The 2026 PGA Championship returns to the historic Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pa., a suburb west of Philadelphia.
As the 108th edition of the tournament, it marks the second time in championship history that the Wanamaker Trophy will be contested at this classic Donald Ross-designed layout—the first being in 1962 when Gary Player claimed victory. The PGA Tour has visited a few times since, including the 2010 and 2011 AT&T National, and most recently for the 2018 BMW Championship won by Keegan Bradley at -20.
Aronimink is a par-70 layout that stretches to approximately 7,394 yards. It features Bentgrass fairways and greens, as well as fescue rough approaching four inches and 176 bunkers.
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It should present a different test than what we have typically seen in recent PGA Championships, where length and power off the tee have provided a sizable advantage. With only two par 5s, any distance advantage should be muted even further.
In the past, Aronimink’s routing and strategically placed hazards have forced the world’s best players to rely on course management, wedge- to mid-iron precision and short-game skill around its tricky green complexes. Whether that formula still holds true in an era where the game’s longest hitters seem capable of overpowering any course remains to be seen.
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Here are my favorite plays and fades in each price range for the 2026 PGA Championship.
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$9,000+ range Play: Rory McIlroy, $12,400 
Jared C. Tilton
It appears that a confident and relaxed Rory might be the best version of Rory. Coming off his second green jacket a month ago, he’s fully focused on winning the bigger events and further cementing his legacy as one of the best golfers ever. After a few weeks off, he knocked off the rust at Quail Hollow last week finishing T-19 and gained over seven strokes ball-striking. He remains the best driver of the ball in the world with the length to overpower any course, including Aronimink. If he can dial in his wedge game and tame these tricky greens by avoiding three-putts, he has a great chance to win another Wanamaker Trophy.
Play: Cameron Young, $10,200 
Jared C. Tilton
Even after fading to a T-10 finish at the Truist, Young enters the week as arguably the hottest golfer in the world. Over his past seven starts, he has recorded six top-10 finishes, highlighted by a T-3 at the Masters Tournament, a victory at The Players, and a dominant six-shot win at Doral two weeks ago for the third title of his career.
While Young has long been regarded as an elite ball-striker, the biggest development may be his short-game improvement. Over his past 24 rounds, he is gaining 0.93 strokes per round combined in SG/around the green and SG/putting. With Aronimink featuring two additional par 4s compared to a standard par-72 setup, Young also ranks second on tour behind Scottie Scheffler in strokes gained on difficult par 4s over the past year.
There are also several course fit indicators working in his favor. His breakthrough victory at Sedgefield came on another Donald Ross design, and in his young career he has already posted a finish of T-4 or better in all four major championships. Now he arrives at Aronimink with a chance to capture his first major title on a course that closely resembles the agronomy and style of the course he grew up playing just a couple hours away in New York.
Fade: Justin Thomas, $9,400
After showing signs of life with consecutive top-25 finishes over the past two weeks, the fact remains that Justin Thomas ranks just 69th in this field in SG/off the tee and 74th in SG/approach this season. Even more concerning is his recent track record in major championships. Since winning the 2022 PGA Championship, he has recorded just one top-30 finish in the 15 majors he has played since.
$8,000+ range Play: Russell Henley, $8,700 
Augusta National
Few players in the field can match Russell Henley’s combination of ball-striking precision and recent major championship success, with four top-10 finishes in his past six major starts. He is also one of the strongest par-4 scorers in the field and has consistently excelled on difficult green complexes, ranking as the 14th-best putter on surfaces with similar speed and slope to those at Aronimink.
Fade: Jordan Spieth, $8,600
Though Marco Penge at $8,000 stands out as an easy fade, I’ll go with a potentially more polarizing choice in Jordan Spieth. While he has flashed upside in every area of his game at different points this season, he still has not been able to put all the pieces together simultaneously in his pursuit of becoming just the seventh player ever to complete the career Grand Slam.
Spieth himself said it best at his press conference on Monday. “If you look at the stats, yeah, it’s a Whac-a-Mole situation because I have had weeks where I’m leading in putting, weeks where I’m leading in driving, weeks where I am leading in ball-striking, and then I just haven’t been able to kind of put them all together.”
He has two wins over the past nine years and doesn’t have a top-10 this season.
$7,000+ range Play: J.J. Spaun, $7,800 
Andrew Redington
While Harris English, Si Woo Kim and Adam Scott are all great plays in a stacked $7K range, the underrated J.J. Spaun is my choice and should provide lineups with a nice leverage pivot from some of the other higher-owned players. If the reigning U.S. Open champion can rediscover the putter that carried him at Oakmont, his elite ball-striking should once again put him firmly in contention. He ranks eighth on tour this season in SG/approach and has started to heat up with a victory at the Valero Texas Open in April, followed by a T-14 at Doral and a T-5 last week at Quail Hollow.
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PGA Championship 101 PGA Championship 2026: Answering the most frequently asked questions about the year’s second major $6,000+ range Play: Nicolai Hojgaard, $6,500 
Eston Parker/ISI Photos
While I would not call him a free square, Hojgaard stands out as the most glaring pricing inefficiency on the slate. The former Ryder Cup player already owns one of the strongest resumes among golf’s emerging stars with three victories on the DP World Tour and five top-six finishes this season alone, including a runner-up finish last week at Quail Hollow. He has also made the cut in nine of his last 11 major championship appearances.
Statistically, he ranks as the ninth-best player in this field, gaining an average of 1.25 strokes per round this year with elite numbers across nearly every strokes-gained category. His iron play has been especially dominant, as he has gained strokes on approach in 15 consecutive events. Hojgaard will undoubtedly attract heavy ownership this week, but there are plenty of alternative ways to differentiate lineup construction elsewhere.
$5,000+ range Play: Harry Hall, $5,800 
Carmen Mandato
What if I told you there was a golfer in the $5K range with 19 top-30 finishes over the past year, including 10 coming in either major championships, signature events or the FedEx Cup Playoffs? Enter Harry Hall, who continues to establish himself as one of the most consistent players in the world.
He finished with a T-8 last week at Quail Hollow where he gained strokes in every category, including 5.8 ball striking. While Hall has not recorded a top-five finish in more than 20 months, his well-rounded game and ability to perform on difficult green complexes make him one of the strongest value plays in this salary range. I love this sneaky value play this week.
Sign up for the industry’s leading data tool to make golf stats easy to decipher—head to BetspertsGolf.com now and get access to The Rabbit Hole for only $10 for your first month. Use promo code GD10 at sign up for this amazing deal!
Ron Klos (@PGASplits101 on X) is a PGA Tour data analyst for Betsperts Golf.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
