s and Senior PGA Championships, the first course to complete that set.
It has also played host to three PGA TOUR events – the AT&T National in 2010 and 2011 and the BMW Championship in 2018, giving many top-level players a chance to experience its many challenges.
A quintessential American parkland course, with tree-lined holes, dense fairways, and heavily covered fairways, Aronimink requires almost every entrance. Wide in scale, rugged terrain, and relentlessly demanding in execution, it will test the best, quietly challenging US open style.
The par-70 course is filled with four long sections, meaning most players will face a tough diet of mid- and long-irons to hit hard, high targets. Few are real breathers. Instead, Aronimink offers continuous behavioral testing. It can be difficult to choose a signature hole, instead there is an array of excellent holes without any obvious weak offerings.
The green could prove a defining feature of the tournament. Many are towering above their surroundings and descending subtly but always from back to front. They are full of swelling, pits and wrong contours. Approaches just a fraction of the way off the line can drive into tightly groomed run-offs or a heavy collar, creating uncomfortable ups and downs. That means getting close to the hole may be less important than controlling spins, trajectories and landing angles.
Then there are the bunkers. Aronimink has a staggering 180 blighters, many arranged in clusters rather than single hazards. That’s important because players aren’t just trying to avoid sand — they’re trying to process layers of visual information. Stacked structures can distort the depth of field, making club selection and target lines more difficult than they first appear. And these are not always the exact locations of explosions. Their narrow shape can create awkward positioning and limited follow-through, which can turn what looks like a manageable miss into a dropped shot.
Whoever manages to negotiate these many and varied challenges the best – and enjoy a spot of luck along the way – will emerge as a worthy winner of the Wanamaker Trophy.
LATEST PGA US ODDS WIN – THROUGH BETWAY
Scottie Scheffler 7/2
Rory McIlroy 7/1
B DeChambeau 12/1
Cameron Young 12/1
Jon Rahm 14/1
Xander Schauffele 16/1
Ludvig Aberg 22/1
Matt Fitzpatrick 20/1
Collin Morikawa 25/1
Tommy Fleetwood 25/1
Justin Rose 33/1
Justin Thomas 40/1
Viktor Hovland 40/1
Brooks Koepka 40/1
Chris Gotterup 50/1
Tyrrell Hatton 40/1
Jordan Speith 50/1
Patrick Reed 50/1
Robert MacIntyre 50/1
Others 50/1 or more (1/4 maximum odds in 5 places)
The PGA Championship will air on Sky Sports Golf from May 14-17. For a full schedule of live coverage, visit skysports.com. In all the latest US PGA Championship betting unusual, visit Betway.
