8.47pm
New kid on the block
Look out for Alex Smalley. The 29-year-old is far from a household name but has been playing some very solid golf in recent weeks and absolutely flew out the blocks here with birdies at the 2nd, 4th and 5th. He is already a co-leader.
8.38pm
Problems for Justin Rose
Rose appeared to be stretching out his back as he walked up the 5th fairway… then his tee shot at the 6th was a loose stroke that flew out to the right and landed right behind a tree. The lie is bad, but if he has tweaked a muscle in his back, that’s a much bigger problem.
8.22pm
99 not out for Aussie Scott
Adam Scott is playing in his 99th major tournament without missing a single one – the longest unbroken streak since Jack Nicklaus played in 146 in a row between 1962 and 1998. He has made a moderate start here, with a birdie on the opening hole followed by bogies at the 5th and 7th.
Whatever he does this week, attention on the Australian will intensify at Shinnecock Hills next month for the US Open. Scott’s performance at the Cadillac Championship in Miami at the start of this month, when he finished tied for 4th, ensured that his world ranking is high enough to book his place in the tournament and complete the unbroken century – a remarkable achievement.
8.13pm
Akshay Bhatia joins the leaders
The elegant American left-hander has hit the ground running, with birdies on each of the first two holes and then another at the par-5 9th. At the turn he has a share of the lead, although Bhatia is now heading into the trickier back nine. Other fast starters in the late groups: Justin Thomas, Martin Kaymer and Andrew Putnam are all two under par.
Bhatia won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in MarchFrank Franklin II/AP
8.00pm
Early bogey for Justin Rose
The theme of big names struggling continues, with Rose dropping a shot at the par-4 3rd. Meanwhile, Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune is among the leaders in the clubhouse after making four birdies in his back nine. The 23-year-old has made the cut in each of his previous appearances at this tournament, including an 18th-place finish on debut in 2024.
7.44pm
Will Brooks Koepka keep tinkering?
It was a solid opening round for Brooks Koepka, who carded for a one-under par 69. The three-times PGA Championship winner made amends for a bogey at his opening hole with a couple of birdies, then went bogey free through his back nine.
Koepka struggled on the greensGetty
Some stats from his opening round paint a pretty clear picture…
Tee-to-green: second (+5.3 shots)
Putting: 141st (-2.1 shots)
If he can get that putter going then the American is going to be a serious contender and he was testing out a few different putters this week. Could we see a change in club tomorrow?
7.39pm
We’ve all been there, Rory
Rory McIlroy had some choice words for his performance today, and who can blame him? His four-over 74 leaves him outside the top 100 on the leaderboard and he will need to go very low tomorrow if he is to mount a challenge. It’s pretty clear where it all went wrong for the Masters champion today: he hit only five fairways. Straight to the range I suspect…
7.21pm
Scottie Scheffler makes solid start
The world No1 Scottie Scheffler has made an impressive start to his title defence. Starting at the 1st, he splits the fairway from the tee and is up and down in three from there, but at the 2nd he nearly dunks his approach straight into the cup from 140 yards. His ball lands just behind, but instead of spinning back it ends up rolling about 20ft away from the pin. He makes par from there, but was inches away from a stunning early eagle.
7.12pm
Horrible finish for Rory McIlroy
What is going on with McIlroy’s driving? He sends yet another tee shot way out to the right and it lands in the middle of a group of spectators. At this point, you’d think people might have stopped loitering in the right-hand rough around the 300-yard mark when Rory has the big stick in hand…
Once again, he has to improvise and can only find a bunker, short and right of the green. It’s a tricky escape and he leaves himself a long birdie putt, which misses to the left and carries on for another five feet to leave another awkward task for par. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he misses it. That is five bogies in his final six holes, for a round of 74. What a miserable ending to McIlroy’s day.
6.57pm
Plenty to work on
Bryson DeChambeau is headed straight to the range after shooting a 76 (Rick Broadbent writes). Not surprisingly, he is straight on the irons after an awful day with his approaches.
