US PGA Championship 2026:

What is the US PGA Championship?

The Professional Golf Association (PGA) Championship is an annual golf tournament hosted by the PGA of America, first hosted in 1916. In the current format, 156 players compete over 4 rounds of golf (72 holes) to determine the winner based on the lowest total score across those holes. The winner receives the Wannamaker Trophy. It is one of the four Major Championships in the Men’s game and is the only one run almost exclusively by Professionals for Professionals.

When is the US PGA Championship held?

The 2026 version of the US PGA Championship is being held during the week beginning Monday 11th May 2026, with the tournament scheduled to be played from Thursday 14th May until Sunday 17th May 2026.

Where is the US PGA Championship being held in 2026?

The 2026 Championship is being held at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, 15 miles west of Philadelphia. Aronimink was founded as Belmont Golf Association in 1896 and moved to its current residence in 1928. The course was designed by Donald Ross, regarded as one of the greatest course designers of all time, who also designed Oak Hill, Oakland Hills, East Lake, and 4 of the courses at Pinehurst (including No. 2, regarded as one of the finest courses in the world).

Having undergone many re-imaginings over the years, Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner returned the golf course to a close representation of the original Ross design, although updated to accommodate today’s longer-hitting golfers. It has hosted several major championships in the past, including the 1962 PGA Championship (Gary Player was the winner), the 1977 US Amateur (John Fought), the 2003 Senior PGA Championship (John Jacobs), and the 2020 Women’s PGA Championship (Sei Young Kim). It has also hosted 3 PGA Tour events in the past: the 2010 and 201 AT&T National (‘10 Justin Rose, ’11 Nick Watney) and the 2018 BMW Championship won by Keegan Bradley in a playoff over Justin Rose.

Aronimink is a 7313-yard, Par 70 golf course for the PGA Championship. The layout uses the natural contours to its advantage and means that there are lots of situations where the golf ball won’t be at the same level as your feet. Its other defence is the green complexes. Sloping wildly at times, and with the ability to put the holes in perilous situations for the players, this might need to be used if the weather and conditions are favourable for the players. Modern players will see it as an opportunity to hit the driver as far down the holes as they can and look to avoid the 170+ bunkers dotted around the course, so it will be interesting to see which other aspects of the game are tested the most to provide our 2026 winner. I give my take on who might lift the mighty trophy on Sunday 17th May in another article.

A Brief US PGA Championship History:

The PGA of America was formed in February 1916 in New York City following a meeting between professional golfers and a wealthy department store owner, Rodney Wannamaker. The first PGA Championship was held in October 2016 at Siwanoy Golf in Bronxville, New York. The winner, Jim Barnes, won $500 and a diamond-studded gold medal that was donated by Rodney Wannamaker. Wannamaker would then go on to provide the main trophy that is now in use, and each winner receives a replica to keep.

The early format of the PGA Championship was based around a matchplay format until 1957, when the event lost money. At this point, it was decided to move it to a 4-round strokeplay event. Unlike the other 3 majors, the championship has moved around in terms of the time it has been held during the year. It had moved from May to July for the first 40+ years of its inception, before being played the week after The Open Championship for the first 5 years of the 1960s. This made it difficult for players to play in both events, and so it eventually settled on its permanent position of August in 1965, becoming the last major of the year for the men.

It stayed there until the emergence of golf in the Olympics in 2016, when it was moved forward a couple of weeks. In 2019, it moved to its current position in May after it was agreed that the Players Championship would move from May to March to make way for it. Unlike the other three majors (The Open, US Open and The Masters), this tournament seems to be the one most open to change in both its format and timing, so it will be interesting to see what they do with it next.

Since it adopted its current format, the majority of winners have been in the higher echelons of the game, but there have been some fascinating stories among them, which are studied in more depth in another article.

How do you qualify for the US PGA Championship?

Due to the current ways to qualify, it has been regarded as the “best field of competitors in golf”, as it has the best 70 players in the world rankings all in the same field. This is now slightly disputed due to issues surrounding the world rankings, but it’s still the one major that has a strict qualifying process that rewards performances over the previous year. The current qualifying process is as follows:

· Former PGA Champions.

