May 13, 2026Updated 8:10 am EDT
Once upon a time — all the way back in 2018 — the PGA Championship owned the identity as the last of the four majors on the annual schedule. The PGA of America, which presides over this tournament, even leaned into it, offering up the slogan “Glory’s Last Shot.”
While it can be argued that the professional golf calendar has been better streamlined over the past eight years, it can also be said that this tournament has suffered a bit of an identity crisis while sandwiched between the Masters and the U.S. Open.
If there’s a distinctiveness to the PGA Championship, it comes in the form of the winners’ list.
Since the move to May, that list has only included elite-level players – Brooks Koepka three times, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa and Phil Mickelson, the latter serving as the lone longshot outlier, though already a five-time major champion when he won five years ago at the age of 50.
The simplest explanation for this? Perhaps we just employ the ol’ sports axiom: Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games. Those with the most talent tend to win majors; that’s just what they do.
Delving further, this trend can be interpreted as an ode to Kerry Haigh, the PGA of America’s chief championship officer, who’s been universally lauded for his course setups, which have annually identified the best player for that given week.
It’s all worth keeping in mind as we try to determine potential winners for this week’s festivities at Aronimink Golf Club. If recent history has taught us anything, we shouldn’t look too far down the list for a champion.
Age Range 25-29 30-35 36-40 40+
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It says so much about the world’s No. 1-ranked player, who’s been defeated by just two players in regulation during his last three starts – all runner-up finishes, at a major and two signature events – that there’s a slight murmur amongst fans asking, “What’s wrong with Scottie?” The easy answer is: Not a whole lot. The more technical answer is: With a Round 1 scoring average that ranks 77th on the PGA Tour, he needs better starts. And the answer that his fellow competitors don’t want to hear is: Despite that trifecta of close calls, there’s still plenty of room for improvement this week.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Scottie Scheffler’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
25-29
United States
PGA Tour
Kudos to those who watched Young’s first career PGA Tour victory last August, followed by his subsequent ascendancy in a losing Ryder Cup effort, and thought to themselves, “A big-hitting Northeast native on a big Northeast ballpark? He just might win the PGA Championship.” As for the rest of you, welcome to the bandwagon. After wins at The Players and the Cadillac Championship, Young has not only asserted himself as a top-five player in the world, but one who’s learned how to close, which is a stark contrast to the guy with seven runner-up finishes before that initial triumph.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
2 (’22 Open)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Cameron Young’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
25-29
United States
PGA Tour
You know what they say about the Masters champion each year: With three majors remaining, he’s the only one still eligible to capture the elusive single-season grand slam. Alright, that admittedly might be raising the bar of expectations too high for McIlroy. Still, there are already signs that he’ll fare better in the immediate aftermath of this Masters victory than he did a year ago, when he finished T-47 at this tournament. “If anything, I’m more motivated after what happened at Augusta this year,” he said last week, which could be a dangerous warning shot for the rest of the field.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Rory McIlroy’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
36-40
Northern Ireland
PGA Tour
One year ago, Fitzpatrick entered the PGA Championship as the 85th-ranked player in the world – a major champion just three years earlier, but one going through swing tweaks and suffering from lost confidence. At Quail Hollow, though, he finished T-8, and while we perhaps can’t draw a direct line from that performance to his current status in the top five, his resurgence had to start somewhere. It’s pretty easy to see the line of demarcation between his results before that week and those after, all of which have led to a PGA Tour-best three wins so far this season.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
1 win (’22 U.S. Open)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Matt Fitzpatrick’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
Tiger Woods coined the term, “Winning takes care of everything,” – around which there was an entire marketing campaign, and while #PlayBetter solves 99 percent of golfer problems, Rahm might be the one-percenter here in more ways than one. Whether the LIV Golf ship is sinking or staying afloat, it’s clear that members of that tour are experiencing rough seas right now. After posting two wins and five top-fives at majors from 2021-’23, Rahm doesn’t have a major finish better than seventh since leaving for LIV, including a disappointing T-38 at last month’s Masters.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Jon Rahm’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
Two years ago, Schauffele showed up to the PGA Championship at Valhalla and was once again asked all the relevant questions about what it would take for a guy with a dozen top-10 results in just 27 major starts to finally break through. “It’s frustrating,” he said at the time, “but it’s sort of why I love to compete.” For the rest of the week, he let his clubs do the talking, claiming that first major title, before adding another two months later. With players such as Young and Fitzpatrick enjoying so much success this year, Schauffele is flying a bit under the radar, but he’s getting very close to that 2024 level again.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Xander Schauffele’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