DeChambeau wasted no time heading for the rangeRick Broadbent
6.51pm
A Bryson DeChambeau birdie at last
Finally, some good news for DeChambeau. He’s on the 9th green (his final hole today) in three and the eagle putt looks pretty good before tailing off just short. That’s a tap-in for birdie (his only birdie of the day) and a round of 76: six over par. He’ll have some work to do tomorrow if he wants to make the cut.
McIlroy, meanwhile, has just made his third bogey on the bounce. He misses the green to the left on the long par-3 8th and can’t quite stop his chip close enough, with the resulting par putt missing to the right. He has missed a few of those tricky eight-footers today and now needs to follow Bryson’s lead by picking up a shot on the final hole.
6.43pm
Dan Brown’s off to the range
After a round of 68, to leave him one shot off the leaders, the PGA Championship debutant was surprisingly disappointed with his game. “Today for some reason I was battling a bit of a dramatic slice,” the 31-year-old Englishman said. “I was just trying to manage it all day really. I’ll be going to the range after. Thankfully I hit enough good shots out there to polish off the scoreboard.” He’ll be really dangerous if he figures out that slice tomorrow.
Brown said he was ‘battling a bit of a dramatic slice’Frank Franklin II/AP
6.34pm
‘I always cut it fine’
Garrick Higgo has been explaining what happened at the first tee, when he was given a two-shot penalty for arriving late. “I always cut it fine and this morning it was pretty cold,” he said. “I never want to get to the tee ten minutes before and hit a drive when it’s cold. I went to the putting green thinking I still had five minutes but obviously I did not. I heard my name and my caddie was yelling at me. I ran down but [it was too late].”
Garrick Higgo has been handed a two-shot penalty after being late to his tee time for the opening round at the PGA Championship 😮⏰ pic.twitter.com/Spc7KQdDv8
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) May 14, 2026
He tried to argue his case after the round, when signing for his card, but to no avail. Higgo actually shot a 69. Without the penalty, that would have been enough for a share of the clubhouse lead.
6.24pm
You can’t drive like that
This front nine may well be easier than the back, but not if you drive like that. Rory McIlroy’s tee shot at the par-4 6th is way right and the knock-on effect is rough. He has to punch his second under the trees but over the bunkers and it skips over the back of the green. It’s a deft chip back on to about 6ft beyond the pin but the putt slides past the right edge.
No instant bounce-back this time either, as another tee shot goes right at the 7th, denying him a view of the green with his second. He’s on for three but another missed putt means another bogey. He’s two over now and this is turning into a poor opening round.
Speaking of poor rounds, Bryson DeChambeau is now seven over par. Miserable.
6.05pm
Jordan Spieth heating up
Two birdies in a row and the man chasing his career grand slam this week is suddenly among the co-leaders at three under par.
McIlroy also has a chance to make birdie and move under par for the first time today but his putt slips past the cup. More frustration.
5.57pm
Brooks Koepka’s putting problem
The five-times major champion used to be pretty reliable with putter in hand but has struggled recently. Through 16 holes today, he has taken 28 putts already, including a few that really should have dropped. It will be particularly frustrating because he’s playing well otherwise, one under par with two to play.
Koepka’s putter is cold… againCarl Recine/Getty
Elsewhere, Min Woo Lee has just missed a short par putt to relinquish his outright lead.
5.48pm
Rory McIlroy recovers again
Déjà vu for McIlroy. Just like he followed up that bogey on the 10th with a birdie on the very next hole, a dropped shot at the 4th hole is instantly cancelled out by a birdie at the 5th. It’s a 178-yard par 3 and McIlroy’s tee shot is nothing special, settling about 20ft short of the hole, but he judges the putt perfectly to move back to level par. Time for a couple more birdies to put a gloss on his round?
