The PGA Championship, the second of the four men’s Major Championships, takes place at Aronimink Golf Club in Philadelphia from May 14-17, where all eyes will on the battle for supremacy between world numbers 1 and 2, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, who have won four of the last five majors between them.
The PGA Championship has often had to fight for oxygen in the major calendar, but its move back to its May date in 2019 has transformed its place in the season’s schedule. No longer the major that once arrived at the end of a long summer, it now lands at a moment when form lines are clearly established, the world’s best players are fully tuned, and anticipation remains high after the excitement of the Masters.
It also remains the strongest field in major championship golf. With more top 100 players than the Masters, the US Open and The Open Championship, it is also unquestionably the most competitive. With no invitations, no amateurs and no international qualifiers, it’s very much the pro’s major championship.
WHO’S ARRIVING AT ARONIMINK IN FORM?
Rory McIlroy will be looking to add to his PGA Championship tally after winning at Valhalla in 2014 (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
Scottie Scheffler will be teeing it up as the defending PGA champion, and the world no.1 is naturally a short-priced favourite to retain the Wanamaker Trophy he won by an impressive five shots at Quail Hollow last year.
Despite only recording one win so far this season, at January’s American Express tournament, the 29-year-old American is in remarkably consistent form, with six top-five finishes from his nine starts in 2026, including runner-up berths in his last three events.
The most attractive part of Scheffler’s profile this week is how well his game fits a venue like Aronimink. He is arguably the best long-iron player in the world, and on a course likely to demand repeated approaches from 175 to 220 yards, that matters enormously. He also possesses the patience required for a championship that may become more about survival than fireworks.
Scheffler’s rival in most betting lists is the man he finished second to at the Masters, Rory McIlroy, who arrives in Philadelphia with the cheers of the Augusta crowds not quite ringing in his ears – as it was over six weeks ago – but still very much fresh in his memory.
The Northern Irishman defended his Augusta crown in stunning fashion, and the 37-year-old will be eager to add a sixth major title to his CV in quick time, having waited over a decade to record his fifth. Rory will be coming in fresh, having not played competitively since winning his second green jacket, but those thinking of investing a few pounds on him can be sure that he will have put in the time on the range and be primed to add to his major tally.
At over 7,390 yards and playing as a par 70, Aronimink should reward high-level driving, especially for players capable of carrying fairway bunkers and shortening brutal par fours. Few in the game can shape towering long irons into elevated greens quite like McIlroy when he is in rhythm. The question, as ever, is accuracy. The rough at Aronimink is expected to be thick and punitive. McIlroy can overpower almost any golf course, but if he becomes too reliant on recovery golf, his route to a major victory won’t be easy as it was at Augusta, where rough is a dirty word.
LIVE CONTENDERS
Matt Fitzpatrick is in the form of his life and is strongly fancied to double his tally of major titles (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
Other players arriving in hot form include world no.3 Cameron Young and world no.4 Matt Fitzpatrick. Young finally broke his PGA Tour duck at The Players Championship in March, finished third in the Masters and then won the Cadillac Championship by five shots just two weeks ago. The 28-year-old New Yorker is playing with the choke off now and his big drives and accurate iron play will serve him well at Aronimink.
The same can be said of Fitzpatrick, who has chalked up an impressive hat-trick of titles this spring, with victories in at Valspar, RBC Heritage and the Zurich Classic in a super-hot six-week stretch, although the latter of this trio of wins earned no world ranking points, as it was a team event, which he won with his brother, Alex.
There is also a career Grand Slam on the line, with Jordan Spieth making his tenth attempt to join golf’s most exclusive club since his 2017 Open triumph. 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 not yet called time on his winning ways.
HORSES FOR COURSES
Aronimink Golf Club is hosting the PGA Championship for just the second time and first in 64 years after Gary Player won his third Major title there in 1962. Designed by Donald Ross and restored by Gil Hanse in 2018, the current course has also hosted the Women’s and Senior PGA Championships, becoming the first venue 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 of the field’s more senior players a slight advantage with experience of its numerous challenges.
A quintessential American parkland course, with tree-lined holes, thick rough, and heavily bunkered, Aronimink is exacting in almost every department. Broad in scale, hilly in terrain, and relentlessly demanding in execution, it will test the best to the limit, presenting a more US Open-style challenge.
The 11th hole shows the heavy bunkering and contoured greens that are a feature of the design at Aronimink (Photo by Dave Evenson/PGA of America via Getty Images)
The par-70 routing is packed with long par fours, which means many players will face a steady diet of mid- and long-irons into firm, elevated targets. There are few genuine breathers. Instead, Aronimink offers a sustained examination of discipline. It would be hard to pick out a signature hole, instead there’s a steady barrage of very good holes without any clear weak offerings.
The greens may prove the defining feature of the championship. Many are perched above their surroundings and slope subtly but constantly from back to front. They are filled with swells, hollows and awkward contours. Approaches landing just a fraction offline can repel into tightly mown run-offs or nestle into heavy collar rough, creating uncomfortable up-and-downs. That means proximity to the hole may be less important than controlling spin, trajectory and landing angles.
Then there are the bunkers. Aronimink has a staggering 180 of the blighters, many arranged in clusters rather than as singular hazards. That matters because players are not simply trying to avoid sand — they are trying to process layers of visual information. The stacked formations can distort depth perception, making club selection and target lines more complicated than they first appear. And these are not always straightforward blast-out bunkers. Their smaller shapes can create awkward stances and limited follow-through, which may turn what looks like a manageable miss into a dropped shot.
Whoever manages to negotiate these many and varied challenges the best – and enjoys a spot of luck along the way – will come out the deserved winner of the Wanamaker Trophy.
LATEST OUTRIGHT US PGA CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS – VIA 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 odds top 5 places)
The PGA Champiosnhip will air on Sky Sports Golf from May 14-17. For the full schedule of live coverage, visit skysports.com. For all the latest US PGA Championship betting odds, visit Betway.
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