2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink — preview, purse and the players to watch

The 2026 PGA Championship arrives at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia with the steepest course-rating change in the modern history of the major. Donald Ross’s 1928 layout was restored by Andrew Green between 2018 and 2021, with the bunkering pulled back to its original wide-mouthed style and the greens enlarged by an average of 14 percent. The PGA of America has set Aronimink up at 7,267 yards and a par of 70, with the par-3s playing as a four-hole set ranging from 167 to 240 yards.

Scottie Scheffler arrives as defending champion — his 2025 win at Quail Hollow was a wire-to-wire three-stroke job that ended speculation about a major-championship drought. He has finished inside the top 10 at every PGA Championship since 2022.

Rory McIlroy plays his first PGA Championship as Career Grand Slam holder. Min Woo Lee, fresh off his Houston Open breakthrough in 2025, is the highest-ranked Australian in the field.

The purse is set at $19 million with the winner’s share at $3.42 million. First-round tee times begin at 7:00 a.m. ET on Thursday 14 May with the marquee groups (Scheffler / McIlroy / Schauffele and Morikawa / DeChambeau / Hovland) going off in the afternoon wave.