5.42pm
Min Woo Lee is new leader
Sahith Theegala has snuck up towards the top of the leaderboard and sends a birdie putt narrowly past the left edge of the cup at the 7th (his 16th hole today). That would have earned him a share of the lead.
Min Woo Lee is already there, having birdied the par-3 5th to go to three under. Then two holes later the Australian rolls in another birdie putt, this one from 20ft, to take the outright lead with only two holes left to play today.
5.28pm
No English winner in 107 years
With Dan Brown going well, here’s a quiz question: what is the best finish by an Englishman at the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes won it in 1919?
The answer is David Lynn, who finished second to Rory McIlroy at Kiawah island in 2012. Lynn was five under par, a whopping eight shots behind the champion as McIlroy set a record for the biggest margin of victory in PGA Championship history.
Others have finished second (notably Paul Casey in 2020 and Nick Faldo in 1992) but they did so in a tie. Lynn was runner-up on his own.
5.13pm
Rose for Chelsea?
The late groups have been arriving at Aronimink. Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick are in the most eye-catching trio along with Justin Rose, who has turned up in what looks like some sort of Chelsea attire.
Maybe he’s in the mix for their latest manager search. They could probably do worse.
5.04pm
Potgieter takes clubhouse lead
Another wayward tee shot for McIlroy, as he tries a little too hard to cut the corner on the dogleg-left 2nd, and he is in that thick rough again. Once again, though, he recovers for par.
Elsewhere, Aldrich Potgieter, the South African who endured a torrid opening round at the Masters in April, is in the clubhouse at three under par, which is good enough for a share of the lead as things stand.
4.55pm
Jon Rahm eagle from 100 yards
The Spaniard has not had a lot of fun out there today, but we have a smile at last. After a 307-yard tee shot at the 2nd (his 11th hole day), Rahm holes out from just under 100 — two bounces and it drops right into the cup. Rahm moves back to level par and that might just be the moment that kicks him into gear on this friendlier front nine.
4.45pm
Brighter days ahead for Cam Smith?
Smith has become the poster boy for anti-LIV theorists as well as vintage mullet fans (Rick Broadbent writes). The Aussie was the Open champion and world No2 when he left in 2022, but has not gone sub-70 at the majors in 19 rounds. Without a win on LIV since 2023 and with six consecutive missed cuts at the majors, his decline has been savage and why he has ditched his boyhood coach for Claude Harmon. Anyway, he was one off the lead after his opening 11 holes.
4.38pm
Dan Brown on the charge
The Englishman follows that brilliant eagle with a birdie at the par-4 13th and he now has a share of the lead, alongside Stephan Jäger and Bud Cauley. With many of the big names struggling to find their rhythm, a trio of less-heralded players are setting the pace in Pennsylvania.
4.31pm
Devilish par 3s
The par 3s have been testing so far (Rick Broadbent writes). The 8th and 17th are both over 240 yards today and birdies have been dodo rare. Of those bothering the top end of the leaderboard, only Ryan Fox has managed a birdie at the 8th, with Aldrich Potgieter getting one on the 17th.
It is turning into a tough day all round for some of the big names. Tyrrell Hatton has a face like thunder, lightning and frightening things, while Bryson DeChambeau has been an assortment of ills. He has been impressive at the majors for the past two years but this is more of the same low-grade fare he coughed up at Augusta in April. Now he has bludgeoned a drive into a catering tent. Ugly.
Hatton has some work to doLaurence Kesterson/Alamy
4.25pm
Rory McIlroy level at the turn
That’s agonising for McIlroy, whose birdie putt stops narrowly short of the hole at the 18th. He taps in for par, taking him into the turn level. Not a spectacular first nine holes but the good news is that he’s four shots better off than DeChambeau. The better news is that the front nine is, by all accounts, easier than the half of the course they’ve just played.
4.15pm
Another Bryson DeChambeau bogey
That’s four in his first nine holes, after more short-game troubles, and this is quickly becoming another opening round to forget at a major tournament. Too early to start making jokes about his future as a YouTuber?