30-35
United States
PGA Tour
If you cloned Brooks Koepka and added a sprinkling of Cameron Young, the result would be a no-nonsense, chip-on-the-shoulder, ball-striker supreme who tends to elevate for the big moments. That’s exactly what we’ve seen so far in Gotterup, who owns four wins in the past 24 months and rose to as high as fifth in the world ranking. His most impressive asset, however, is his ability to showcase his best stuff against the best players, winning last year’s Scottish Open while playing alongside McIlroy and beating Scheffler by double-digits in this year’s opening round in Phoenix.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
3 (’25 Open)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Chris Gotterup’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
25-29
United States
PGA Tour
The last time the world’s best players convened at Aronimink was for the 2018 BMW Championship, when Fleetwood finished in a share of eighth place. That doesn’t tell the whole story, though. His middle two rounds were both course record-tying 8-under 62 — two of the six lowest totals which have been posted at this 130-year-old venue, with two of the others coming from Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Decent company with whom to share the record and a sign that Fleetwood, who’s known for going low at majors with a couple of final-round 63s at U.S. Opens, just might be a strong fit for this course.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
2 (’18 U.S. Open, ’19 Open)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Tommy Fleetwood’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
It’s tough to remember now, but before his first PGA Tour win in early 2022, some criticized Scottie Scheffler’s ability to close. The same goes for Cameron Young, who racked up top-three finishes before his first win last year. Aberg isn’t in quite the same boat, as he’s already won a pair of titles, but there’s been recent judgment on whether the 26-year-old can currently get it done on Sunday. Just as those previous critiques of Scheffler and Young now sound silly, it’ll sound that way about Aberg someday, as a few close calls should only better steel him for similar situations in the future.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
2 (’24 Masters)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Ludvig Åberg’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
Everybody’s favorite YouTube star is in a position that suggests his personal brand might be more important than ever before – and nothing would help that Q rating more than a Pinehurst-like performance, when he dazzled fans at the U.S. Open two years ago, then stayed late into the evening signing autographs and mugging for photos with them. There are signs he won’t be able to simply overpower Aronimink, though. Notably, coming off two FedEx Cup playoff wins while in the midst of playing tremendous golf in 2018, he merely finished T-19 on this property.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Bryson DeChambeau’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
There’s an old saying in this game: Beware the injured golfer. Alright, we get it. Still, that doesn’t mean we should beware the golfer who withdraws on the second hole of a big event with a back injury, misses a month of competition, then returns at Augusta National, where it looks like he can barely walk. And yet, there was Morikawa, persevering through that injury while finishing T-7 at the Masters and T-4 at the next week’s RBC Heritage, though he did WD before last week’s Truist Championship. Perhaps we should “beware” for a few different reasons.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Collin Morikawa’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
25-29
United States
PGA Tour
When he returned from offseason back surgery at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, Thomas suggested he wanted to be fully healthy and in midseason form by the Masters. He perhaps raised the bar too early, claiming a top 10 the very next week at The Players, but looked rather ordinary at Augusta, finishing outside the top 40. It’s very possible his timeline was simply a bit askew, as last week he more resembled the player who’s won multiple PGA Championship titles over the past decade and is looking to become just the seventh with at least three of them.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Justin Thomas’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
30-35
United States
PGA Tour
Professional golf’s leader in Strokes Gained: Swagger, the five-time major champion, proved last week that he isn’t afraid to mix it up with the PGA Tour’s hoi polloi. Since returning to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf, Koepka hasn’t qualified for the signature events, which means he’s played only two rounds alongside Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic team event since the Masters. While his weekend effort at the alternate event in Myrtle Beach fell short of a title, it could prove to be vital prep for this one. With the tee-to-green game once again looking world-class, his putter will be the key to contention.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Brooks Koepka’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
36-40
United States
PGA Tour
It feels like Cantlay has become a forgotten man, which perhaps comes with being ranked outside the world’s top 30. However, he owns four consecutive top-12 results, his ball-striking numbers have largely been through the roof, and he fits the profile as a borderline “longshot” play, even though he doesn’t quite meet the definition. Last month’s T-12 result at the Masters should be viewed as a bright spot, as well, considering it was easily his best finish at a major since a share of third at the 2024 U.S. Open.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
