NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Before last year’s PGA Championship, which saw Scottie Scheffler steamroll the field to win by five shots, the May version of this championship had produced tight affairs. Since the move in 2019, every PGA Championship has had a winning margin of two strokes or less, with Justin Thomas winning in a playoff at Southern Hills and Xander Schauffele making a tournament-sealing birdie on the 72nd hole at Valhalla, representing the smallest margin between winners and, well, the losers.
While some aesthetics of this championship may not live up to the standards of the others, what cannot be denied is how close the PGA Championship has been in recent years. And with this tightness comes the necessity to split hairs amongst the competitors vying to raise the Wanamaker Trophy by week’s end.
The golf world has both contracted and expanded in the early stages of the 2026 season. While the same name who occupies the top of every odds board occupies it this week, those immediately looking up at him seem to have inched closer. As for those who are looking up at the immediate chasing pack, however, that distance seems as far as ever.
Patrick Reed mentioned at the Masters that he believed there were roughly 10 players who could slip on the green jacket at Augusta National. He was probably right, but he did not know that he might have been speaking about all the major championships in 2026, including this one at Aronimink Golf Club.
Let’s get into the top 50 players in this week’s PGA Championship, held just outside Philadelphia.
- Rory McIlroy
- Scottie Scheffler
- Cameron Young
- Xander Schauffele
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Jon Rahm
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Collin Morikawa
- Ludvig Äberg
- Russell Henley
- Justin Thomas
- Chris Gotterup
- Justin Rose
- Sam Burns
- Sepp Straka
- Patrick Reed
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Robert MacIntyre
- Si Woo Kim
- Adam Scott
- Harris English
- Patrick Cantlay
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Jordan Spieth
- J.J. Spaun
- Akshay Bhatia
- Shane Lowry
- Viktor Hovland
- Rickie Fowler
- Brooks Koepka
- Keegan Bradley
- Ben Griffin
- Aaron Rai
- Kristoffer Reitan
- Nicolai Høgaard
- Kurt Kitayama
- Matt McCarty
- Sungjae Im
- Gary Woodland
- Max Homa
- Maverick McNealy
- Corey Conners
- Jacob Bridgeman
- Min Woo Lee
- Brian Harman
- Daniel Berger
- Nick Taylor
- Taylor Pendrith
- Alex Noren
Players who just missed out: Matt McCarty, Hideki Matsuyama, Viktor Hovland, Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Gary Woodland, Nicolai Højgaard, Alex Smalley
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