4.06pm
Dan Brown holes out for eagle
How about that? Brown’s 319-yard drive at the 11th is right down the middle, leaving him only 102 yards to the pin. What does he do? Lands a wedge to the left of the cup and watches as his ball kicks to the right and rolls in. That’s an eagle for the 31-year-old Englishman and, just like that, he’s only one shot off the lead.
3.55pm
Jordan Spieth’s career slam struggles
It has been nine years since Jordan Spieth won the Open Championship, to complete the third leg of a potential career grand slam. All that was left was the PGA Championship and it seemed as though he wouldn’t have to wait long to get it wrapped up.
In the years since, Spieth has not made the best fist of completing the set, with only one top-ten finish (third in 2019). He even missed the cut last year. This time he has made a solid start and just rolled in a nice birdie putt at the 16th (his seventh hole) to move to one under par. Promising.
3.44pm
It gets worse for Bryson DeChambeau
At the 241-yard par-three 17th, DeChambeau’s tee shot flies way right. After narrowly missing a few spectators, the ball nestles up against one of the temporary stands behind the green. After getting relief from the man-made obstacle, his flopped second shot catches the rough and stops short of the putting surface. That’s another bogey. He’s not having a great time out there.
Neither, for that matter, is his fellow LIV Golf player Tyrrell Hatton. He has a makeable birdie putt at the 16th (his seventh today) after dropping four shots in the previous three holes but doesn’t hit it hard enough. He’s still three over par.
3.31pm
Taking the scenic route
Cameron Smith has been having a little adventure. He was flying at three under through seven holes until a bogey set him back. Then his tee shot at the 18th (his ninth hole) went way left. After finding his ball behind what looks like some portable toilets, he’ll be pretty pleased to have escaped with another bogey.
3.04pm
What happened to Trooper the dog?
One of the curiosities of Aronimink is the white farmhouse by the horribly difficult 11th green (Rick Broadbent writes). It is a strange sight with boarded up windows. A local tells me it was here before the course and so was kept as a feature. Another quirk here is a plaque in the turf by the 18th fairway dedicated to Trooper the dog. Nobody seems sure about that one but I feel a need to find out.
The boarded-up farmhouserick broadbent
2.55pm
Rules are rules
Poor old Garrick Higgo (Rick Broadbent writes). The South African has been penalised two strokes for failing to make his tee time. He was actually on the adjacent practice green but that does not constitute the designated area. He is playing nicely but despite two birdies and no dropped shots, he is level par at the turn. Funny old game.
Higgo was penalised two strokesReuters
2.47pm
Don’t miss the fairways…
Rory McIlroy’s approach at 13 lands well short and left of the green. I’ve no idea what happened there and it looks like he doesn’t either. Bizarre.
Jordan Spieth is in the thick rough and, despite being only 127 yards out, hacks his second shot short and right. That just shows how costly it can be to miss the fairways at Aronimink this week — and you’d rather be in one of the many bunkers than that long, lush green stuff.
McIlroy recovers well to make par. So does Spieth.
2.41pm
I’ve almost been hit!
It’s been a mixed bag early on from McIlroy’s group (Rick Broadbent writes). A bad lie on the opener, the 10th for him, meant he moved the ball barely 50 yards down the fairway. He followed that bogey with a glorious drive, deft chip and birdie. He’s got ‘city of brotherly love’ on the bottom of his bag this week, a reference to Philadelphia’s nickname.
Meanwhile, as I type this by the 12th fairway, I’ve almost been clouted by an errant drive. “We’re in the danger zone,” says a fan. Excitement rises as we wait to see who has committed this foul deed. He’s approaching fast. Face like thunder. It’s Max McGreevy. There are a few sighs.
2.28pm
Nightmare for Bryson DeChambeau
Remember that DeChambeau approach that went beyond the green and left him confused? Well, he was scratching his head after the resulting putt too. The two-times US Open champion had to tap it just over the lip and then pray his ball didn’t race too far down the hill. Well, it did, eventually stopping about 40ft past the hole.