T3 (’24 U.S. Open, ’19 PGA)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Patrick Cantlay’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
30-35
United States
PGA Tour
It was a wild Masters for MacIntyre last month, who at one point raised a finger and declared himself the No. 1 player in the field. Wait, sorry – wrong digit. His 15th hole boorishness notwithstanding, the Scotsman has earned a reputation in recent years as a player who tends to play some of his best golf at the biggest events. He’s been eighth-or-better in three of the last eight, including a runner-up result at Oakmont for last year’s U.S. Open. If it doesn’t go well this week, though, expect the Philly faithful to appreciate any one-fingered salutes more than those at Augusta National.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
2 (’25 U.S. Open)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Robert MacIntyre’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
Some will see this name listed here and think it’s some directive from the PGA Tour’s marketing arm to include “that guy from all the commercials” in any promotional discussions, but that’s simply not the case. The truth is, Fowler has been playing at an extremely high level recently. With three consecutive top-10 results, including last week’s runner-up finish, he arrives at a place where he was T-13 and T-8 in 2011 and ’18, respectively. That’s more experience at Aronimink than nearly everyone else in this field.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
2 (’18 Masters)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Rickie Fowler’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
36-40
United States
PGA Tour
Over the last few years, Henley has had multiple top-10s at each of the other three majors, but he’s never posted one at the PGA Championship in a dozen career starts. That should lead to one of these conclusions: Either there’s something about the course setups at this event that doesn’t quite suit him, or he’s overdue for a spot on the leaderboard this weekend. He’ll come into this one more well-rested than most of the game’s other top players, as he skipped last week’s Truist Championship.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
T3 (’26 Masters)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Russell Henley’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
36-40
United States
PGA Tour
It usually isn’t bad to have something in common with Scottie Scheffler, but Scott probably wouldn’t have chosen poor Thursday starts to be that something. He opened with a 76 at Doral before bouncing back to finish inside the top-five, then started with a 76 again at Quail Hollow before squeezing into the top-25. Fortunately, his ball-striking has similarly resembled that of Scheffler, as the 45-year-old currently ranks third on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Approach. That should serve him well this week – if he can get off to a better start.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
1 win (’13 Masters)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Adam Scott’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
It’s been largely presumed that LIV Golf’s biggest assets, if there is indeed a fire sale to the PGA Tour, are Rahm and DeChambeau. While Hatton isn’t quite on par with their talent level, he remains one of the game’s more entertaining players. It would be perfect irony if the golfer most known for emotional outbursts could finally earn his first major title in front of spectators who once (allegedly) chucked batteries at Santa Claus. The Englishman might very well find that these are his people, too.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
T3 (’26 Masters)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Tyrrell Hatton’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
There hasn’t been a big-time event at Aronimink since 2018, but the PGA Tour did play at the Philly Cricket Club in Philadelphia last year, and Straka was the champion. There might not be too many connections from his Austria-Georgia-Alabama roots to the City of Brotherly Love, but any mojo is good mojo. More importantly, he’s been red-hot with his iron play this year, gaining strokes in all but one start, and he’s trending in the right direction with four results of 13th or better in his last nine events.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
T2 (’23 Open)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Sepp Straka’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
It was suggested before the Masters that Reed’s current placement in golf purgatory – he’s left LIV Golf and already cashed enough points on the DP World Tour to qualify for the PGA Tour, but won’t be able to compete there until after this season – could serve as a massive benefit at the majors, since he can solely focus on those events while he bides his time. So far, that has been true. He was T-12 last month at Augusta National, his fourth consecutive top-12 result at the year’s first major.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
1 win (’18 Masters)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Patrick Reed’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
30-35
United States
DP World Tour
In 1943, due to roster shortages during World War II, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles merged for one season, calling this team the “Steagles.” What does that have to do with Spaun? Well, he’d love to combine his success in Pittsburgh last year, winning the U.S. Open at Oakmont thanks to a blistering finish, with more success in Philly this week. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, either, as he’s recently found his game again, having won last month’s Valero Texas Open. And if it happens again this week, the West Coast native might be obligated to move full-time to the Keystone State.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
1 win (’25 U.S. Open)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent J.J. Spaun’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
