This year’s second major is here. After Rory McIlroy successfully defended his Masters title last month, a field of 156 players are this week at Aronimink in Pennsylvania bidding to win the US PGA Championship. On the line is the vast Wanamaker Trophy, which was won by Scottie Scheffler, the world No1, by five strokes last year.
Aronimink was last a major venue in 1962, when the US PGA Championship was won by Gary Player, but it has hosted multiple PGA Tour events since, with Justin Rose and Keegan Bradley among the past champions here.
Scheffler has won four major championships: two Masters, the US PGA Championship, pictured, and the OpenDavid J Phillip/AP
The course has since been overhauled though, with design gurus Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner restoring it to the 1920s setup of famous architect Donald Ross, who was born in Dornoch, Scotland. Hanse and Wagner added more than 100 bunkers, removed trees and expanded greens to create harder pin positions. “Strategy off the tee is pretty non-existent,” Rory McIlroy predicted. “It’s basically bash driver down there and figure it out from there. The greens are the main focus this week, getting in the right sections and making sure you leave yourself below the hole for the most part.”
What are the tee times?
Round two — 1st tee
BST/ET
11:45am/6:45am: Michael Block (USA), Rasmus Højgaard (Denmark), Dustin Johnson (USA)
11:56am/6:56am: Mark Geddes (England), Steven Fisk (USA), David Lipsky (USA)
12:07pm/7:07am: Sungjae Im (Republic of Korea), Austin Hurt (USA), Casey Jarvis (South Africa)
12:18pm/7:18am: Andrew Putnam (USA), Michael Kartrude (USA), Matt Wallace (England)
12:29pm/7:29am: Martin Kaymer (Germany), Elvis Smylie (Australia), Davis Riley (USA)
12:40pm/7:40am: Jason Dufner (USA), Haotong Li (China), Jimmy Walker (USA)
12:51pm/7:51am: Nick Taylor (Canada), Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Denmark), Jordan Smith England)
1:02pm/8:02am: Emiliano Grillo (Argentina), Patrick Reed (USA), Pierceson Coody (USA)
1:13pm/8:13am: Brian Campbell (USA), Adam Schenk (USA), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa)
1:24pm/8:24am: Marco Penge (England), Sepp Straka (Austria), Patrick Rodgers (USA)
1:35pm/8:35am: Aaron Rai (England), Travis Smyth (Australia), Sami Valimäki (Finland)
1:46pm/8:46am: Sam Stevens (USA), Jayden Schaper (South Africa), Garrett Sapp (USA)
1:57pm/8:57am: Timothy Wiseman (USA), Matti Schmid (Germany), Austin Smotherman (USA)
5:15pm/12:15pm: Aldrich Potgieter (South Africa), David Puig (Spain), Denny McCarthy (USA)
5:26pm/12:26pm: William Mouw (USA), Chris Gabriele (USA), Taylor Pendrith (Canada)
5:37pm/12:37pm: Tom Hoge (USA), Bryce Fisher (USA), Joaquin Niemann (Chile)
12:48pm/12:48pm: Keith Mitchell (USA), Billy Horschel (USA), Ian Holt (USA)
5:59pm/12:59pm: Gary Woodland (USA), Jason Day (Australia), Sam Burns (USA)
6:10pm/1:10pm: Wyndham Clark (USA), Cameron Smith (Australia), Brian Harman (USA)
6:21pm/1:21pm: Patrick Cantlay (USA), Min Woo Lee (Australia), Sahith Theegala (USA)
6:32pm/1:32pm: Si Woo Kim (Republic of Korea), Derek Berg (USA), Joe Highsmith (USA)
6:43pm/1:43pm: Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Ludvig Åberg (Sweden), Rickie Fowler (USA)
6:54pm/1:54pm: Xander Schauffele (USA), Brooks Koepka (USA), Tyrrell Hatton (England)
7:05pm/2:05pm: Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), Jordan Spieth (USA), Jon Rahm (Spain)
7:16pm/2:16pm: Daniel Hillier (New Zealand), Ryan Vermeer (USA), Max McGreevy (USA)
7:27pm/2:27pm: Paul McClure (USA), Mikael Lindberg (Sweden), Angel Ayora (Spain)
Round two — 10th tee
BST/ET
7:22pm/2:22pm: Tyler Collet (USA), Kota Kaneko (Japan), Brandt Snedeker (USA)
11:50am/6:50am: Andrew Novak (USA), John Parry (England), Jordan Gumberg (USA)
12:01pm/7:01am: Ben Polland (USA), Kurt Kitayama (USA), Nico Echavarria (Colombia)
12:12pm/7:12am: Akshay Bhatia (USA), Ricky Castillo (USA), Michael Thorbjornsen (USA)
12:23pm/7:23am: Luke Donald (England), Jesse Droemer (USA), Stewart Cink (USA)
12:34pm/7:34am: Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), J.J. Spaun (USA), Max Homa (USA)
12:45pm/7:45am: Ben Kern (USA), J.T. Poston (USA), Russell Henley (USA)
12:56pm/7:56am: Adam Scott (Australia), Corey Conners (Canada), Daniel Berger (USA)
1:07pm/8:07am: Viktor Hovland (Norway), Collin Morikawa (USA), Shane Lowry (Ireland)
1:18pm/8:18am: Chris Gotterup (USA), Robert MacIntyre (Scotland), Tommy Fleetwood (England)
1:29pm/8:29am: Cameron Young (USA), Keegan Bradley (USA), Justin Thomas (USA)
1:40pm/8:40am: Scottie Scheffler (USA), Matt Fitzpatrick (England), Justin Rose (England)
1:51pm/8:51am: Zach Haynes (USA), Alex Smalley (USA), Chandler Blanchet (USA)
2:02pm/9:02am: Bernd Wiesberger (Austria), Sudarshan Yellamaraju (Canada), Andy Sullivan (England)
5:10pm/12:10pm: Braden Shattuck (USA), Alex Fitzpatrick (England), Ben Griffin (USA)
5:21pm/12:21pm: Francisco Bide (Argentina), Harry Hall (England), Ryan Gerard (USA)
