The week may have started with some predictable criticisms around the PGA Championship – just a regular PGA Tour event, lacks identity, etc – but we’re set for a dramatic final day at Aronimink.
Several players have criticised the course set-up, including Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Shane Lowry, yet the cream has risen to the top.
It’s perfectly poised, and several intriguing storylines have developed. Whoever lifts the Wanaker Trophy on Sunday evening, it looks like this could really be a Major Championship to remember.
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SEVENTH HEAVEN FOR RORY
McIlroy last won the PGA Championship in 2014
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Majors are like buses for McIlroy. He went 10 years without winning a Major, and now he’s on the verge of winning three in six.
After starting his quest for a third PGA Championship with a four-over-par 74 on Thursday, which he described as “s**t”, he has played the next 36 holes in seven-under par.
If the Northern Irishman were to win, he’d leave the group of six-timers, which includes Phil Mickelson, Lee Trevino, and Nick Faldo, and move alongside another group of greats on seven Major Championship titles, including Arnold Palmer and Sam Snead.
A long time ago, when Rory still had curly hair, there was talk that he could surpass the great Tiger Woods, who now has 15 Majors.
Although those conversations probably wouldn’t resurface, yet anyway, the question of how many he could rack up surely would.
Only six players would be ahead of him on that list: Jack Nicklaus (18), Woods (15), Walter Hagen (11), Ben Hogan (9), Gary Player (9), and Tom Watson (8).
With two from two this year, McIlroy, who turned 37 earlier this month, would also start facing questions about the ‘Grand Slam’.
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No one has even won all four Major Championships in the same calendar year in the modern era.
However, after successfully defending his Masters title in April, McIlroy would be halfway there.
ENGLAND DROUGHT OVER
A Rai or Rose win would end a very long wait for an English winner
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This could be the year. It’s all on Aaron Rai and Justin Rose.
Some very fine English players have competed in the PGA Championship over the years, but no Englishman has won this tournament since 1919, when Jim Barnes claimed the second of his two PGA titles.
Rai, who plotted his way around Aronimink yesterday with wonderful patience and precision, goes into the final round just three shots behind Alex Smalley.
Rose, meanwhile, who only recently changed equipment following his signing with McLaren Golf, shot a 65 on Saturday to roar into contention.
It’s also worth noting that no one has gone more than 11 years between recording their first and second Major Championship titles.
Rose won the US Open at Merion 13 years ago.
A BIG WIN FOR SMALLEY
The last American player to get his first PGA Tour victory in a major was Shaun Micheel at the 2003 PGA. Alex Smalley has never won on the PGA Tour.May 17, 2026
Alex Smalley sits atop the leaderboard with a two-shot lead going into the final round.
He’ll have a long wait before he tees off on Sunday, and he wouldn’t be human if he didn’t start to think about this life-changing opportunity.
We’re not just talking about the perks for winning the PGA Championship. He stands on the verge of doing something that no one has done since 2003 – and it’s a pretty rare feat.
The last American player to get his first PGA Tour victory in a Major Championship was Shaun Micheel, who lifted the Wanamaker Trophy at Oak Hill Country Club 23 years ago.
FIRST NON AMERICAN PGA WINNER SINCE…
An emotional Jason Day wins the PGA Championship in 2015
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2015. That’s how long it’s been since Australia’s Jason Day won the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
There have been seven different American champions since, with Brooks Koepka winning three titles and Justin Thomas two.
Going into the final round, there are six non-Americans in the top 10: Matti Schmid (Germany), Nick Taylor (Canada), Rahm (Spain), Rai (England), Ludvig Aberg (Sweden), and McIlroy (Northern Ireland).
And another seven non-American players are within four shots of the lead: Kristoffer Reitan (Norway), Rose (England), Joaquin Niemann (Chile), Martin Kaymer (Germany), Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), and Australians Cameron Smith and Min Woo Lee.
LEG 3 FOR HISTORY-MAKING RAHM
Rahm looks a very different player this week compared to the one we saw at Augusta in April
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Not only would a victory for Rahm complete leg three of the Grand Slam, but it would also make him the first Spaniard to win the PGA Championship.
His two heroes, Jose Maria Olazabal and Seve Ballesteros, like Rahm, both won at Augusta National, yet neither player managed to get their name on the Wanamaker Trophy.
Rahm has registered three top-10 finishes at the PGA Championship, but his best-ever finish in the tournament remains tied fourth.
Sergio Garcia, meanwhile, finished runner-up to Padraig Harrington alongside Ben Curtis at Oakland Hills Country Club in 2008.
That was Garcia’s second runner-up finish, after his narrow defeat to Woods at Medinah Country Club in 1999.
Ballesteros’ best result at the PGA Championship came in 1984, when he finished fifth, while Olzabal put in a strong performance at Valhalla in 2000, a year he came tied fourth.
Should Rahm do what none of his countrymen have managed, he’d only need to lift the Claret Jug to join the elite club of career Grand Slam winners.
That would be a tantalizing prospect ahead of Royal Birkdale in July, by which time any talk about Rahm not being the same player he was since joining LIV would have ended.
ABERG DELIVERS ON PROMISE
Aberg would be just the second Swedish male player to win a Major Championship
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It’s going to happen sooner or later, but it could well happen in Pennsylvania on Sunday.
It feels like he’s been knocking on the door for quite a while, but this is only Aberg’s tenth Major Championship.
The talented Swede, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, finished second at the Masters on his Major debut in 2024.
He’s missed the cut at both previous PGA Championships, but his class was obvious from the moment he burst onto the scene on the DP World Tour.
When Henrik Stenson won the 2016 Open, he became the first male Swede to win a Major Championship.
Could Aberg become the second? He starts the final round just two shots off the lead.