The PGA Championship begins Thursday at Aronimink, with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy leading key storylines, plus LIV and Canadian contenders.
A Philadelphia sports reset may be in order, but golf fans don’t have to wait for relief: the PGA Championship starts Thursday at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, the second men’s major of the season.
The Flyers and 76ers have both already been sent home in second-round sweeps. and the Phillies’ early-season struggles ultimately cost manager Rob Thomson his job.. With the city looking for a break. the focus shifts to the fairways and greens. where the tournament’s biggest questions revolve around elite form. broken narratives. and whether familiar names can turn promise into major-winning moments.
Can anyone stop Scottie Scheffler?
As the reigning PGA champion, Scheffler arrives with a resume that feels untouchable even after a rocky stretch.. His season started with a runaway win at the Amex. followed by a spell in which his iron play failed him and results swung wildly.. He still produced an Augusta finish that suggested his best golf was not gone. but he couldn’t close the gap on Rory McIlroy on Sunday. finishing second.. After that, he added two more runner-up showings at his next events.
What makes this week stand out is not just where Scheffler ranks, but how his game profile has held up.. He sits within the top 20 of each strokes gained category. according to Data Golf. and the metrics from the same site give him a top-10 finish probability that is well ahead of the rest of the field. with an even larger edge when it comes to winning.. The underlying issue for the chasing pack is simple: the PGA Championship is structurally closer to standard PGA Tour setups than some majors. and Scheffler has dominated that environment all year.
Is Rory McIlroy finally, truly freed up?
If anyone can apply pressure to Scheffler, the leading candidate is McIlroy.. The Northern Irish star arrives as a back-to-back Masters champion and. last year. finally broke an 11-year major drought at Augusta while completing the career Grand Slam.. In the months after that breakthrough. the prevailing storyline was that he would go after even more majors with the “gorilla” removed from his back.
That script didn’t match the results.. McIlroy was uncompetitive at the PGA and the U.S.. Open, and while he posted a T7 at The Open Championship, Scheffler took the title there as well.. More recently. McIlroy has reflected on a different kind of aftermath: achieving the Grand Slam left him feeling oddly unfulfilled. prompting him to search for meaning after reaching the one lifelong objective that had defined the conversation around him.
This year, the tone appears different.. He has returned with a renewed sense of history and what each major victory represents. and he has even added a layer of personal satisfaction in the way he sits alongside Phil Mickelson in the context of major wins.. On the course. he continues to lead the PGA Tour in strokes gained categories such as ball striking and tee to green. according to Data Golf.. Off the course. he has also projected a lighter mood with comments about his Masters preparation. suggesting a player who feels less burdened and more ready to chase another long run of contention.. The major duel everyone wants to see—McIlroy versus Scheffler—may be the most compelling storyline if both stay sharp early.
What’s happening with the LIV players?
While the top names chase Ryder Cup-sized legacies, the LIV subplot is still shaping the background of this PGA Championship.. Since McIlroy’s Masters win. attention has intensified on LIV and the breakaway league’s future direction. particularly after developments indicated that the Saudi Public Investment Fund would withdraw funding after this season.. That uncertainty has raised questions about the long-term viability of a league built around heavy investment and high expectations.
Another pressure point is competitive depth and marketability.. Sources indicate the headliners have been fewer than the league’s ambition might require. with Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm standing out most prominently.. DeChambeau’s contract situation is set to change after this season. and his public remarks have suggested he is considering pivoting his platform. including the possibility of turning more attention toward YouTube.. Rahm, meanwhile, has expressed frustration over the rigidity of his deal, saying he doesn’t see a clear path out.
Those off-course concerns land at Aronimink alongside performance questions.. Both players are entering the PGA with issues that extend beyond golf swing mechanics. and their major results have not been matching their brand of confidence.. DeChambeau missed the cut at The Masters, and Rahm finished at T38 and was not competitive.. Against weaker fields on LIV they have continued to perform. but the majors—four weeks away from the spotlight the public sees every year—are where legacy is ultimately measured.. The expectation is that LIV’s top names will need their best golf to silence the critics and reframe what their careers mean in the sport’s biggest events.
Which Canadian has the best shot to win?
The PGA Championship also carries a serious Canadian storyline, with the last men’s major champion from Canada dating back 23 years to Mike Weir. This week, Nick Taylor, Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith, and Sudarshan Yellamaraju will carry that weight as they look to end the drought.
Conners is often the profile that makes sense for major weeks. but his form so far this year has not been quite at the right level.. Pendrith brought reason for optimism with his best major finish to date—a T5 at last year’s PGA—but he has struggled in recent stretches since.. Taylor is another name built for this moment. not just because he has shown an ability to pull off wins. but because he did so on home soil at the RBC Canadian Open not long ago and is coming into the PGA with a pair of top-15 finishes.
Then there is the breakthrough candidate in Yellamaraju.. He made a splash with a T5 at The Players Championship and. while he only earned his way into the PGA field on Sunday. his performance at Sawgrass suggested he can handle big pressure without needing much time to adjust.. For that group. the question isn’t whether Canada has talent; it’s which player can translate strong flashes into a full. sustained weekend.
Will Spieth finally complete the Grand Slam?
For Jordan Spieth, the dream is obvious but the timeline has been frustrating.. He has been chasing the career slam at the PGA with a major-winning drought that echoes Rory McIlroy’s own earlier run—he hasn’t been in the winner’s circle since the 2017 Open Championship.. Outside of a T3 in 2019. the results since then have been uneven. and he missed the cut last year. with his star dimming compared to his 2015 breakout.
Still, there are signs that something is starting to click.. Spieth has described his season as “whac-a-mole. ” suggesting he has been strong in different parts of his game across various weeks but hasn’t yet managed to combine everything into one four-day stretch.. Aronimink could be a logical place to do it because the course setup is relatively short. which tends to create more driver-wedge holes—situations where precision and decision-making matter.
There’s also a course-fit factor.. Spieth was second off the tee last week behind McIlroy. and his wedge and short-iron skills have long been a strength.. Aronimink is known for uneven lies. which often forces creativity and adaptability. and those are traits Spieth typically benefits from—something many associate with his strong performances at Augusta.
The Spieth version of contention is rarely straightforward, but the potential reward is clear: a PGA Championship victory could finally put him on the doorstep of completing a career Grand Slam he has been chasing for years.
Who else can seriously contend?
Beyond the headline matchups, several familiar major-ready names will be looking to turn good form into a breakthrough. Cameron Young enters with two wins on his resume, including The Players, and he has a track record of elevating his play in major weeks.
The Fitzpatrick brothers also bring momentum.. Matt has already won three times. including a victory alongside Alex. who converted his PGA Tour card into a pair of top 10s soon after earning it.. Ludvig Aberg and Tommy Fleetwood are also in the mix. with both continuing to play well as they search for their maiden major.. Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka round out a list of contenders who know exactly what it takes to add another major total once the field tightens.
With Thursday’s start at Aronimink. the tournament’s storylines point in different directions—toward Scheffler’s statistical dominance. toward the possibility of a McIlroy return to form. toward the pressure LIV’s stars bring when majors define careers. and toward whether Canada’s drought can end with one swing.. Add in the always-compelling Spieth chase and a deep group of challengers. and the PGA Championship could deliver the kind of weekend drama Philadelphia sports fans are craving.
PGA Championship Scottie Scheffler Rory McIlroy LIV Golf Jordan Spieth Canadian contenders