The Official Barstool 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink Preview

Scott Taetsch/PGA of America. Getty Images.

It's time for major championship golf baby! Welcome to PGA Championship week, the red-headed stepchild of golf's major championships. This year's edition brings us to Aronimink Golf Club, located just outside Philly.

We're in for a treat this week - at times the PGA can be a punching bag that doesn't look all that different from your typical weekly Tour birdiefest. I mean these guys eviscerated Valhalla a couple years ago. This week should be a proper test. Tough design, tight fairways, thick rough… wouldn't be surprised if a single digit under par score takes it this week.

Last year at Quail Hollow Scottie Scheffler was the only guy who hit double digits under par at any point in the tournament, ultimately winning his first PGA Championship by a convincing 5 strokes. Given he came into Sunday with a 3 stroke lead, you would think that Sunday was a total snoozefest and he cruised to victory… but that's not completely the case.

Scottie actually stumbled out of the gates with a bad case of the lefts, bogeying the first hole and playing the front nine in 2 over. A couple groups ahead Jon Rahm actually caught him briefly at 9 under after birdieing 10 and 11 and we thought we might have some serious fireworks down the stretch. Scottie birdied 10 to take the outright lead and never looked back. Rahm ended up flaming out miserably, going bogey-double-double at the Green Mile to fall all the way back to T-10 while a few holes back Scottie birdied 14 and 15 to re-open his 5 shot lead over eventual co-runner-ups Bryson, Harris English, and Davis Riley. Stress free down the stretch for Scottie to win his first PGA. Probably first of a few.

Last year's leaderboard and recent winners of the PGA.

2025 PGA Championship Leaderboard

Past Winners of the PGA Championship

The Course

Aronimink is a classic Donald Ross northeast track that plays as a par 70 at 7,394 yards for this tournament. The club was founded in 1896 and the course was built in 1928. Like any course (especially in the Northeast), it's gone through a variety of renovations and restorations, with the recently in 2016-17 by Gil Hanse ahead of the 2018 BMW Championship (which was won by Keegan Bradley btw). 

Bunkers. That's the headline here, especially after the restoration. 174 of them. They are fucking everywhere, man. Many of them line and even cross fairways to force decisions off the tee. The rough is up and the greens are tiered, so hitting fairways and giving yourself the opportunity to control and spin your approaches and position yourself in the right spots on the greens will be key. The weather in May hasn't been quite as warm in the Mid-Atlantic as it might be in August so the greens might be as firm as we would all hope, but they've made sure to narrow fairways and challenge guys from the teebox.

Length has been a consistent theme amongst PGA Championship winners in recent years too, and I expect this week to be no different.

Best Hole - Par 3 17th, 229 yards

Long par 3 down the stretch is always fun and could make for some fun on Sunday. The green is pretty big and presents some challenging potential pin positions. I expect to see one back left that really brings the water into play, one tucked short right where you see the pin in the picture above, and probably one back middle-rightish on the backside of that knob that is visible in that picture too.

"Designed for drama, this long, slightly downhill par 3 could significantly affect the outcome of the Championship. Any ball heading to the left will likely find the pond that runs down the entire left side of the green. The safe shot is to the middle of the large putting surface, but that will almost certainly leave a difficult two-putt. The front right hole location just beyond the bunker will also create a lot of challenges."

The Format

Stroke Play, 72 holes, 156 golfers. The PGA Tour shifted to a 65-man cut a few years ago, but the PGA Championship has stuck with the Top 70 and ties cut. Playoff is a 3-hole aggregate, as we saw in 2022. Playoff holes here would be 10, 17, and 18, with 18 repeated if it goes beyond that.

This field is comprised of a variety of the world's best who have qualified on the merit of their current game, past PGA Championship winners, and 20 PGA professionals who are more or less club pros who qualified through their own qualification process. Typically only a couple (if any) of those guys make the cut, and when you factor out the Rich Beems and Shaun Micheels of the world, the true field size of this event is more like 125 golfers. 

The Weather

The Coverage

It's an ESPN and CBS show this week. Cute that the media guide throws in that CBS Sports Scorecard thing as if I'm watching anything other than Live From when there's not live golf on.

The Trophy

David Cannon. Getty Images.

The Wanamaker is right up there with the best. It's just a classic design. Many other trophies emulate this design and come up short. Those aren't major championship trophies and they shouldn't try to be. Stay in your fuckin lane, RSM Classic. Anyways, it's an iconic trophy, it's got great size for the mantlepiece, and hopefully it stays in one piece thru the ceremony on Sunday. It's an 8.6/10. 

The Board

Scottie is the perpetual favorite at +390 to win at the Draftkings Sportsbook. He's actually seen some steam this week and rightfully so. All the pieces fit here in terms of what's required to win here. Hits it long, plays great positional golf, and he's striking it great again after leaking a little oil (relatively speaking) early in the year. He's ripped off 3 straight solo runner-ups coming into this week, with them being against strong fields in the Masters and 2 elevated events. 

It's really hard not to go a few spots down the board and pick Cameron Young. He'll be a popular pick this week. Guy is on an absolute heater early this year and grew up playing golf in the Northeast. It makes too much sense. I honestly expected him to be neck and neck with Rory, but naturally Rory's major championship pedigree and green jacket bump has him well ahead of Cam on the board.

Cam's play year-to-date is better than Rory's and he's a nose ahead of him in the Data Golf rankings. So not only am I taking Cam Young +1500 to win this tournament, but I'm also fading Rory in areas I can find (including taking Rahm +112 H2H against him) because I see value there.

Other Plays

Bryson Dechambeau To Win +1850/Top 5 +355

Matt Fitzpatrick To Win +2350/Top 10 +186

Collin Morikawa To Win +4000

Alex Fitzpatrick Top 10 +780/Top 20 +325

Sudarshan Yellamaraju Top 20 +465

Brandt Snedeker Top 20 +1150/Top 30 

Big Guns (Scheffler/McIlroy/Rahm/Young/DeChambeau/Schauffele) v Field -105

Jon Rahm +112 H2H (Tournament) v Rory

Nationality of Winner - USA -138 (we've won 10 straight)

Matt Fitz Top Euro +800

3+ man playoff +1600

Justin Rose 1st Round Leader +4800