5:32pm/12:32pm: Johnny Keefer (USA), Rico Hoey (Philippines), Nicolai Højgaard (Denmark)
5:43pm/12:43pm: Shaun Micheel (USA), Michael Brennan (USA), Garrick Higgo (South Africa)
5:54pm/12:54pm: Y.E. Yang (Republic of Korea), Jhonattan Vegas (Venezuela), Matt McCarty (USA)
6:05pm/1:05pm: Lucas Glover (USA), Tom McKibbin (Northern Ireland), Stephan Jaeger (Germany)
6:16pm/1:16pm: Daniel Brown (England), Adrien Saddier (France), Harris English (USA)
6:27pm/1:27pm: Jacob Bridgeman (USA), Bud Cauley (USA), Alex Noren (Sweden)
6:38pm/1:38pm: Chris Kirk (USA), Max Greyserman (USA), Kristoffer Reitan (Norway)
6:49pm/1:49pm: Maverick McNealy (USA), Thomas Detry (Belgium), Padraig Harrington (Ireland)
7:00pm/2:00pm: Ryan Lenahan (USA), Ryan Fox (New Zealand), Kazuki Higa (Japan)
7:11pm/2:11pm: Jared Jones (USA), Michael Kim (USA), Ryo Hisatsune (Japan)
What are the key holes at the Aronimink?
5th, par three, 171 yards Though it can stretch to 171 yards, Hanse believes that this hole is best when played from a forward tee, making it just a flick into a heavily contoured green guarded by four deep bunkers. Find the correct slope and you will make birdie; miss the green and you’ll be lucky to escape with par.
13th, par four, 385 yards Arguably the greatest challenge of Aronimink is its long par fours, so this short one will be a welcome scoring opportunity. Again, there is a forward tee that could make it drivable with even a three-wood in one of the rounds — but the fairway is tight, there are numerous bunkers and out of bounds to the left. A great risk-reward hole.
15th, par four, 546 yards The longest par four on the course by an enormous 56 yards has three fairway bunkers that will gather drives that stray right and leave virtually no chance of hitting the green in two. However, in a clever piece of course design, the green was expanded by Hanse and Wagner and a punch-bowl effect to its surface will funnel shots towards certain pins. Finding the fairway is essential though. Expect multiple shot swings here.
What are Rory McIlroy’s chances?
Rory McIlroy had statistically the ninth-worst round of his career at the Truist Championship on Saturday, but the Northern Irishman won his sixth major at Augusta last month and is unquestionably liberated from ending his long quest for the career grand slam last year. The biggest concern is his driving accuracy, though. In his Masters triumph he hit only 55 per cent of fairways and last week that number was down to 51 per cent.
McIlroy won the US PGA Championship in 2012, pictured, and 2014 Gerry Melendez/Getty IMAGES
Scheffler is the defending champion and — though he was out of sorts earlier this season — he has finished second in his two events since the Masters, losing in a play-off to Matt Fitzpatrick at the RBC Heritage then by six shots to his fellow American Cameron Young at the Miami Championship. With that win, Young, who won the Players Championship in March and was in the final group with McIlroy at the Masters, became the world No3.
No Englishman has won the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes in 1919 but Fitzpatrick, the world No4, is having the best year of his career so far. Having finished second at the Players, he won the Valspar Championship and RBC Heritage, before an emotional victory alongside his brother Alex at the pairs event, the Zurich Classic.
Rose and his new McLaren bag …Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
… his irons are made by the car manufacturerAndrew Redington/Getty Images
Another Englishman, Justin Rose, is continuing to enjoy a late-career resurgence but how the 45-year-old fares having controversially switched to a new set of irons manufactured by the car company McLaren remains to be seen. Meanwhile the form of Xander Schauffele, who won two majors in 2024, looks to be improving after an injury-hit 2025.
It will also be interesting to see how LIV players perform amid the distraction of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund withdrawing its funding from the controversial breakaway tour at the end of the season. Jon Rahm has paid fines so he could return to the DP World Tour and beyond, but Bryson DeChambeau says he will be happy to play most of his golf on YouTube if LIV fails to find a rescue package, and Anirban Lahiri said last week in The Times that he knows “a dozen LIV players who’d rather quit golf than return to the PGA Tour”.
Among the names at the top of the undesirable “best player yet to win a major” list are Young, Tommy Fleetwood, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton.
Where to watch?
Sky Sports holds the exclusive broadcast rights in the UK. Coverage will begin at 1pm for the opening two rounds on Thursday and Friday on a combination of Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Golf, while the weekend’s action begins at 3pm.
In the US, you can watch the first two rounds on ESPN or ESPN+ and the final two rounds on CBS Sports HQ. The Times will also be providing live daily blogs for all four rounds.