There are good misses, and bad misses. And at Aronimink Golf Club on the opening day of the 2026 PGA Championship, there was one miss that was worst of all.
According to Cam’s dad, David, it all started when Young watched a video of his 3-year-old son’s golf swing and saw, reflected within it, a feeling he recalled from his own youth.
For a century, Aronimink’s trees were the ballast, keeping the elite ball-strikers honest. Without them, what remains is a masterpiece that is gorgeous to look at, meticulously restored, and quite possibly ready to be dismantled by a field that hits it 310 metres and hasn’t feared a tight tee shot in years.
Aronimink’s history poses a philosophical question for architects and old clubs: should designers honour and resurrect the course that the original architects drew, or are they better off restoring the features that were actually built?
The 32-year-old, who was the world’s second-ranked golfer four years ago, decided after a difficult Masters campaign to split from long-time coach Grant Field, the mentor who first shaped his game from the age of 9.
The event returns to the Aronimink Golf Club for the first time in 64 years. While performance data from that PGA Championship is understandably limited, there is recent data from the course that could serve to suggest some trends.
Since 1965, the PGA of America has gathered its past champions, like the Masters before it. The evening has changed a lot over time, but the intent has always remained to celebrate their accomplishments.
What if the PGA Championship returned to matchplay? How would it look? Who would get in? How many rounds would they play? Armed with a spreadsheet and love for head-to-head showdowns created by matchplay golf, we went to work.
An uncertain future awaits the two-time major winner as he ponders continuing with LIV Golf, jumping back to the PGA Tour or becoming a full-time YouTuber.
Australian Golf Digest
