PGA Championship: Golf’s best thought Aronimink would be easy. They were wrong
Just 32 of 156 players are under par after Round 1.
Scottie Scheffler putts on the 18th green during the first round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on May 14, 2026 in Newtown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) Michael Reaves via Getty Images NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Aronimink Golf Club heard your jabs, your insults, your disrespect.
The course is going to play soft! The pros are going to annihilate this place! Strategy off the tee is pretty much nonexistent!
That last line was Rory McIlroy, and, well, look what Aronimink did to him on Thursday: a ragged +4 round, one he deemed “S–t. ” Aronimink 1, two-time defending Masters champion 0. McIlroy certainly wasn’t the only player Aronimink knocked around.
The first round of the PGA Championship ended in unseasonable chill, gusty winds and a more jammed-up leaderboard than most majors ever see. The names ran from the highly familiar (defending champion Scottie Scheffler) to the debut performers (21-year-old Aldritch Potgieter). In all, seven players held a share of the Day 1 lead at -3: Scheffler, Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Min Woo Lee, Ryo Hisatsune, Martin Kaymer and Alex Smalley.