· Winners of the last five U.S. Opens.

· Winners of the last five Masters.

· Winners of the last five Open Championships.

· Winners of the last three The Players Championships.

· Top 3 on the Official World Golf Ranking International Federation Ranking List

· The current Senior PGA Champion.

· The low 15 scorers and ties in the previous PGA Championship.

· The 20 low scorers in the last PGA Professional Championship.

· The 70 leaders in the PGA Championship points list (based on official money earned on the PGA Tour since the previous PGA Championship).

· Members of the most recent United States and European Ryder Cup Teams who are ranked in the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking as of one week before the start of the tournament.

· Any tournament winner co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour since the previous PGA Championship.

· The PGA of America reserves the right to invite additional players not included in the categories listed above.

· The total field is a maximum of 156 players. Vacancies are filled by the first available player from the list of alternates (those below 70th place in official money standings).

How do I attend the US PGA Championship?

Official tickets are sold through the tournament website and require pre-registration before the event, usually early on in the previous year, with tickets going on sale around the same time as the previous year's event in May. If successful in the registry, you are then given 24-36 hours to complete your purchases. All Championship+ ticket holders receive food and non-alcoholic drink vouchers with their ticket, with various add-ons available for Club Lounges for extra comfort and facilities.

Who won the 2025 US PGA Championship:

The 2025 event was held at Quail Hollow and won by world number 1 Scottie Scheffler, who picked up his 3rd major championship and 1st PGA Championship. After a solid start to his first couple of rounds, Scheffler exploded into life on Saturday, the 3rd round, with a 65 (-6) to move to -11 and hold a 3-shot lead heading into the final round.

A poor start to the final round meant that a birdie by Jon Rahm on the 11th moved him into a tie for the lead with Scheffler. However, Scheffler recovered to birdie the 10th, 14th and 15th to move back to -12, while Rahm dropped 5 shots over the last 3 holes to fall away. Despite a bogey at the last hole, Scheffler won by 5 shots from Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English and Davis Riley.

US PGA Championship Records:

Most Wins: 5, Jack Nicklaus, Walter Hagen

Lowest Tournament Score: 264, Brooks Koepka (2018)

Youngest Winner: 20 years, 174 days, Gene Sarazen (1922)

Oldest Winner: 50 years, 11 months, Phil Mickelson (2021)

Lowest Round to Par: 62, Xander Schauffele, 1st round, 2024

US PGA Championship Previous Winners in 2000s:

2025: Scottie Scheffler – Quail Hollow Club

2024: Xander Schauffele – Valhalla Golf Club

2023: Brooks Koepka – Oak Hill Country Club

2022: Justin Thomas – Southern Hills Country Club

2021: Phil Mickelson – Kiawah Island Golf Resort

2020: Collin Morikawa – TPC Harding Park

2019: Brooks Koepka – Bethpage State Park Black Course

2018: Brooks Koepka – Bellerive Country Club

2017: Justin Thomas – Quail Hollow Club

2016: Jimmy Walker – Baltusrol Golf Club

2015: Jason Day – Whistling Straits

2014: Rory McIlroy – Valhalla Golf Club

2013: Jason Dufner – Oak Hill Country Club

2012: Rory McIlroy – Kiawah Island Golf Resort

2011: Keegan Bradley – Atlanta Athletic Club

2010: Martin Kaymer – Whistling Straits

2009: Yang Yong-Eun – Hazeltine National Golf Club

2008: Padraig Harrington – Oakland Hills Country Club

2007: Tiger Woods – Southern Hills Country Club

2006: Tiger Woods – Medinah Country Club

2005: Phil Mickelson – Baltusrol Golf Club

2004: Vijay Singh – Whistling Straits

2003: Shaun Micheel – Oak Hill Country Club

2002: Rich Beem – Hazeltine National Country Club

2001: David Toms – Atlanta Athletic Club

2000: Tiger Woods – Valhalla Golf Club