That meant bogey at the 11th and another followed at 13. A horrible start for Bryson.
2.23pm
Schauffele hits ground running
Xander Schauffele won this tournament two years ago and has made a dream start to this one, with birdies on each of his first two holes… which gives us a good enough excuse to revisit this excellent article from Tom Kershaw last summer:
2.11pm
Unstoppable Stephan Jäger
Goodness me, Jäger is on fire. Another birdie putt rolls in at the 6th and he moves to four under, two shots clear of the rest. The 36-year-old has never finished inside the top 30 at a major championship and hasn’t won a tournament since March 2024. What a place this would be to end the drought for the world No100.
2.02pm
Rory McIlroy starts with a bogey
McIlroy has a difficult putt for par at the 10th (his first hole) and starts it out left — much too far left, as it turns out. That’s a tricky hole and there will be plenty more bogeys this week, but it’s still a deflating start for the Masters champion.
Also, new leader alert. Stephan Jäger birdies the par-three 5th to go to three under. A brilliant start for the German.
1.54pm
DeChambeau shaking off rust
That was odd. Bryson DeChambeau overcooks a wedge into the second green, then scratches his chin and asks his caddie, “Is that short?”
Meanwhile, his fellow LIV Golf player Cam Smith is dialled in and sets up a short birdie chance on the 4th hole to move to two under par. The Australian, who is an excellent putter, makes no mistake.
Smith hasn’t won a major title since the 2022 Open Championship, shortly before he joined LIV GolfCarl Recine/Getty
1.09pm
Alex Fitzpatrick drops a shot
After that flying start, with back-to-back birdies, the younger Fitzpatrick brother has a blemish on his card at the par-three 5th. After missing the green to the left, he’s left with a difficult bunker shot, with the ball well below his feet. The best he can do is to send it wide left of the target and watch it roll around to leave a long par putt on the way back. It doesn’t turn enough and that’s a bogey.
12.19pm
Another birdie for Fitzpatrick
Alex Fitzpatrick is off to a flier as he makes it two under after two after getting a wedge shot to within 3ft 7in of the hole.
12.05pm
Opening birdie for Fitzpatrick
Alex Fitzpatrick sinks his putt from 28 feet and it’s a perfect start for Matt’s younger brother as he becomes the first player to pick up a shot at this year’s championship.
11.55am
Rory’s tricky blister
Preparations haven’t been entirely smooth for Rory McIlroy, who retained his Masters title in April. The world No2 had to cut short his practice session at Aronimink on Tuesday because of a lingering problem with a painful blister on the little toe of his right foot.
11.41am
City of brotherly love
You may have noticed that there are two Fitzpatricks among those 15 names. One, of course, is Matt, the double Ryder Cup champion and PGA Championship winner at Brookline four years ago.
Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
The other is his brother Alex, who is just about to tee off. He recently won his PGA Tour card and moved into the world’s top 100 — that’s after the siblings switched coaches and won the Zurich Classic together two months ago. Is this week set to be another memorable chapter in the Fitzpatrick family story?
11.25am
Selected tee times
Here are some big names to keep an eye on today.
1.18pm (starting on 10th tee): Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Aberg, Rickie Fowler
1.40pm (10th tee): Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm
7.05pm (1st tee): Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose
For the full list, plus key holes and more, read our comprehensive guide to the tournament
11.15am
Good morning
Hello and welcome to The Times’ live coverage of the 2026 US PGA Championship. The 156-man field will compete for the Wanamaker Trophy over the next four days, with Scottie Scheffler aiming to defend his crown after last year’s triumph at Quail Hollow and claim a fifth major title in as many seasons.
But Rory McIlroy is a two-times winner himself and, having successfully defended the Green Jacket at the Masters last month, is looking for back-to-back major titles. Our reporters are on the ground and primed to give you analysis and commentary every stroke of the way.