30-35
United States
PGA Tour
It appears the results are finally starting to catch up to the performance for Kitayama, who’s been a statistical darling for a while now – the type whose tee-to-green numbers look so impressive that it’s hard to believe he doesn’t contend more frequently. Well, that might be changing. The two-time PGA Tour winner enters this week with three straight top 10s and should be brimming with confidence on a ball-striker’s course.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
T4 (’23 PGA)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Kurt Kitayama’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
30-35
United States
PGA Tour
After becoming the youngest winner of The Players Championship at age 21 in 2017, it was rightly interpreted that Kim owns an uncommonly high ceiling as a top-level pro. What we might not have realized is that he also came armed with a low floor. In the three seasons from 2018 through ’21, he missed the cut in 28 starts – or more than one-third of the time. Granted, there’s an influx of no-cut events these days, but he’s yet to miss one this year as that floor has continued to rise, with four top-fives and six top-10s so far.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
T8 (’25 PGA)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Si Woo Kim’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
There’s reason to believe one of the biggest moments of Hovland’s career came at the PGA Championship three years ago. Trying to chase down Brooks Koepka, he made double-bogey on the 70th hole of the tournament and finished runner-up. The happy-go-lucky Norwegian had figurative steam coming out of his ears after that one and perhaps it prompted some motivation, as he won the final two events of the season, including the FedEx Cup. So far this season, he’s largely appeared as if he’s stuck in neutral, so maybe Hovland could use another frustrating finish to get him going once again.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
T2 (’23 PGA)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Viktor Hovland’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
The 2021 Masters champion remains a riddle wrapped inside an enigma. He’ll finish a swing one-handed and disgustedly watch his ball land a few feet from the hole. We’re never quite sure whether he’s fully healthy or about to WD with another injury. And the stat profile this season shows a player who’s been tremendous with just about every club in the bag other than driver, yet the results show no top-10s since mid-February.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
1 win (’21 Masters)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Hideki Matsuyama’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
In the midst of a season during which the 45-year-old won at Torrey Pines and once again contended at Augusta National, it seemed more than a bit curious that Rose would change out his clubs before the second major championship. Even more alarming is that he’s now playing irons from McLaren, a manufacturer that didn’t previously exist in the golf space. His initial foray into competition with these resulted in the worst ball-striking effort in his last seven starts, though when asked about the potential risk, he insisted, “In the long term, no, I don’t see there being an issue at all.”
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
1 win (’13 U.S. Open)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Justin Rose’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
You’ll hear this one every time Bradley’s name is mentioned this week: The last time Aronimink held a big event, it was the 2018 BMW Championship – and it was Keegan who claimed the title in a playoff over Justin Rose. Last year’s U.S. Ryder Cup captain has admitted that the defeat at Bethpage impaired his performance over this season’s first few months. But he’s recently started remembering less and playing better, just in time to return to a place where he should have some good mojo from eight years ago.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
1 win (’11 PGA)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Keegan Bradley’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
36-40
United States
PGA Tour
We’ve officially reached the point where this three-time major champion has become a weekly meme, whether he’s attempting to hit a shot off a rock wall or completely hidden from view while trying to save par from inside a bush. Spieth is professional golf’s version of a faulty dam – once one hole gets plugged, he springs another leak. It’s difficult to process whether he continues to take two steps forward and one back or one forward and two back. Still, he remains impossibly entertaining, and as dubious as it might seem, he’s only four great rounds from joining McIlroy in that historic career slam club.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Jordan Spieth’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
30-35
United States
PGA Tour
Before the 2021 edition of this event, it might’ve sounded comical to list a PGA Tour Champions-eligible player among the contenders at a major. While Phil Mickelson didn’t exactly open any floodgates, he at least proved it could be done – and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a weekend leaderboard prominently featuring Cink, who owns four victories in nine starts on the senior circuit this season and leads just about every relevant statistical category, including driving distance and greens in regulation. Other than Nelly Korda, there hasn’t been a more dominant player on their respective tour over the past four-and-a-half months than Cink.
Performance last 5 tournaments
Best Previous Performance
Major finish
1 win (’09 Open)
Strokes Gained
The bars below represent Stewart Cink’s percent rank when compared to all 2026 PGA Championship competitors.
40+
United States
PGA Tour Champions
May 13, 2026
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