Club pro posts PGA Championship scores after making cut, sees his Handicap Index drop
He's going to be giving more shots now in his regular rounds.
Ben Kern was the only club pro to make the cut at the 2026 PGA Championship, an incredible accomplishment made even more amazing by the fact that he made more birdies over the first two days at Aronimink than all of the best players in the world. Not bad for a guy whose day job is being the general manager of Hickory Hills Golf Club in Ohio. But Ben is also probably the only guy who posted four scores from Aronimink for handicap purposes.
And, yes, his Handicap Index dropped as a result. RELATED: Aaron Rai (kinda) breaks this major curse with PGA victory On Wednesday, the USGA noted that Kern dutifully entered his scores into the GHIN system, including that Friday 67 that went down as a -6. 7(!
) Scoring Differential. That took Kern's Handicap Index down (or is it up when you're a plus-handicapper? ) to a +6.
4, meaning he'd be giving at least six strokes to a scratch golfer in a match. And he'll be giving more strokes to anyone the next time he tees it up in a friendly game at his club. (We actually just wrote about how Handicap Indexes work and what it really means to be a scratch golfer.