NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) — The Philadelphia area gets its first major championship since the U.S. Open at Merion in 2013, and Aronimink has waited 64 years before getting another PGA Championship.
The 108th edition of the PGA Championship returns to Aronimink Golf Club, a course that only about one-fifth of the 156-man field knows. Aronimink previously held the 2018 BMW Championship (won by Keegan Bradley) and twice the AT&T National in 2010 (Justin
Rose) and 2011 (Nick Watney).
Scottie Scheffler remains the betting favorite as the No. 1 player in the world, and Rory McIlroy is coming off another win at the Masters. But now they have company among players on top of their games.
Cameron Young and Matt Fitzpatrick each have won two individual tournaments in the last two months.
Here is a look at what you need to know leading up to the PGA Championship.
The PGA Championship starts Thursday, and it's already a chilly start to the week. This is seventh year for the PGA to be held in May (excluding 2020 because of the pandemic) since it moved from its previous August spot on the calendar in 2019. That year it was at Bethpage Black in New York, also a cold start to the week.
This major will be carried by two networks — ESPN and CBS Sports, combined for 46 hours of live coverage from Aronimink.
The opening two rounds Thursday and Friday will be on ESPN+ from the opening tee shot at 7 a.m. Eastern until noon, and then ESPN takes over until 7 p.m.
For the weekend, ESPN+ will get it started from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., followed by ESPN coverage from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. CBS and streaming platform Paramount+ will go from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
The PGA Championship boasts the strongest field in golf, at least at the top. The 156-man field features 98 of the top 100 in the world ranking, led by Scheffler and McIlroy.
The PGA of America strives to get everyone from the top 100 through its special invitations. That appeared to be the case until Lucas Herbert won LIV Golf Virginia and moved to No. 89, and Shaun Norris was runner-up in the Catalunya Championship on the European tour and moved to No. 95.
Since 2012, only one player from outside the top 100 in the world has won the PGA Championship. That was Phil Mickelson (No. 115), a past champion who won at Kiawah Island at age 50.
Tiger Woods has not played the PGA Championship since missing the cut at Valhalla in 2024. It was unlikely for him to play this year as he recovered from another back surgery, and that was before his Feb. 27 arrest on suspicion of DUI.
No alcohol was found in his system, but drug experts determined he was impaired and Woods was jailed for eight hours by Florida law enforcement for refusing a urine test. A Florida judge approved him seeking treatment outside the country. There has been no confirmation where he is.
This will be the second straight major without Woods and Mickelson, who is tending to a family health matter at home.
Scheffler is the betting favorite at +450, followed by McIlroy at +850.
Cameron Young, who won The Players Championship and the Cadillac Championship at Doral, is at +1200. Jon Rahm is a two-time winner on LIV Golf this year and is at +1600. Bryson DeChambeau is another two-time LIV winner this year. He is at +2000.
The winner gets the Wanamaker Trophy and a lifetime exemption to the PGA Championship, along with five-year exemptions to the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open.
For Jordan Spieth, there's even more at stake. This will be his 10th attempt at completing the career Grand Slam by winning the PGA Championship. Spieth won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015, and the British Open in 2017. The last player to complete the career slam was McIlroy at the Masters.
Scheffler won his first PGA Championship and third overall major at Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina. He lost a big lead on the front nine Sunday but then pulled away from Rahm and everyone else for a five-shot victory.
Scheffler has won all four of his majors by at least three shots.
Temperatures are expected to be around 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 Celsius), with rain in the forecast on Wednesday and Thursday. That figures to make Aronimink play even longer, though it will be difficult to get the greens firm for approach shots.
It should be warmer and drier for the weekend.
This will be the second major at Aronimink, a Donald Ross course that opened in 1928. It recently went through a restoration by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner.
It hosted the 1962 PGA Championship won by Gary Player, and this will be the second major.
Aronimink was supposed to hold the 1993 PGA Championship. But after criticism of Shoal Creek in Alabama hosting the 1990 PGA while not having any Black members, the PGA of America required future sites to have a diverse membership. Aronimink had a seven-year waiting list for new members and said it would not be able to meet the criteria in time for 1993. The PGA Championship instead went to Inverness that year.
For the top men players, Aronimink hosted the AT&T National in 2010 and 2011, which moved from Congressional those years because of the 2011 U.S. Open. It most recently hosted the 2018 BMW Championship run by the Western Golf Association, the only FedEx Cup playoff event that is not held at the same course.
Merion is the most famous area course, having hosted the U.S. Open five times. Philadelphia Cricket Club held the U.S. Open in 1907 and 1970, while Philadelphia Country Club had the U.S. Open in 1939, won by Byron Nelson in a playoff.
Llanerch Country Club in Haverford, about 30 minutes from Philadelphia, hosted the 1958 PGA Championship, the first time it went to stroke play.
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